The aria "Rompo i lacci" from Handel's opera Flavio, Christopher Lowrey, countertenor. Performed on original instruments by the award-winning Early Music ensemble Voices of Music in collaboration with Gotham Early Music Scene (GEMS). 8K video from our concert in NYC, October 6, 2022. Baroque oboe solo by David Dickey.
Text and translation:
Rompo i lacci, e frango i dardi (Flavio)
Che al mio seno amor scagliò;
Ma poi senza l’idol mio
Come, O Dio ! viver potrò?

I break the bonds, I smash the darts
That love hurled at my chest.
But…without my idol,
O God, how will I be able to live?

The fast and furious “Rompi lacci” from Flavio uses a formula that Handel employed to great effect on dozens of arias: an introduction with contrasting textures sets the affect, then a punctuated “topic” statement by the singer is followed by a slightly longer statement which transitions to a series of long, virtuosic melismas.
The origin and development of the Da Capo aria (“Da Capo” simply means “take it from the top”) is traditionally assigned to Alessandro Scarlatti, and it is certainly true that he developed the form. However, digging into the scores of the most famous opera composers of the 17th century, we find many examples from around the year 1650 in the works of Cavalli, Carissimi and Cesti, and Luigi Rossi may well have started the trend in the 1640s. By 1690, Da Capo arias began to supersede other forms, and the 1685 composers—Handel, Bach and Domenico Scarlatti—all wrote masterpieces.
Voices of Music is a pioneer in digital technology for the arts, and more than 80,000 people watch concerts and programming from our ensemble each day—more than thirty million viewers a year. In addition to our acclaimed Concert Series in the San Francisco Bay Area, Voices of Music sponsors the Emerging Artists Program, the Junior Recorder Society and the Barbary Coast Recorder Orchestra.
Voices of Music
Hanneke van Proosdij & David Tayler ~ directors
Christopher Lowrey ~ countertenor
David Dickey ~ baroque oboe
Aniela Eddy, Kati Kyme,
Isabelle Seula Lee, Augusta McKay Lodge* &
Shelby Yamin ~ baroque violin
Kyle Miller & Maureen Murchie ~ baroque viola
Ana Kim & William Skeen** ~ baroque violoncello
Doug Balliett ~ baroque bass
Dongsok Shin ~ organ
Hanneke van Proosdij ~ harpsichord
David Tayler ~ archlute
*concertmaster **continuo
Producer: John Thiessen
Video director: Murat Eyuboglu
Audio Engineer: David Tayler
Harpsichord courtesy of Gwendolyn Toth, made by John Phillips, Berkeley, CA, 2014, after Johann Heinrich Gräbner Jr, 1739, preserved in the Kunstgewerbemuseum, Dresden, at Schloss Pillnitz.
Chinoiserie by Janine Johnson.
Filmed in 8K with Sony A1 cameras and Sony lenses. Microphones by Sennheiser and Schoeps.
Live from the Church of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Manhattan.
The Rev’d Dr Andrew C. Blume, Rector