Lascia ch’io pianga, originally Lascia la spina, cogli la rosa, is an Italian-language soprano aria by composer George Frideric Handel that has become a popular concert piece. Its melody is first found in act 3 of Handel’s 1705 opera Almira as a sarabande. Handel then used the tune for the aria Lascia la spina, cogli la rosa in his 1707 oratorio Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (which was much later, in 1737, revised as Il trionfo del Tempo e della Verità). Four years after that, in 1711, Handel used the music again, this time for his London opera Rinaldo and its act 2 aria Lascia ch’io pianga. – Farinelli IMDB – Farinelli (film) Wikipedia – Farinelli Wikipedia