Xerxes: Ombra mai fu

Handel wrote this aria for the title role of his opera *Serse* in 1738, giving a Persian king the task of addressing a shady tree in tones of supreme romantic tenderness. The absurdist premise — a soldier falling in love with a piece of scenery — melts away entirely once the music begins. *Ombra mai fu* opens with an orchestral ritornello of such unhurried, luminous grace that the aria's eventual vocal entry feels like a natural emergence rather than an interruption. Handel writes for the castrato voice in long, sustained phrases that exploit the instrument's capacity for seamless breath, the melody curving slowly around a simple harmonic progression that needs nothing additional to justify its existence. The text praises the shade of the tree as the most beloved and delightful in the world, and Handel sets it with such apparent sincerity that irony becomes irrelevant. Performed today by a countertenor, mezzo-soprano, or even a cello, the piece transcends its comic operatic context to become simply one of the most beautiful slow melodies in Western music.