L'ALLEGRO, IL PENSEROSO ED IL MODERATO by George Frederick Handel
Classical Music
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1h 47m
L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato is a pastoral ode in three parts by George Frederick Handel based on the poetry of John Milton. Premiered in 1740 in London at the Theater Royal Lincoln's Inn Fields Text by Charles Jennens, based on poems by John Milton.
At the urging of one of Handel's librettists, Charles Jennens, Milton's two poems, "L'Allegro" and "il Penseroso", were arranged by James Harris, interleaving them to create dramatic tension between the personified characters of Milton's poems (L'Allegro or the "Joyful man" and il Penseroso or the "Contemplative man"). The first two movements consist of this dramatic dialog between Milton's poems. In an attempt to unite the two poems into a singular "moral design", at Handel's request, Jennens added a new poem, "il Moderato", to create a third movement. The popular concluding aria and chorus, "As Steals the Morn" is adapted from Shakespeare's The Tempest.
Director: Paul McCreesh (Music Conductor)
Cast: Gillian Webster (Soprano), Jeremy Ovenden (Tenor), Ashley Riches (Bass), Gabrieli Consort and Players
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