Se teco vive il cor

George Frideric Handel (1685 – 1759) is one of the most important composers of the Baroque era. Born in Germany, he is most famous for his oratorio, Messiah, but he also wrote thirty operas over a period of forty years. “Se teco vive il cor” comes from one of those operas, Radamisto, written in 1720, As is so often true in opera, the story of Radamisto is a tangled one. In terms of this duet, however, “Se teco...” is a fairly straight-forward love song between Radamisto and his wife Zenobia. Of interest is the fact that, in this version, Radamisto is sung by a soprano, which was a typical convention of the day.

Another convention of the era was the use of embellishment, particularly when music repeated itself. With that in mind, this edition offers some ideas be sung on the repeat of the A section. Please feel free, however, to create your own ornaments, which is exactly what Baroque singers would have done.

One final note is that this edition has been transposed down one whole step.

Click here to see a sample.

Click here to listen to a recording (MP3).