Finche prendi, from Orlando

While Handel may be best known for his spectacular choral works in English, he was no less successful with Italian opera. Among the latter, Orlando (1733) garners much critical acclaim today, though that was not always the case. It is based on Arioso’s Orlando Furioso which served as source material for several of Handel’s other projects. Orlando was written to showcase a famous castrato of the day. However, the production closed after only eleven performances, and the work—like so many great Italian tragic operas—languished until its 20th-century revival.
The plot of Orlando centers on the title character and his unrequited love for Angelica, who is herself in love with a wounded Moorish soldier, Medoro. “Fammi combattere” is Orlando’s valiant attempt to prove the depth of his devotion to Angelica. As such, it is replete with virtuosic, athletic vocal gestures. As the action unfolds and Orlando suffers greater torment from his inability to conquer Angelica, he begins to lose touch with reality. Ultimately, he would have been responsible for the deaths of both Angelica and Medoro had not a magician managed to secret them away. The duet “Finche prendi” is a masterful psychological study in contrast: contrasting emotions, contrasting states of sanity. Angelica’s music focuses on the dolorous, Orlando’s on the defiant. Her motives—using the minor mode and a pleading, walking bass—are periodically trodden upon by Orlando’s more unstable, faster phrases. It is less a duet than a duel.

(c) Jason Stell