About This Program

​Il Trionfo is where the eternal battle between fleeting pleasure and enduring truth unfolds through vivid allegory. Composed in Rome in 1707, George Frideric Handel’s very first oratorio Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (The Triumph of Time and Disillusion) brings to life four embodiments: Beauty, Pleasure, Time, and Disillusionment. As the soaring melodies and ornate arias unfold, Beauty finds herself torn between the seductive promises of Pleasure and the sobering counsel of Time and Disillusionment, ultimately discovering a path of wisdom and spiritual clarity. Experience this story–as relevant now as it was three centuries ago–told through one of the Baroque era’s greatest musical minds.