Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno

There are only four characters in this oratorio and no choir; there is little or no action either! The theatricality lies elsewhere: in Handel's Baroque music, no doubt, where chiaroscuro, tension and release intertwine, along with a wide variety of virtuoso passages.

Let us return for a moment to the genesis of this work. The libretto was written in 1707 in Rome by Cardinal Benedetto Pamphili. Operas had been banned in the city since the publication of a ban by Pope Innocent XI. The oratorio (religious opera) was originally intended for the church, but it was not uncommon to hear it in the palaces of the aristocracy, who were reminded of Christian morality. The religious authorities, who were powerful at the time, preached the virtuous path that leads to divine reward.

---

The beauty of female youth, which was particularly targeted, represented the temptation that must be avoided. Salvation was only possible by avoiding a life of pleasure in favour of total devotion to God, and it was necessary to act quickly because life could end suddenly.

In this context, the four allegorical figures: Beauty, Pleasure, Time and Disillusionment, embody the philosophical and moral positions of the time. Beauty — that is, the viewer — begins to doubt his initial convictions while enjoying the present moment — Carpe Diem — and ends up choosing the path of redemption by entering the convent.