A show-stopping aria from Arne's Artaxerxes for soprano, strings and continuo.
Digital Download.
 
Arne’s Artaxerxes was premiered at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, in 1762. As thefirst English language serious opera it was a landmark work and was performed on the London stage regularly until the 1830s. Arne had picked one of Metastasio’s most successful librettos (originally Artaserse), that had been originally penned for Leonardo Vinci’s 1730 opera first performed in Rome. If the Rivers Swelling Waves appears in Act 2 sung by Semira, lover of Artaxerxes.