Title: Acis & Galatea Artist: Les Lunes du Cousin Jacques Label: Naxos Product Type: COMPACT DISCS UPC: 747313274574 Genre: Classical, Opera/Operetta Release Date: 2012-06-26 Number of Discs: 2
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.
Tracks: 1.1 Sinfonia 1.2 Oh, the Pleasures of the Plain 1.3 Ye Verdant Plains and Woody Mountains 1.4 Hush, Ye Pretty Warbling Quire 1.5 Where Shall I Seek the Charming Fair? 1.6 Stay, Shepherd, Stay 1.7 Shepherd, What Art Thou Pursuing? 1.8 Lo! Here My Love 1.9 Love in Her Eyes Sits Playing 1.10 Oh! Didst Thou Know the Pains of Absent Love 1.11 As When the Dove Laments Her Love 1.12 Happy We! 2.1 Wretched Lovers! Fate Has Passed 2.2 I Rage, I Melt, I Burn 2.3 O Ruddier Than the Cherry 2.4 Whither, Fairest, Art Thou Running 2.5 Cease to Beauty to Be Suing 2.6 Would You Gain the Tender Creature 2.7 His Hideous Love Provokes My Rage 2.8 Love Sounds Th'alarm 2.9 Consider, Fond Shepherd 2.10 Cease, Oh Cease, Thou Gentle Youth 2.11 The Flocks Shall Leave the Mountains 2.12 Help, Galatea! Help, Ye Parent Gods! 2.13 Mourn, All Ye Muses 2.14 Must I My Acis Still Bemoan 2.15 'Tis Done: Thus I Exert My Pow'r Divine 2.16 Heart, the Seat of Soft Delight 2.17 Galatea, Dry Thy Tears
