Venti turbini

Here is the absolutely brilliant aria the ends the first act of Handel's 1711 opera Rinaldo. When it was first performed in London, Rinaldo almost singlehandedly began the Italian opera craze in the British capital. My apologies for the slight flub towards the end of the aria, but the CD skipped and I made a rather clumsy spur-of-the-moment adjustment. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• venti
• turbini
• handel
• rinaldo
• baroque
• opera
• countertenor

[khoojlyn]

I like your singing!!!!!! :-) thank you

[tenorcleitonxavier]

bravo!!

[CountertenorJ]

@eradesso You cannot NOT change the line when improvising. You may not change the theoretical structure of chords, but the line will be changed. And I gave you the limits of the period as was written in historical context. You just don't like them. The castrati WERE the initial Primo Uomi of opera. Make no mistake. Some composers loved it. Some hated it. All accepted it -- even begrudgingly, because they were writing FOR the singer and not the other way around.

[eradesso]

@CountertenorJ I said you shouldn't change the line not that nobody does it or didn't do it in the past.

Artists should always embellish within the limits of period and composer style.. instead of doing Primadonna embellishments.. the fact somebody does it or did it doesn't mean the composer approved it.

[CountertenorJ]

I have rather enjoyed watching your progress on youtube. For a great whole of it, there are some wonderful things happening technically and musically. The one gripe I have is that are several phrases that end rather abruptly, instead of being tapered off. It gives an effect that makes it seem as if one has run out of breath, which I don't think is the case. Just a little more care on the ends of phrases and you could move the performance from good to fantastic.

[CountertenorJ]

@eradesso Actually that is not true. There are numerous reports of castrati changing the line so drastically that the orchestras would have to completely stop because they were lost as to where the performer was. We typically consider it in good tastes today as to make the performance seem cohesive, but that was definitely not always the case from antiquity.

[vonbiron]

Excellent! Great work!

[rolandrozen]

Not in a polo Tshirt please.

[fleurdesindes]

Bravo!

[Lomdhi]

AMAZING!