Silete venti is a naturalistic motet in five parts for a soprano voice. It was probably inspired by Handel’s return to Italy in 1729. Recognised as one of the composer’s most vocally demanding compositions, it is situated between the profane evocation of the ‘furious winds’ and religious passion, in a text that blurs the distinctions between descriptions of divine love and a carnal inclination of exhortations to the Saviour. A relationship between the religious, the natural and the profane inhabits this score and transports us into images of infinite landscapes, between elevation and the earthly world.
