download here. - Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Programme Notes
George Frideric
Handel (1685–1759)
L’angue offeso mai
riposa
(from Giulio Cesare)
In the opening exchanges of Giulio
Cesare, Ptolemy, in an attempt to
curry favour, has Pompey
murdered and his head served up
on a plate as a gift for Caesar.
Pompey’s stricken wife Cornelia is
left longing for death, but her son
Sesto vows vengeance, even
though being not much more than
a boy he has little idea how to
achieve it. His first attempt to
assassinate Ptolemy is easily
thwarted, but eventually another
opportunity presents itself when
one of Cleopatra’s servants offers
to lead him to Ptolemy when he is
off-guard. In ‘L’angue offeso mai
riposa’ Sesto looks forward firmly
but calmly to his moment of
revenge, with Handel’s
meandering accompaniment
suggesting the ‘offended serpent’ to
which he compares himself.
L’angue offeso mai riposa
Figlio non è, chi vendicar non cura
del genitor lo scempio.
Su dunque alla vendetta
ti prepara, alma forte,
e prima di morir altrui dà la morte!
L’angue offeso mai riposa,
se il veleno pria non spande
dentro il sangue all’offensor.
Così l’alma mia non osa
di mostrarsi altera e grande,
se non svelle l’empio cor.
The offended serpent will not rest
There is not a son who is not concerned
With avenging his father’s murder.
Up then, prepare yourself for revenge,
Brave soul, and, before dying,
Cause another’s death!
The offended serpent will not rest
Until it has spent its venom
In the blood of its offender.
Thus my soul does not dare
To lay claim to greatness and pride
Until the villain’s heart has been torn from his breast.
Libretto by Nicola Francesco Haym
after Giacamo Francesco Bussani
32