The quest begins with “Piangerò la sorte mia” from Giulio Cesare by George Frideric Handel. He composed Giulio Cesare in Egitto in 1724 during his most successful period in London, at the height of the Italian opera seria tradition. Premiering at the King’s Theatre in the Haymarket, the opera was an immediate triumph, celebrated for its emotional depth, dramatic clarity, an virtuosic vocal writing.
In “Piangerò la sorte mia,” Handel structures the aria to mirror Cleopatra’s psychological transformation. Sung by the heroine in a moment of profound vulnerability, the aria confronts love in its most fragile state. Written at a moment when she believes herself to be defeated and abandoned, the aria reveals Handel’s extraordinary ability to distill profound emotional truth through simplicity, allowing her feelings to emerge with devastating honesty. Handel structures the aria to mirror Cleopatra’s psychological transformation. Stripped of power and certainty, Cleopatra is left only with truth: her grief, her love, and her resolve. The A section is an intimate expression of grief, as she mourns her fate with quiet resignation and sorrow.
The B section of the aria marks a striking turn from sorrow to vengeance. Cleopatra imagines herself as a relentless presence, haunting her tyrant after death, “by day and by night”, forever depriving him of peace. In this moment, Handel exposes love wounded beyond endurance, transformed into fury and resolve.The music sharpens in affect and intention, revealing vengeance as a vehicle for reclaiming personal agency in the face of loss.
LOVE IS VULNERABILITY. LOVE IS FURY.
So it is that in one day I lose
both splendor and grandeur? Ah cruel fate!
Caesar, my beautiful god, may be dead;
Cornelia and Sesto are powerless and
do not know how to help me. O god!
No hope remains in my life.
I shall weep over my cruel fate
So long as there remains
life in my breast.
But once I have perished,
I shall become a ghost and torment that tyrant
from all directions, day and night.
Translation by Andrew Schneider, 2018.