DESCRIPTION:
"Quel bel labbro"
duet from Handel's opera Berenice, regina d'Egitto

From the new recording by Alan Curtis and Il Complesso Barocco
Klara Ek, Berenice and Ingela Bohlin, Alessandro

First performed May 18, 1737 at the Covent Garden Theatre in London with Anna Maria Strada del Pò, soprano and Gioacchino Conti, called "Gizziello" soprano-castrato as Berenice and Alessandro.

Libretto by Antonio Salvi (1709).

Alessandro: Quel bel labbro, quel vezzo, quel sguardo,

Berenice: Quella fede, quel volto, quel core,

Both: caro dardo fù a piagarmi del Nume d'amore.

Che sia eterna la nostra ferita, dolce vita, mai si spegna si lucido ardore.

TRANSLATION:

Alessando: Those lips, that beauty, those eyes.

Berenice: That firmness, that face, that courage.

Both: The dart was dear with which I was wounded by the god of love.

May our wound be eternal. Sweet life, may so bright a flame never die.


CD available from Virgin Classics:

http://www.amazon.com/Handel-Berenice-George-Frideric/dp/B003JVIB30/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1279325038&sr=1-1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berenice_(opera)


Art by Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912)

http://www.artrenewal.org/pages/artist.php?artistid=8