Handel - Opera: "Julius Caesar" ("Va tacito") Dame Janet Baker.

Giulio Cesare in Egitto (Julius Caesar in Egypt, HWV 17), commonly known simply as Giulio Cesare, is an Italian opera in three acts written for the Royal Academy of Music by George Frideric Handel in 1724.

This is an English version, staged (sumptiously) for TV in 1985 by the English National Opera under Sir Charles Mackerras. In this clip, the marvellous, beautiful Dame Janet Baker (Mezzo Soprano - as Caesar) sings the Aria "How silently..." - in Italian "Va tacito e nascosto". It has always been one of my favourite Handel Arias, and Dame Janet sings, as well as acts this part most memorably, alongside an extensive solo natural horn obbligato - the predecessor to the modern-day (French) horn.

I posted this because it reminded me of the Aria from Bach's Cantata No. 54 - Widerstehe doch der Sünde. Of course, there are vast differences in context (to say the least) but there are musical similarities. I have cross-posted to the Bach/Gould vid I uploaded here:

   • Glenn Gould & Russell Oberlin  - Bach...  

More info upcoming -