Arne: ARTAXERXES - The soldier tir'd of war's alarms, London 1988, High D
THE SONGBIRD: Rosa Mannion was born in Liverpool in 1962, studied music in Scotland and then made her debut there as Adina in 1984. She was a Mozart and Handel specialist, on William Christie's bench of lyric-coloratura sopranos, but also sang Violetta, Manon, and the Hoffmann heroines. This extract is from a recital at Wigmore Hall called "Queens of Song" that was the brainchild of Gerald Martin Moore, who also accompanies. Mannion shared the program with Valerie Masterson and Anne Howells.
THE MUSIC: Thomas Arne's "Artaxerxes" was the first English opera seria, premiering at Covent Garden in 1762. Its plot is based on the historical figure Artaxerxes, who succeeded his father Xerxes who was assassinated. The work was a considerable success seeing hundreds of performances in many productions across the UK and America through the early 19th century. It has been revived only a few times in the modern era, most recently at Covent Garden to commemorate Arne's 300th anniversary, a production that was recorded and released on Linn Records. The most famous aria is an heroic showpiece consisting of seemingly endless strings of triplets: "The soldier tir'd of war's alarms" is sung by the character Mandane in Act 3.