La Nuova Musica: Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno

Handel composed Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (The Triumph of Time and Disillusion) when he was only 21 years old. Even in this early work, he displays the seemingly effortless lyrical ease and psychological intrigue of his later works, and we even hear an early version of the famous aria Lascia ch’io pianga which would appear in the later opera Rinaldo.

The text, by Cardinal Pamphili, concerns the choices faced by Beauty: Pleasure, or the more moral Time and Disillusion. Yet the work is hardly a turgid or dry experience. Indeed, Handel’s music sparkles and dances, especially in the arias for Beauty and Pleasure; as a review in the Guardian pointed out it makes it “hard not to feel [Handel] was on their side all along”.

La Nuova Musica, whose performances have been described as “vivacious” and “ebullient”, are joined by an irresistible cast of Handelian experts.

Federico Fiorio Belezza
Chiara Skerath Piacere
Iestyn Davies Disinganno
Nick Pritchard Tempo

La Nuova Musica
David Bates harpsichord, conductor