Sabine Devieilhe shifts moods through 4 contrasting arias

THE SONGBIRD: French soprano Sabine Devieilhe was born in 1985. She entered the Caen Conservatory when she was 12 in order to study the cello, but became a singer instead. After graduating from the Lycée Malherbe in Caen, Devieilhe obtained a diploma in musicology at the University of Rennes. In 2008, she entered the Conservatoire de Paris. Though she appeared in concert while in school, she made her operatic debut as Amina in 2011 with Jean-Claude Malgoire conducting. She sang at the Aix Festival in 2012, and quickly rose to important roles (Lakmé, Queen of the Night, La Folie, Euridice, Blonde, Ophélie, Melisande, Zerbinetta, Alcina, etc.) with debuts in Montpellier, Lyon, Nantes, Brussels, Paris, New York, Milan, and London.

THE MUSIC: Handel's opera seria "Ariodante" premiered in London in 1735. The role of Dalinda was written for the 22-year-old English soprano Cecilia Young, considered to be one of the best sopranos of her era. She also created for Handel the roles of Morgana in "Alcina" and Merab in "Saul," along with singing leading roles in several revivals of his earlier works. Young was married to composer Thomas Arne and appeared in many of his pieces and in his legendary concerts in Vauxhall Gardens. In the opera, Dalinda is a favorite attendant to the princess Ginevra and has four arias to express her various moods as the plot shifts around the complications of her love for Duke Polinesso, who is a villain that tricks her into helping him entrap Ginevra.

The four arias (with time stamps):
00:00 1. Apre le luci, e mira
04:27 2. Il primo ardor
08:06 3. Se tanto piace al cor
12:20 4. Neghittosi or voi che fate?