_Radamisto_ (1720): 4 Sopranos (of which 3 parts are male characters), 1 Alto, 1 Tenor, 1 Bass. _Floridante_ (1722): 2 Sopranos, 2 Contraltos, 2 Basses. _Giulio Cesare_ (1724): 2 Sopranos, 2 Altos, 1 Contralto (Cæsar's rôle), 2 Basses. _Tamerlano_ (1724): 2 Sopranos, 1 Contralto (male _rôle_), 1 Alto (Tamerlano), 1 Tenor, 1 Bass. _Admeto_ (1727): 2 Sopranos, 2 Altos, 1 Contralto (Admeto), 2 Basses. _Orlando_ (1732): 2 Sopranos, 1 Alto (Medora), 1 Contralto (Orlando), 1 Bass. _Deidamia_ (1747): 3 Sopranos (one is Achilles' _rôle_), 1 Contralto (Ulysses), 2 Basses. It is the same in the Oratorios, where one finds such a work as _Joseph_ (1744) written for 2 Sopranos, 2 Altos, l Contralto (Joseph), 2 Tenors, and 2 Basses. Thus, without speaking of the shocking inconsistencies of the parts thus travestied, the balance of voices tends to fall off as we go from high to low. [301] In 1729 he went to Italy to find an heroic tenor, Pio Fabri; unfortunately he could not secure him for two years.--_Acis and Galatea_ (1720) is written for 2 Tenors, 1 Soprano, and 1 Bass.--The most tragic _rôle_ in _Tamerlano_ (1724) (that of Bajazet) was written for the Tenor, Borosini.--_Rodelinda_, _Scipione_, _Alessandro_, all contain Tenor _rôles_.--On the other hand, Handel was not satisfied with having in his theatre the most celebrated basses of the century, the famous Boschi and Montagnana, for whom he wrote such fine _rôles_, such as that of Zoroaster in _Orlando_, and Polyphemus in _Acis and Galatea_; but he aimed at having several important _rôles_ all taken by Basses in the same Opera. In his first version of _Athaliah_ (1733) he had written a duet for Basses for Joad and Mathan. But the defection of Montagnana obliged him to give up this idea, which he could only realise in _Israel in Egypt_. [302] See also _Giulio Cesare_, _Atalanta_, or _Orlando_. [303] Especially in certain concert operas, such as _Alcina_ (1735), and also in the last work of Handel, in which one feels his final torpor, _The Triumph of Time_. [304] See those Oratorios in which he is not afraid, when necessary, of introducing little popular songs, as that of the little waiting-maid in _Susanna_ (1749). [305] See the air of Medea at the beginning of the second act of _Teseo_; _Dolce riposo_. See also _Ariodante_ and _Hercules_. [306] Such as the air at the opening of _Radamisto_; _Sommi Dei_.--I will mention also the airs written over a Ground-Bass accompaniment without _Da Capo_, of which the most beautiful type is the _Spirito amato_ of Cleofide, in _Poro_. [307] For example the air, _Per dar pregio_, in _Roderigo_. The oboe plays a great part in these musical jousts. Such an air as that in _Teseo_ is like a little Concerto for Oboe. [308] They are extremely short. Some are popular songs. Others in _Agrippina_ have just a phrase. Many of these _arietti da capo_, in _Teseo_, in _Ottone_; make one think of those in Gluck's _Iphigénie en Aulide_.