'Withhold the executing hand ... Can I see my infant gor'd?' (Solomon) - G. F. Handel (April, 2024)

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This aria, belonging to a character only referred to as ‘Second Israelitish Woman’ (or sometimes - and very unkindly - as ‘Second Harlot’) from Solomon (1748), tells the story of a mother’s sacrificial love for her son.

Two women have entered Solomon’s court with a baby, both declaring the baby theirs. As a means of revealing the boy’s true mother from the women’s reactions, Solomon commands that the only just solution is to cut the baby in half and let each woman have half, as there is no way to know who is speaking the truth.

Having just heard the other woman give praise to the king for his ‘prudent and right’ sentence and assuming Solomon really means to kill the boy, the real mother speaks up and begs him to allow her to let the lying woman take all of her son, if that would spare his life.