Haendel, "Largo", from opera "Xerxes"

Georg Friedrich Haendel settled definitively in London in 1712. He was then 27 years old and remained there building a prolific career as a composer and entrepreneur, until his death in April 1759. He had to overcome many ups and downs and setbacks in his role as an impresario but nevertheless managed to become the leading exponent of English opera of his time.

A fruitful composer
Although they were not always well received by the public, in the thirty years between 1710 and 1740, the prolific German composer wrote no less than 40 operas. Even after the resounding failure in 1737 of his third foray as a trainer of opera companies, he had the courage to compose a couple of operas of Italian style. The most famous of them is a sort of comedy, whose protagonist is the king of Persia, Xerxes, and from whom the opera takes its name.

Xerxes, the opera
Its premiere, in 1738, was a commercial failure. Xerxes only reached five performances. The work confused audiences and critics in different ways. Some considered it an opera buffa, others a farcical comedy, and one colleague even added that it seemed to be the product of a "sick mind".

All in all, the work incorporates one of the most famous arias written by Haendel, the famous Ombra mai fu ("There was never a dearer, lovelier, sweeter shade," the verse continues), popularly known as Largo de Xerxes, even though it is a larghetto and not a largo.

Song in the shade of a tree

The aria belongs to the first scene of Act I. King Xerxes sings in rapture in the shade of a tree, that of a Platanus orientalis, by the way. Originally written for a soprano castrato, today it is generally sung, if male, by a countertenor, if female, by a contralto or mezzo-soprano. There are also countless versions for different instruments.

We present here an outstanding version by the German countertenor Andreas Scholl, whose timbre reveals to us a miracle, the miracle of the human voice.