Eighteenth century theatrical music and operatic composer Thomas Arne is the creator of Rule Britannia but here is in less patriotic and more dramatic mood. The recitativo and air O Ravishing Delight appear to survive from Arne’s 1742 opera The Judgement of Paris at the moment that Paris is overcome at the sight of the three goddesses and begs Hermes to take him away. The initial bars of the aria express Paris’s emotion in a largo section which then gives way to jolly allegro before returning to the tragic largo briefly and ending allegro.
