Il delirio amoroso | Wiener Philharmoniker at Theater an der Wien

One of Handel's best-known orchestral works is the Water Music, at least part of which was written at the behest of King George I for pleasure boating on the Thames in 1717 and thereafter. The three suites, generously orchestrated, festive and light-hearted, were a great success the first time they were performed and remain so to this day. In our programme, the Water Music is preceded by the Concerto Grosso in G major, the first of twelve such concertos that Handel wrote in the space of a single month in 1739. Delirio Amoroso, a cantata for soprano about the delusional love of a nymph to a text by Cardinal Benedetto Pamphili, was an enchanting calling card that Handel produced in 1707 shortly after arriving in Rome. Music lovers in the Eternal City were quickly clamouring to see the young German composer. Here, he plays with a wide variety of musical forms such as minuet and sonata, and the style of many passages is reminiscent of concerti grossi so that the programme ranges stylistically from Handel's early work to the concerto written in 1739.