Alcina is one of my absolute favourite operas, and this little aria is very dear to my heart. The role of Oronte was created for John Beard, barely 18 at the time, who started out as a boy soprano and had a long, extremely successful career ahead of him. Händel was the opposite of a hire-and-fire person - he loved his singers apparently and was very loyal to them. Personally, I think you can hear who the aria was written for if you pay attention. The tenor here vocally leaves many wishes open, but it doesn't matter - I have rewatched the aria so many times, and I always do it for Alice Coote who plays Ruggiero. Who can look at anything else if she is in the room? *edit: Tumblr "refuses to connect" to the unlisted vid, so here is the link.
This is "Oronte is veryone's straight friend after 7 beers" by Lankin on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love the