Jane Archibald and Benedict Kearns perform 'With fond desiring' from Handel's Semele in the Glyndebourne Organ Room.

A brand new production of Semele, directed by Adele Thomas opens at Glyndebourne Festival 2023. Find out more: [ Ссылка ]

In Act II we see Semele and Jupiter at the height of their passion - alone together in Semele’s beautiful new palace. But, while Semele sings evocatively (and even erotically) about her love in her glittering aria ‘With fond desiring’, there’s still an underlying sense of anxiety in the music. Those gasping phrases - ‘panting, fainting’ - may conjure the physical urgency of her wants, but those fretful, circling phrases suggest that she’s not entirely sure of her new lover. With the bassline falling away altogether, voice and violin float, unmoored, in musical space - free and expressive, but also vulnerable.

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