"Cara speme" (Angelika Kirchschlager, "Giulio Cesare")

Angelika Kirchschlager (Austrian mezzo-soprano) sings the part of Sesto, General Pompey and Cornelia's adolescent son, in Handel's "Giulio Cesare" at Glyndebourne.

In this sensitively sung aria, Sesto resolves to seek vengeance upon whoever killed his father.

"Cara speme, questo core
tu cominci a lusingar.
Par che il ciel presti favore
i miei torti a vendicar."

--

"Dear Hope, you begin
To flatter my heart.
It seems that heaven lends its favour
To the avenging of my wrongs."

Aria from the multi-award-winning, famous and fabulous, funny and moving production of Handel's "Giulio Cesare in Egitto" by DavidMcVicar, set in late 19th-century colonial Egypt with the Redcoats keeping Cesare's Roman Empire running.

With William Christie directing the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

From Glyndebourne, August 2005.

If you like this, do go and buy the video and get the entire opera! (It's really worth it!)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Handel
• Giulio
• Cesare
• Angelika
• Kirchschlager
• Cara
• speme
• Glyndebourne
• Age
• of
• Enlightenment

[PhilipWChiu]

Oh wow - been searching forever for this recording... short of buying the DVD... thank you so much!

[mariandelochs]

You're very welcome...and the DVD IS worth purchasing (I feel that way about few opera DVDs) - very highly recommended!

[Dramaturg05]

Wow!!! That's great!! Angelika Kirchschlager is so georgeous!! I love her voice and her acting makes me breathless. She is really a boy!! Wow!! Congratulations!

[alejandra379]

what a mix: such sweet and moving sounds are the frame for thoughts of revenge... very baroque.

[mozartinaa]

It's not possible to describe this beauty.

[olympicfreak678]

I didn't know Glenn Close sang Cornelia. lol

[serenaluce]

@Bozzyworth I respect your point of view but I can't agree with you that a woman's voice better suits to show a teenage voice. Sesto is a BOY, teenage SON! I hear that only a man's voice is closer to a boy's! A woman can sound only closer to a DAUGHTER! It's still a different COLOUR! Best CTs can lighten their voices, sing higher to sound APPROXIMATELY as boys even with their Adam's apple. It doesn't matter that women don't have it, they still have female body and have women's set of expressions

[serenaluce]

@chiaros Well, I appreciate your taste. I think I have this very recording you mention on my CD. Perhaps it's a special anniversary edition, a 2-CD set released last year for Handel's jubilee? It's wonderful. But tastes differ and I still prefer Spanos's versions on YT , especially the latest one where he sings it in a pure male soprano which is IMO shows the best of all a teenage son. I recommend you to listen to it on plavos's channel and compare. Both Spanos's and Daniesl are just stunning!

[chiaros]

@Bozzyworth: I prefer David Daniels by far in this - voice, timbre, beauty, tone, pace. There's a sound clip (no vid) of him singing this on Youtube. His 1999 version on the "Handel Operatic Arias" CD is my go-to rendition.

[Bozzyworth]

@serenaluce All valid points. I think I was reacting to you saying it was too slow and not magical in its own right. I suppose I got on my high horse because being there, knowing how special her singing was in this production that I wanted to tell you otherwise. In a way, a woman's voice will be more like a boy's as a boy wouldn't have developed their adam's apple by this age, no?

Regarding tempo, are there any other videos on here that you prefer?

[serenaluce]

@Bozzyworth Why abandom this genre of opera if we have just wonderful countertenors now with advanced technique that are still closer to castrati though have different vocal characteristics? But what about logic even in opera? Women are also only an APPROXIMATION and can't replace castrati, but you accept them without any doubt, and question men?! CTs still have this special MAGIC what makes them closer to this "brilliant tone". But women are "castrated castrati" as they don't have this magic!

[serenaluce]

@Bozzyworth So, you still prefer women pretending that they are men to real MEN, singing heavenly and who are closer to castrati? I guess you should know that at the time of castrati all female singers, even the best ones were only CHEAPER substitute to them as they can sound in the same range very superficially but never could REPLACE their QUALITY! They have different physiology, e.g. Adam's apple is missing. All the same they sound as WOMEN in disguise ! So, this woman is a perfect boy?!...