https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZrQQ0oLLRcImeneo (Hymen) (HWV 41) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. The Italian-language libretto was adapted from Silvio Stampiglia's Imeneo.
The opera opens with Tirinto's lamentation of his lost love, Rosmene, to barbaric pirates. Another girl has been abducted, Clomiri. Together he grieves with Clomiri's father, Argenio. But they learn that a brave, strong man named Imeneo, who had killed every pirate while they were sleeping. Everyone rejoices, and Imeneo, along with the rest of the country and Rosmene's parents, expects Rosmene to marry him, though her true feelings are for Tirinto. Thus Rosmene is caught in a painfully awkward love triangle. Additionally, Clomiri has amorous feelings for Imeneo. Clomiri helps Imeneo realize that she is hesitant because of her relationship with Tirinto, and that she is putting his contentment before hers. When Imeneo, who insists that she is ungrateful, and Tirinto, who calls her unfaithful, tell her to decide who she will marry, she feigns a nervous breakdown in front of the characters. Eventually, she marries Imeneo. She learns that true love is not as important as honor and duty. Rosmene asks Tirinto to be happy for her. Her decision leaves Clomiri and Torinti left to cry at the end. The chorus at the end of the opera restates that one must not bow down to one's desire, but to reason; one must not follow true feelings and fidelity, but gratitude and honor.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imeneo
« Last Edit: 18 Apr, 2008, 23:04:17 by λinaπ »
Πλούσιος άνθρωπος είναι ο άνθρωπος που αξίζει πολλά και όχι ο άνθρωπος που έχει πολλά. (Κ. Μαρξ)
