Dunedin Consort & John Butt

This leading baroque ensemble revives Handel's sparkling comic cantata, unearthing the origins of his operatic masterpieces.

Little is known about the genesis of Handel's early comic cantata Clori, Tirsi e Fileno, but the score was mined for a number of hits in his more well-known operas. Who better to bring this once neglected comedy to fizzing life than the dynamic Dunedin Consort and their incisive Music Director, John Butt.

Clori, Tirsi e Fileno tells the pastoral tale of an indecisive shepherdess whose wavering affections drive both her suitors away, proving that love doesn’t always flourish – sometimes it fades before it even begins. A light-hearted romp through the mores of its time, it concludes with a playful trio, Vivere e non amar (‘To live and not to love’).

Sharp-eared listeners will find echoes in Handel's Rodrigo and Acis and Galatea but hearing this witty cantata in its full is a rare and revelatory treat.

0 Stars

the musicians responded with rhythmic precision to Butt’s every turn

Chicago Classical Review


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Programme

Sung in Italian with English surtitles.

Surtitle translation by Anthony Hicks, used with kind permission from harmonia mundi.

A keepsake freesheet is available at the venue for this performance.

Full programme

Handel Clori, Tirsi e Fileno

Performers

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  • Dunedin Consort
  • John Butt
    Director
  • Julie Roset
    Clori
  • Nardus Williams
    Tirsi
  • Reginald Mobley
    Fileno
Dunedin ConsortCloseOpen
  • Director
    John Butt
  • Violin I
    Matthew Truscott
    Sarah Bevan Baker
    Hilary Michael
  • Violin II
    Rebecca Livermore
    Kristin Deeken
    Alice Earll
  • Viola
    Sascha Bota
    Fran Gilbert
  • Cello
    Jonathan Manson
    Lucia Capellaro
  • Violone
    Christine Sticher
  • Theorbo
    Toby Carr
  • Oboe
    Frances Norbury
  • Oboe/Recorder
    Oonagh Lee
  • Recorder
    László Rózsa

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