"La tigre arde di sdegno" (Admeto),
from the opera Admeto, re di Tessaglia, HWV 22

Libretto: Anonymous, after Ortensio Mauro's revised version (1681) of Aurelio Aureli's Antigona delusa da Alceste (music by Pietro Andrea Ziani, 1660), from Euripides' Alcestis

Music: Georg Friedrich Händel

First performance: London, King's Theatre, Haymarket - 31 January 1727
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Admeto: René Jacobs, countertenor

Il Complesso Barocco,
conducted by Alan Curtis

Recorded in 1978
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Recitativo

ADMETO
Amor, qual nuova fiamma
mi risvegli nel core?
Che vaneggio? Sì tosto
perdo d'Alceste mia
la memoria, e l'ardore?
Ma che? dovrò lasciare
ad un lascivo in preda
soggetto a sozzi baci,
quella beltà, ch'alle mie nozze aspira?
No, no, m'arda nel petto
se non fiamma d'Amore incendio d'ira.

Aria

La tigre arde di sdegno,
se perde il caro pegno,
ma se lo trova poi,
lo stringe al petto e annoda,
e ogn'or godendo va.

La tortora si lagna,
se persa ha la compagna,
se la rivede poi,
la voce al canto snoda
e seco in gioia sta.
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Translation (by Hugh Graham):

Recitativo

ADMETO
Love, what new flame
do you awaken in my heart?
Am I raving? Have I so soon
lost my memory of Alceste,
and my passion for her?
But what, then? Must I leave
as a prey to the foul kisses
of a wanton that beauty
who wishes to be wedded to me?
No, no; in my breast burns,
if not the flame of love, then the blaze of anger.

Aria

The tigress burns with anger
if she loses her dear mate,
but when she finds him again,
she holds him in a close embrace
and will not let him go.

The turtle dove complains
if he loses his companion,
but when he sees her again
he bursts into song
and is happy to be with her.
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Eser.

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