To help make up for yesterday’s delinquency, for my second selection in today’s celebration of the works of George Frideric Handel, I’ll give you perhaps my very favorite aria of his, “Mio cor, che mi sai dir?” from the opera Rinaldo. In this aria, Goffredo has reached the end of his rope as he has not only lost his daughter to the machinations of the enemy, but now the hero Rinaldo as well, whose poor judgement has led him to jump into the sea at the call of a siren. This frantic, raw aria is the first time we really see Goffredo lose his cool in this opera, and the result is both heart-wrenching and exciting, especially when sung by someone like the incredible Bernarda Fink.
Mio cor, che mi sai dir? O vincer, o morir, sì, sì, t'intendo. Se la mia gloria freme, sol da una bella speme io pace attendo. | What do you advise, my heart? Victory, or death, yes, I hear you. My honor may falter, but hope leads me to expect peace. - translation by Kenneth Chalmers
As a bonus, I’ll include a link to a second video here—this is from the student production of Rinaldo I adapted and directed last summer. The cast is entirely made up of high school students. The English translation of the preceding recitative is extremely loose, as you’ll notice. The aria is in the original Italian, sung by one of our outgoing seniors, Angela Oldham Barca (18). Please enjoy! - Melinda Beasi
