Handel, G.F. (1685-1759) - Semele - Myself I Shall Adore - Carolyn Sampson, The Sixteen

'Myself I Shall Adore' was a piece from an oratorio, Semele, composed by Georg Friedrich Händel in the mid 1744, performed by Carolyn Sampson and The Sixteen.


* Myself I Shall Adore


Carolyn Sampson
The Sixteen
Conducted by Harry Christophers

BBC Proms

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Handel, George Frideric (1685-1759)

George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, and concertos. Handel was born in Germany in the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach and Domenico Scarlatti. He received critical musical training in Italy before settling in London and becoming a naturalised British subject. His works include Messiah, Water Music, and Music for the Royal Fireworks. He was strongly influenced by the great composers of the Italian Baroque and the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition.

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Semele is a 1744 opera, or oratorio, in three acts by George Frideric Handel, based on the classical myth of Semele, mother of Dionysus.

The work was first performed on 10 February 1744 at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, London. However Handel's camouflaging failed. The audience for the concert series, held yearly during Lent at London's Theatre Royal, Covent Garden expected Bible-based subject matter. Most oratorios, including most of those by Handel, would have met this expectation. But the amorous topic of Semele, which is practically a creation of the late Restoration Period, transparently drew on Greek myths, not Hebrew laws. It displeased those who attended the Lenten seasons for a different kind of uplift, and, being in English, likewise irritated the supporters of true Italian opera. As Winton Dean suggested in his book Handel's Dramatic Oratorios:

As a result, only four performances took place. The cast on February 10, 1744, included Elisabeth Duparc ('La ancesina') in the title role, Esther Young as Juno (and Ino), and John Beard as Jupiter. Henry Reinhold sang the bass roles. Handel seems to have interchanged some of the music between singers.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Myself I Shall Adore
• Handel
• Semele
• Carolyn
• Sampson
• Georg Friedrich
• Baroque
• Opera
• Chamber
• Music
• The Sixteen
• Aria

[ariehradioativo]

I Shall gaze this over and over....and this video I shall forever adore!!!!

Thank you for sharing this marvelous piece with the world.

[BaroqueJazzPlays]

@ariehradioativo - Isn't she just wonderful... 

[xEastendersx]

So much talent, so little recognition....

[BaroqueJazzPlays]

@xEastendersx “So much talent, so little recognition...”

Yes, but somewhere on YT someone had a comment up that her voice is now going.... not really sure that’s true....

[taxiride1]

@BaroqueJazzPlays I don't think her voice is going but it's changing.

[BaroqueJazzPlays]

@taxiride1 - that comment about her voice going came from another clip and she wasn't at her best, but the commenter said some other unkind things about her so I guess that person isn't a fan..... here she is on form, I like to think she is having fun is this performance at the Proms....

[johnhowardesq]

I love her voice. NPR has a clip of her doing Samuel Barber''s Knoxville, Summer of 1915 in St. Paul, MN. Wonderful performance.

[saxcoburg]

Wow!

[aurore891]

What a gorgeous voice!!!!!!!

[BaroqueJazzPlays]

@xEastendersx - I agree, also I can see why she toured witht the sixteen - they worked well together