Aminta e Fillide: The Italian Handel
Steven Devine turns his attention to Handel, and to the wonderful but still rarely performed Italian cantatas, mostly written during the three years he spent in Italy as a young man. The main work is the ravishing pastoral cantata Aminta e Fillide, composed in Rome in July 1708. It is a miniature operatic drama portraying the despairing love of the shepherd Aminta (Faye Newton) for the nymph Fillide (Philippa Hyde), who is seemingly indifferent to him.
In the first half of the programme Philippa and Faye sing a solo cantata each and combine in the duet ‘Quel fior che all’alba ride’, in which Handel, preparing to compose Messiah in the summer of 1741, tried out ideas for two of its choruses. The programme is completed with the remarkable concertolike Sonata in B flat for violin solo (Tassilo Erhardt), strings and continuo, also written by Handel in Italy.
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