Rinaldo at Theater an der Wien

Handel's reputation was preceded him across the English channel. "The news of his uncommon ability were, even before his arrival in England, there spread out," recorded his first biographer John Mainwaring. "Many of the high nobility witnessed great impatience to see an opera of his work." This "fierce desire" his English contemporaries, to experience a work of young Saxony met Handel in the February 1711 with his first London Opera Rinaldo. According to librettist, Rossi, the Opera Handel has composed in two weeks,
"and this in greatest perfection". The fabric comes from Torquato Tasso cross Knight epic the liberated Jerusalem from the, especially the stories about Rinaldo and Armida was a popular opera material of the 17th century. But only in Handel's Opera the Knight Rinaldo is the dominant title character. The attempt of the
Enchantress Armida, to win it, fails due to his knightly virtue and his loyalty to his beloved Almirena.
The aria "Lascia la spina" from the oratorio IL trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (1707) used as a Dirge of Almerina Handel and created the famous "Lascia ch' ch'io pianga mia cruda variety".
The performance was Handel's first big success in London and the audience showed saddened about it that Handel should actually return as Kapellmeister at the Court of Hanover. But London made Handel his homeland and Rinaldo was revived several times over the following two decades.