About This Item
Acis and Galatea, variously described as a pastoral, a 'little opera' and a masque, is one of Handel's most popular works. It is a delectable succession of pastoral airs, love-lorn lyrics, and sprightly or mourning choruses, spiced by the pungent and unforgettable interjection of the one-eyed giant Polyphemus, who destroys the idyll of the shepherd Acis and the nymph Galatea. Handel had first turned to the subject in a cantata written in Naples in 1708. His English work, formally a masque, went through several stages until this two-act version of 1739, written principally by John Gay and graced by Handel's exquisite music. Album Tracks 1. Sinfonia 2. Oh, the Pleasures of the Plain 3. Ye Verdant Plains and Woody Mountains 4. Hush, Ye Pretty Warbling Quire 5. Where Shall I Seek the Charming Fair? 6. Stay, Shepherd, Stay 7. Shepherd, What Art Thou Pursuing? 8. Lo! Here My Love 9. Love in Her Eyes Sits Playing 10. Oh! Didst Thou Know the Pains of Absent Love 11. As When the Dove Laments Her Love 12. Happy We! 1. Wretched Lovers! Fate Has Passed 2. I Rage, I Melt, I Burn 3. O Ruddier Than the Cherry 4. Whither, Fairest, Art Thou Running 5. Cease to Beauty to Be Suing 6. Would You Gain the Tender Creature 7. His Hideous Love Provokes My Rage 8. Love Sounds Th'alarm 9. Consider, Fond Shepherd 10. Cease, Oh Cease, Thou Gentle Youth 11. The Flocks Shall Leave the Mountains 12. Help, Galatea! Help, Ye Parent Gods! 13. Mourn, All Ye Muses 14. Must I My Acis Still Bemoan 15. 'Tis Done Thus I Exert My Pow'r Divine 16. Heart, the Seat of Soft Delight 17. Galatea, Dry Thy Tears
