DESCRIPTION:
"Se potessero i sospir miei"
from Handel's opera Imeneo, (HWV 41)

sung here by Ann Hallenberg

Capella Augustina (on period instruments)
Conductor: Andreas Spering

First performed November 22, 1740 at Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, London.
The role of Tirinto was sung by alto-castrato Giovanni Battista Andreoni.

Libretto was adapted from Silvio Stampiglia's "Imeneo"

TIRINTO:
Se potessero i sospir miei
far che l'onde
a queste sponde
ritornassero il legno infido:
lo vorrei
tutti scogliere là sul lido
i sospiri del mio cor.
Ma non posso far dal mare
ritornare
a me Rosmene.
Deh! Su l'ali a queste arene
la conduca il dio d'amor.

TRANSLATION:
If only my sighs could make
the waves
bring back the faithless ship
to this shore,
I would
there on the shore
spill my heart in sighs.
But they cannot return
Rosmene to me
from the ocean;
oh! that the god of love
brought her back here on his wings.

This aria was clearly the model for David's "O Lord, whose mercies numberless" from Handel's oratorio Saul, which Handel finished and performed while Imeneo remained a work in progress. The same character's show-stopping aria '"Sorge nell'alma mia" was obviously the seed for "Why do the nations" from Messiah composed soon afterwards. 

The complete opera recording available from Cpo Records:

http://www.amazon.com/Handel-Imeneo-Ann-Hallenberg/dp/B00011MK5G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294630800&sr=8-1

FURTHER RESEARCH:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imeneo

http://www.gfhandel.org/reviews/hwv041cpo.htm

Art by Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (1817-1900)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Aivazovsky

Do you like Ann Hallenberg? Then join her official fan page on Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ann-Hallenberg-the-official-page/172393199455430

Also the group "The Ann Hallenberg appreciation society"http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=31004620471

Look for Ann Hallenberg's forthcoming CD which accompanies Donna Leon's book "Handel's Bestiary: In Search of Animals in Handel's Operas" to be released in the US April 5, 2011:

http://www.amazon.com/Handels-Bestiary-Search-Animals-Operas/dp/0802119964/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1294728242&sr=8-1