Handel - recit: Frondi tenere e belle - air: Ombra mai fu

Handel, at the age of 53, was rheumatic, in depression and deeply in debt. His friends suggested a benefit concert, which he found intolerable and humiliating. Despite violent bi-lingual rages, he succumbed to the indignity. The concert raised a record sum of over a thousand pounds, which cleared him of his debt and his depression.

Characteristically, he worked manically, non stop at Serse: eighteen days later it was performed at the King's Theatre.