Drax Power station: Lascia ch'io pianga

Above is Angela Gheorghiu. singing the aria Lascia ch’io pianga The Royal Opera House at Covent Garden.
The news that Drax power station has been fully converted to burn wood and not coal has been comprehensively and articulately lambasted by the excellent Christopher Booker in the Daily Mail article below:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2290444/Madness-How-pay-billions-electricity-bills-Britains-biggest-power-station-switch-coal-wood-chips–wont-help-planet-jot.html
The Editor is sure that British Gazette readers will appreciate the linkage here as the Italian libretto:
Lascia ch’io pianga
mia cruda sorte,
e che sospiri la libertà.
Il duolo infranga queste ritorte
de’ miei martiri sol per pietà.
Translaes as:
Let me weep
my cruel fate,
and sigh for liberty.
May sorrow break these chains
Of my sufferings, for pity’s sake.
These words we think sums up the Reader’s exasperation with the treasonous coterie masquerading as the government of this formerly sovereign country who are presiding over the greatest fraud perpetrated against the British People since the South Sea Island scam in 1721.
Indeed we think that British Gazette readers will take note of the fact that George Frideric Handel (23rd February 1685 – 14th April 1759) lived through the 1721 scam and we feel that the great man would consider Lascia ch’io pianga most apposite to the occasion!
The melody for the aria began its life as an Asian dance in his 1705 opera Almira. As an aria the piece was first used in Handel’s 1707 oratorio Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno; albeit with a different libretto and name, “Lascia la spina”. Handel later recycled the work for his 1711 opera Rinaldo (with the present libretto), giving the aria to the character Almirena (portrayed by soprano Isabella Girardeau in the opera’s premiere) in Act II. Rinaldo was a major triumph for Handel, and it is with this work that the aria is chiefly associated.

One thought on “Drax Power station: Lascia ch'io pianga

  1. Quite beautiful and what a treat after listening to all the rubbish thrown at us by those with the power (and determination) to destroy our once great country.
    I’m afraid the translation even into their mother tongue, would still be lost on those who seem deaf to all but their own desires.
    Follow on recordings have a lovely one by Becky Jane Taylor, then age 19.

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