Tanti strali al sen mi scocchi, HWV 197

Composed in 1710-1711 while Handel was in Italy, this duet comes from a collection of chamber pieces that Handel wrote as entertainment for Roman aristocracy. Handel composed over 100 chamber cantatas during his time in Rome, but his chamber duets and trios are often forgotten in comparison to his vast output of cantata writing. These intimate duets often later became arias in Handel’s large-scale operas.

This particular duet explores the titillating nature of love and desire, depicted with effervescent excitement at its beginning, contrasted with the weight of the possibility of its loss. The soprano opens the piece with scalar coloratura that evoke the shooting arrows, and coquettish eighth-note figures. The alto (performed here by countertenor) answers, their joyous lines weaving together.

To contrast the first movement’s hyperbolic effusions, Handel scores the second movement with slow suspensions and dissonances between the voices that create friction as they slide along the steadfast bass line. The final movement is a jubilant fugue, reveling in the immorality of love. Handel later uses this fugue in his famous oratorio Solomon.

You shoot as many arrows into my heart
as there are stars in the sky.
As many flowers as you touch,
they fall in love with your beauty.

But if my soul always groans,
Burned and consumed by love,
This happens because it burns and fears
Being separated from your heart.

Therefore, my beloved, bind
Even desire with an immortal chain.