Delirio amoroso & Aminta e Fillide

buy ticket

Two cantatas – strong emotions: the cantatas Delirio amoroso and Aminta e Fillide were written during Handel’s Italian period, when the young composer measured himself against great names such as Alessandro Scarlatti. Not originally intended for the stage, they nonetheless unfurl astonishing dramatic power. In Delirio amoroso, we hear the voice of a lyrical ‘I’, who stumbles between longing, madness and ecstatic pain. Handel turns it into a psychological study of love in music of almost unsurpassable intensity. In contrast, Aminta e Fillide focuses on a familiar topos: He loves her, she loves him not – a delicate game of tenderness, persuasion and self-discovery which leads to a conciliatory happy end. Soprano Emmanuelle de Negri and sopranist Bruno de Sá provide a radiant rendition of these Baroque miniature dramas with brilliant virtuosity and emotional precision. Accompanied by Kammerorchester Basel, there unfolds a work in which the young Handel announces his later operatic genius.