We know very little about Handel’s Clori, Tirsi e Fileno, other than that it was composed in 1707 during his Italian sojourn, and that it was intended for private performance in the palace of one of his aristocratic Roman patrons. Written to cater for secular tastes at a time when opera was actually prohibited by the church in the papal states, it’s essentially a pastoral cantata on an erotic subject for three singers and a handful of players.
The shepherdess Clori has two lovers, Tirsi (who has a bit of a temper) and Fileno (prone to melancholy), whom she plays off against each other, until the men first get wise to it, then become close to each other themselves. At this point the narrative breaks off, and Handel and his anonymous librettist give us a closing trio in which the protagonists ruefully comment on the bittersweet vagaries of desire. The score is glorious, a succession of arias and ensembles that pre-empt the ambiguities, depth and understanding of the major operas that followed. Its beauties and subtlety were very much apparent in this lovely performance at the Wigmore Hall.
