♪ Lascia ch’io pianga

私を泣かせてください

どうか泣くのをお許しください
 この過酷な運命に
 どうか自由にあこがれることをお許しください
 わが悲しみは、打ち続く受難に鎖されたまま
 憐れみさえも受けられないのであれば

 Julia Lezhneva 　美しいコロラチューラ・ソプラノ

英国ロイヤル・オペラ来日公演で素晴らしい歌声を披露  ユリア・レージネヴァ

Almirena’s Aria from Handel’s Opera, Rinaldo
by Aaron Green

Georg Frideric Handel’s opera, Rinaldo, was the first Italian opera written for the English stage. Despite less-than-stellar judgments from the English music critics, the audiences loved it.

The story takes place in Jerusalem at the end of the 11th century, at the time of the first Crusades. At the end of the first act, the knight Rinaldo sits with his lover, Almirena in the garden.
All of a sudden the evil sorceress appears and abducts Almirena. At the start of the second act, Almirena sits in her captor’s palace garden mourning her predicament. Having been taken away from the love of her life with no hope of ever escaping, Almirena can only pray for mercy. Listen to this sublime performance of “Lascia ch’io pianga” by Renee Fleming on YouTube. To learn more about the story of Rinaldo, read the Rinaldo Synopsis.