Blogging A to Z: "X" is for Xerxes

One of the most famous of Handel's near-countless works is this brief but glorious aria from his opera Xerxes, "Ombra mai fu," known also as simply the Largo from Xerxes. You might say this piece is one of Handel's greatest hits (remember that series of albums that came out a few decades back--Bach's Greatest Hits, Beethoven's Greatest Hits, etc.?) There are so many recordings of it, both vocal and instrumental. And there is even a (less than stellar) performance, given by the character of Mary Bennet, in the phenomenally popular 1995 mini-series Pride and Prejudice, which, I fear, remains in the mind's ear of anyone who watches that mini-series on a regular basis.

Therefore, to dispel Mary Bennet's performance from our minds, here is the piece as it should be heard, sung by the much-beloved and much-mourned Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson.

For those who read music, please disregard the sheet music shown on the video: it is a very outdated edition, and should not be considered accurate, musically or textually, by today's scholastic standards.