HÄNDEL THROUGH THE BROKEN MIRROR
For seven musicians: sopranpista, traverso, violin, viola da gamba, harpsichord, double bass, theorbo and baroque guitarre.
Maayan Licht
Händel was a master at capturing the full emotional spectrum of the human experience, and this program moves between three fundamental poles: desire, loss, and the transformation of love.
As with a broken mirror, there is no linear narrative, but rather flashes: scenes of longing, pain, struggle, and solace. Together, they compose a story that is not explicit, but deeply coherent.
This program does not follow the logic of a conventional opera, but proposes a fragmented journey, as if characters from different works were to cross paths fleetingly. The improvised preludes—so characteristic of BREZZA—that weave together the different sections of the program are not mere transitions: they function as instrumental recitatives, articulating the action and revealing the characters’ psychological depth. Their free, intimate, and expressive nature makes them the living substrate of the program, where the performer’s gesture evokes the soul of the drama without the need for words.
Desire emerges in music of longing and promise, from the solemn opening of Semele to the radiant joy of Apollo e Dafne.
Loss takes shape in betrayal and sorrow—Ariodante and Theodora reveal love’s fragility, while Aci, Galatea e Polifemo reaches a peak of emotional despair.
Transformation arrives not with resolution, but with inner change. In pieces like The soft complaining flute and Da tempeste il legno infranto, we hear the soul reimagined—scarred, but alive and renewed. It is the final shard—the one that embraces all the others.