Saturday music spot: Handel's "Lascia ch'io pianga" (Rinaldo);

This exquisite aria, sung here by Kirsten Blaise with Voices of Music playing original period instruments, comes from Handel's opera "Rinaldo"

The words are

Lascia ch'io pianga
mia cruda sorte,
e che sospiri la libertà.
Il duolo infranga queste ritorte
de' miei martiri sol per pietà.

which translates as

Let me weep
over my cruel fate,
and sigh for freedom.
Let my sorrow break the chains
of my suffering, out of pity.

Performed by (left to right, back to front)
Kati Kyme, baroque violin
Gabrielle Wunsch, baroque violin
Elizabeth Blumenstock, baroque violin
Maxine Nemerovski, baroque violin
Lisa Grodin, baroque viola
Farley Pearce, violone
Shirley Edith Hunt, baroque cello
David Tayler, archlute
Hanneke van Proosdij, baroque organ
And of course, Kirsten Blaise, soprano.


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