Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
February 28th, 2025
Yu Garden, Hamburg, Germany
Ying Xiao: Soprano
Stefan Bötel: Piano
Florian Guantong Ding: Nyckelharpa
This is a performance of the concert that my esteemed colleague Ying and I did last year. Ying sung the beautiful and famous aria ”Lascia ch‘io pianga“ by Händel. Fortunately, for this particular performance a friend of us, Florian, joined our performance with playing on the Nyckelharpa. He is an expert on historical instruments and we are thankful that he made our performance so much more colourful!
Lascia ch'io pianga" is a famous aria by George Frideric Handel from the opera *Rinaldo* (1711).
Content of the aria
The aria is sung by the character Almirena. She has been captured by the sorceress Armida and laments her fate. In the song, Almirena asks to be allowed to freely express her sorrow and yearns for freedom.
The famous lyrics translate roughly to:
"Let me weep over my cruel fate,"
"and sigh for my freedom."
Context of the plot
The opera is set during the Crusades. The knight Rinaldo loves Almirena. When she is abducted, he must overcome numerous obstacles to rescue her. The aria occurs at a particularly emotional moment in the story, as Almirena expresses her despair while in captivity.
Significance
"Lascia ch'io pianga" is one of the most famous Baroque arias today. It is renowned for its simple, poignant melody and is frequently performed in concerts, films, and opera productions. The music conveys sorrow and longing in a very direct and moving way.
Nyckelharpa (Swedish: [ˈnʏ̂kːɛlˌharːpa], roughly "keyed fiddle" in Swedish, lit. 'key-harp', plural: nyckelharpor) is a "keyed" bowed chordophone, primarily originating from Sweden in its modern form, but with its historical roots scattered across medieval Europe. It is similar in appearance to a fiddle or violin but larger (in its earlier forms essentially a modified vielle), which employs key-actuated tangents along the neck to change the pitch during play, much like a hurdy-gurdy. The keys slide under the strings, with the tangents set perpendicularly to the keys, reaching above the strings. Upon key-actuation, the tangent is pressed to meet the corresponding string, much like a fret, shortening its vibrating length to that point, changing the pitch of the string. It is primarily played underarm, suspended from the shoulder using a sling, with the bow in the overhanging arm.
The origin of the instrument is unknown, but its historical foothold and modern development is much larger in Sweden than other countries, that being the only country with an unbroken usage. Many of the early historical depictions of the instrument are found in Sweden, with the earliest probable depiction being found on a relief located on a 14th century church portal. While historically, relatively speaking, not too common an instrument in Sweden, the violin outshining it in usage among spelmän (players of Swedish folk music), the nyckelharpa became a popular folk instrument in the Swedish province of Uppland during the 17th century, subsequently leading to its popularization and spread throughout Sweden the following centuries. By the 19th century it had become a "fine" instrument, being played at concerts in Stockholm,[3] and by the early 20th century it had become an archetypal instrument alongside the violin for Swedish folk music. Today it is considered by many to be the quintessential national instrument of Sweden. The oldest surviving nyckelharpa is dated 1526 and is part of the Zorn Collections in Mora Municipality, Sweden.
Besides Sweden, early depictions of nyckelharpor can also be found in Denmark, Germany and Italy, among other European countries. The earliest of these is found in a 1408 fresco by Taddeo di Bartolo at the Palazzo Pubblico chapel in Siena, Italy, which depicts an angel playing a "keyed viola". Recently there has been a push by luthiers and the like to make recreations of these older depictions of nyckelharpor, akin to reconstructional archaeology, but also new instruments based on the nyckelharpa concept of a keyed bow instrument.
February 28th, 2025
Yu Garden, Hamburg, Germany
Ying Xiao: Soprano
Stefan Bötel: Piano
Florian Guantong Ding: Nyckelharpa
This is a performance of the concert that my esteemed colleague Ying and I did last year. Ying sung the beautiful and famous aria ”Lascia ch‘io pianga“ by Händel. Fortunately, for this particular performance a friend of us, Florian, joined our performance with playing on the Nyckelharpa. He is an expert on historical instruments and we are thankful that he made our performance so much more colourful!
Lascia ch'io pianga" is a famous aria by George Frideric Handel from the opera *Rinaldo* (1711).
Content of the aria
The aria is sung by the character Almirena. She has been captured by the sorceress Armida and laments her fate. In the song, Almirena asks to be allowed to freely express her sorrow and yearns for freedom.
The famous lyrics translate roughly to:
"Let me weep over my cruel fate,"
"and sigh for my freedom."
Context of the plot
The opera is set during the Crusades. The knight Rinaldo loves Almirena. When she is abducted, he must overcome numerous obstacles to rescue her. The aria occurs at a particularly emotional moment in the story, as Almirena expresses her despair while in captivity.
Significance
"Lascia ch'io pianga" is one of the most famous Baroque arias today. It is renowned for its simple, poignant melody and is frequently performed in concerts, films, and opera productions. The music conveys sorrow and longing in a very direct and moving way.
Nyckelharpa (Swedish: [ˈnʏ̂kːɛlˌharːpa], roughly "keyed fiddle" in Swedish, lit. 'key-harp', plural: nyckelharpor) is a "keyed" bowed chordophone, primarily originating from Sweden in its modern form, but with its historical roots scattered across medieval Europe. It is similar in appearance to a fiddle or violin but larger (in its earlier forms essentially a modified vielle), which employs key-actuated tangents along the neck to change the pitch during play, much like a hurdy-gurdy. The keys slide under the strings, with the tangents set perpendicularly to the keys, reaching above the strings. Upon key-actuation, the tangent is pressed to meet the corresponding string, much like a fret, shortening its vibrating length to that point, changing the pitch of the string. It is primarily played underarm, suspended from the shoulder using a sling, with the bow in the overhanging arm.
The origin of the instrument is unknown, but its historical foothold and modern development is much larger in Sweden than other countries, that being the only country with an unbroken usage. Many of the early historical depictions of the instrument are found in Sweden, with the earliest probable depiction being found on a relief located on a 14th century church portal. While historically, relatively speaking, not too common an instrument in Sweden, the violin outshining it in usage among spelmän (players of Swedish folk music), the nyckelharpa became a popular folk instrument in the Swedish province of Uppland during the 17th century, subsequently leading to its popularization and spread throughout Sweden the following centuries. By the 19th century it had become a "fine" instrument, being played at concerts in Stockholm,[3] and by the early 20th century it had become an archetypal instrument alongside the violin for Swedish folk music. Today it is considered by many to be the quintessential national instrument of Sweden. The oldest surviving nyckelharpa is dated 1526 and is part of the Zorn Collections in Mora Municipality, Sweden.
Besides Sweden, early depictions of nyckelharpor can also be found in Denmark, Germany and Italy, among other European countries. The earliest of these is found in a 1408 fresco by Taddeo di Bartolo at the Palazzo Pubblico chapel in Siena, Italy, which depicts an angel playing a "keyed viola". Recently there has been a push by luthiers and the like to make recreations of these older depictions of nyckelharpor, akin to reconstructional archaeology, but also new instruments based on the nyckelharpa concept of a keyed bow instrument.
