25.01.25 – 26.01.25, The Triumph of Time and Truth, opera project

The devil is in the detail. G.F. Handel would eventually write three versions of this oratorio, spread over a career spanning fifty years. The piece was set up as Handel's very first oratorio. Then called Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, composed in the spring of 1707, it was in two movements and premiered in Rome that summer. It was later rewritten in English after Handel moved to England. One of the famous arias from the oratorio is Lascia la spina, cogli la rosa (Leave the Torn, Take the Rose), later rewritten as Lascia ch'io pianga (Let me Weep). This aria was used again in the opera Rinaldo and, especially for fans, one last time in Pena Tiranna from Amadigi di Gaula. Waste not, want not: German efficiency at its best!