Handel by Jonathan Keates

the Nisi Dominus , whose ostinato string figure is used again to thrilling effect at the beginning of Zadok the Priest .The psalm is a tiny capsule of perfectly staged coups de théâtre (note the miraculous stillness, for example, of Cum dederit delectis suis somnum , in which the voice floats above the ghostly accompaniment like a winter sun) ideally Roman, ideally Baroque, in form and idiom.
    During the spring of 1707 Handel was busy in other directions. As well as his entrée to the Ottoboni household he had gained an introduction to an equally rich and influential amateur who very soon became a devoted admirer of his music. Like Ottoboni, Benedetto Pamphilj was both a cardinal and the great-nephew of a pope. Innocent X raised him to the purple in 1681 and his musical patronage embraced several of those who performed at the Cancelleria, including Corelli and Scarlatti, for whom he wrote libretti. As a poet he was not without talent. Handel clearly appreciated the musicality of his verses and various cantata texts are certainly his. On a much larger scale Pamphilj produced a work in the genre identified as ‘moral cantata’, to be set by Handel possibly for one of Ottoboni’s concerts. Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno nella Bellezza ravveduta (The Triumph of Time and Truth over Beauty repentant) has never really received the attention it deserves from Handel enthusiasts. The fact that he returned to it on two subsequent occasions, thirty and fifty years respectively after the first version, suggests that he maintained some sort of special interest or involvement in the work. At any rate the libretto is certainly no worse than many others he came to set, and in overall smoothness and elegance often a good deal better.
    The underlying idea is the kind of moral abstract cherished by the Baroque imagination. Cantatas in this style *(d) were based on the notion of ‘The world’s wicked vanities’ and had titles like ‘How Deceitful Are Our Pleasures!’, ‘Teach Me How To Die’ or ‘The Contest Between Wisdom And Holiness’. In Il Trionfo Time and Truth oppose Pleasure in a combat for the allegiance of Beauty, who eventually yields to them after being offered visions of what will happen if she chooses the alternative. Pleasure is finally sent packing, in a burst of resentment, when Beauty casts her away after another look in the faithful glass, which she has invoked in the opening aria. As dramatic material there is nothing especially promising in all this,but it gave Handel the chance to develop a distinctive aria style which, though it absorbs material from the Hamburg years, is very different from anything he had evolved earlier. Something of the sweep and exuberance of his mature operatic manner is here already, underpinned by a rich scoring, which includes paired recorders, plentiful work for solo oboe and violin, and a sinfonia with an organ solo, whisking a somewhat bewildered Beauty into the Domain of Pleasure. Several of the numbers have, besides, a genuine distinction, which transcends the imaginative limits of Pamphilj’s text. There is an extended quartet, in which Handel plays with the word ‘tempo’ as Beauty pleads for time to consider her choice, while Time, Truth and Pleasure throw in their arguments. Among the arias ‘Urne voi’, Time’s exclamation of dignified outrage at frail Beauty’s sheer insolence, is justly admired for its harmonic boldness. A sequence of jagged chords in F minor (one of Handel’s favourite ‘special effect’ keys) forms the starting point for what ultimately becomes a shattering vision of anarchic gloom, as the urns of dead beauties are commanded to yield up their grisly treasures.
    The overture to Il Trionfo may well have been the source of a famously contentious moment between the young composer and Corelli. As leader of the Ottoboni band, Corelli had some difficulty in satisfying