An oratorio in which the characters Pleasure, Time and Disillusion take on human form to compete for Beauty’s soul.

An oratorio on a universal theme, Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno is a work that resonates with each and every one of us.
Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1859) arrived in Rome in 1707, determined to immerse himself in the world of music and opera in particular. With the aura of a great organist behind him, he soon found his place among the Roman elite. There was just one catch: shortly before his arrival, the Pope had banned the public performance of operas in Rome alone.
Cardinal Benedetto Pamphili was a man of culture and letters, and his sumptuous palace was home to the best musicians of the time. The author of numerous texts set to music, he commissioned Händel to write an oratorio with a libretto of his own, entitled La Bellezza ravveduta nel trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno.
Händel was prevented from writing an opera, but not from using its formal resources. In Il trionfo, the singers, especially the characters Beauty and Pleasure, are required to have a superlative vocal technique, and the whole work is full of expressiveness. In fact, not being able to rely on scenic expedients, Händel had to exploit the full potential of musical eloquence to characterise the different characters.
In addition to these, Time and Disillusion make up one side, while Pleasure is on the other. Beauty is the character who develops the most, oscillating between the arguments presented. But the title is self-explanatory: Time and Disillusion triumph.
In 1711, four years after the composition of Il trionfo, Händel used the same melody as the aria Lascia la spina, cogli la rosa in his opera Rinaldo, eternalising it under the title Lascia ch’io pianga.

Georg Friedrich Händel, Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno / O triunfo do tempo e do desengano (1737) (The Beauty Revived in the Triumph of Time and Disenchantment) HWV 46a

Oratória em duas partes de Benedetto Pamphili.