Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno

Composed in 1707 in Rome, Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (The Triumph of Time and Truth) is Handel's very first oratorio. It features four allegorical characters: Beauty, Pleasure, Time, and Truth. Beauty chooses to ignore the finite nature of existence, and the fickle quality of good looks, preferring instead to admire herself in the mirror of Pleasure. But Time and Truth unite to prove to her that beauty is a flower that blooms in a day ...