Hasse, "Tu me da me dividi barbaro" from La Clemenza di Tito (LIVE)

Johann Adolph Hasse (1699-1783) was one of the most prolific operatic composers of the Baroque era. He was married to the famous soprano Faustina Bordoni who was THE soprano of the age, with an incredible range and technique married to an equally impressive range of acting.

Faustina had a mezzo-soprano voice, that was less clear than penetrating. Her compass now was only from B flat to G in alt; but after this time she extended its limits downward. She possessed what the Italians call un cantar granito; her execution was articulate and brilliant. She had a fluent tongue for pronouncing words rapidly and distinctly, and a flexible throat for divisions, with so beautiful a shake that she put it in motion upon short notice, just when she would. The passages might be smooth, or by leaps, or consisting of iterations of the same note; their execution was equally easy to her as to any instrument whatever. She was, doubtless, the first who introduced with success a swift repetition of the same note. She sang adagios with great passion and expression, but was not equally successful if such deep sorrow were to be impressed on the hearer as might require dragging, sliding, or notes of syncopation and tempo rubato. She had a very happy memory in arbitrary changes and embellishments, and a clear and quick judgment in giving to words their full value and expression. In her action she was very happy; and as her performance possessed that flexibility of muscles and face-play which constitute expression, she succeeded equally well in furious, tender, and amorous parts. In short, she was born for singing and acting.
Quantz/Burney

I give such a long description of the singer, because this particular concert was from a programme dedicated to the singer (Faustina) and contained some of the most virtuoisic arias that were composed for her. It was an amazingly taxing programme for our singer, but she did manage!

Hasse was a strict adherent of the affect of keys, so that certain keys were supposed to evoke certain affects. This was a popular view at the time, and it was linked in part to the unequal temperaments that were used to tune instruments.

We had great fun with this piece, it may not be readily obvious, but the strings had to work quite hard to learn new ornamentations for the trills. The picture that you might notice was from a school that we had given an outreach concert to during the week. It is part of our mission to bring music to disadvantaged schools, and it is always an uplifting experience for us to bring this sort of music to communities that might never have heard any type of classical music.