Handel: Il Trionfo del tempo

Written in 1707 (and Handel's first oratorio) Il Trionfo features the four characters of Beauty, Pleasure, Enlightenment and Time. The work is of great virtuosity and is quite sensual - which is at odds with the libretto's origins as they came from Handel's patron Cardinal Benedetto Pamphili. The score's greatness lies in Handel's understanding of the closeness between sensuous and spiritual experience and his refusal to downgrade the worldly in favour of the transcendent. Beauty and Pleasure are given some of the most consistently sexual music in his output!