Handel - Hercules "Where shall I fly?" Sarah Walker

George Frideric Handel

Hercules, HWV 60
"Where shall I fly?"
Recitativo Accompagnato from the act III, sc.3 (Dejanira)


Hercules (HWV 60) is a drama in three acts by George Frideric Handel.

The English-language libretto was by Thomas Broughton after the

Trachiniae of Sophocles and the Metamorphoses of Ovid.

http://opera.stanford.edu/iu/libretti/hercules.htm

Composed: 19 July - 17 August 1744
First performance: 5 January 1745: London, King's Theatre, Haymarket.

(Also 12 January.)

In this recording:

Sarah Walker
The Eglish Baroque Soloists
Conductor: John Eliot Gardiner


Original cast from first performance:

Hercules : Henry Theodore Reinhold (bass)
Dejanira : Miss Robinson (mezzosoprano)
Iole : Elisabeth Duparc, called "La Francesina" (soprano)
Hyllus : John Beard (tenor)
Lichas : Susanna Maria Cibber (alto)

Revivals:

24 February 1749: London, Covent Garden Theatre (1 performance)
21 February 1752: London, Covent Garden Theatre (1 performance)



Dejanira:

Where shall I fly? Where hide this guilty head?
Oh fatal error of misguided love!
Oh cruel Nessus, how art thou revenged!
Wretched I am! By me Alcides dies!
These impious hands have sent my injured lord
untimely to the shades!
Let me be mad!
Chain me, ye furies, to your iron beds.
And lash my guilty ghosts with whips of scorpions!

See! See! They come! Alecto with her snakes,
Megaera fell, and black Tisiphone!
See the dreadful sisters rise.
Their baneful presence taints the skies!
See the snaky whips they bear!
What yellings rend my tortured ear!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• George
• Frideric
• Handel
• Hercules
• Where
• shall
• fly
• Sarah
• Walker
• Dejanira
• English
• Baroque
• Soloists
• Gardiner
• classical

[operatube]

"their baneful presence taints the skies" 3:07-3:18 she finishes the run on a wonderful shuddering trill, no one else i've heard does that trill, and it's written!

[Handelove]

Perfect example on how to balance emotion and elegant singing, even using chest voice! A true singing lesson.

Thanks for posting.

[qyzuf]

a bit too civil...

[mezzomanUK]

She is mad as in very, very angry indeed...not as in bonkers! She wants vengeance!

[mezzomanUK]

This sends shivers down my spine !!!

[qyzuf]

terrific voice and mastery, but this version is too cautios and aristocratic...well, boring! It says "let me be mad" for a reason!

[CatalinaDM56]

Now that is what I am talking about!!!

[tamerlano]

It's fantastic, isn't it?

[norisv]

Funny, I was thinking about that section too. Only in that particular part, she reminds me a bit of Kathleen Ferrier. The rest of hers is very mezzo soprano.

[JPD060486]

I thought Janet Baker in the Lento section, 'Hide me, hide me'

[norisv]

Something in the timbre of her lower register that reminds me of Kathleen Ferrier.

[mtenor]

sorry guys dont like this at all