Händel: Se vago rio (Aminta e Fillide) - Jaroussky
High resolution and stereo sound: [bad word] /www [bad word] watch?v=40lItEYxfXg&fmt=18 

"Se vago rio" (Aminta), from the dramatic cantata "Aminta e Fillide" HWV.83 (also known as "Arresta il passo"), music by Georg Friedrich Händel, created in Rome [bad word]  on July 14, 1708.

 This aria became the mermaids' aria a due "Il vostro maggio" in "Rinaldo" (1711). Philippe Jaroussky (countertenor), Ensemble Artaserse, conducted by Philippe Jaroussky. Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, March 2, 2008. In this recording, the aria has been transposed down by 3 semitones. Also, the first three bars in the da capo have been switched with the next three bars, and I have edited the score accordingly. As you will notice, the solo violin doesn't play all its part, and adds a lot of ornamentation when it plays. Needless to say, the score doesn't mention that the [bad word] should be played pizzicato, and implies the presence of a harpsichord in some passages (tutti). *** 

AMINTA 
Se vago rio fra sassi frange l'amato argento, al fin contento posa nel mare; [ma] il ciglio mio, che sempre piange, non trova seno che ponga freno al suo penare. 

Translation (by Anthony Hicks): AMYNTAS Though a pretty stream may break up its lovely silver among rocks, at last it [bad word] to rest in the sea; [but] my eyes, ever weeping, find no heart that offers respite to their suffering. *** M.D.