do handel's cantatas matter? - BOLbusiness

17] «Cantate, que me veux-tu?», or: Do Handel’s cantatas matter? 229
this libretto represents the premiere or a revival; she suggests,
partly in an attempt to align the work with the chronology
provided by Handel’s first biographer John Mainwaring
(1760), that the first performance might have taken place in
autumn of 1705. She further proposes a similar scenario for
Agrippina, that the known performance in 1709 was a revival
and that the first performance took place in November 170635 .
Her hypothesis, then, is that both of Handel’s operas were
composed and performed before he first arrived in Rome. In
my view, Il delirio amoroso proves this theory wrong. The setting
of «Un pensiero» appears with different text in both Rodrigo
and Agrippina. A comparison of «Un pensiero» with
«Per dar pregio» from Rodrigo clarifies their chronology.
The text of the A section of «Per dar pregio» reads as follows:
Per dar pregio all’amor mio, To show appreciation to my love,
Cederò l’amato sposo, I shall cede my beloved husband,
Ma non già la mia costanza. But not, indeed, my constancy36 .
The musical depictions in «Un pensiero» that occur on the
words «pensier» and «pace», occur in «Per dar pregio» on the
words «pregio» and «costanza». While a long, sustained tone
works equally well for «pace» and «costanza», the lengthy
runs on «pensier», illustrating the thought extending up to
heaven, fit less well on «pregio». Whereas Handel frequently
writes long melismas on «pensier» in his cantatas, there is no
model for him doing so on «pregio», which calls forth no such
depiction. This difference already suggests which setting takes
chronological precedence. In addition, while the somewhat
rambling quality of «Un pensier» illustrates the troubled mental
state of love-sickness (il delirio amoroso), it fails entirely
35 KIRKENDALE, Handel with Ruspoli, pp. 335-338.
36 English translation by Alan Curtis, in CD liner notes, Handel, Rodrigo,
Virgin Classics Ltd., 1999.