While "Serse" (1738) was not one of Handel's more successful works, "Ombra Mai Fu," the opening aria of the title character that begins the opera, later became a favorite concert selection for opera singers of all voice types.

In opera, love songs are typically sung by a man to a woman of romantic interest, or vice versa. Occasionally, love arias are sung by a parent to a child, a child to a parent, or by a character to his or her close friend. Still, there are a few unexpected outliers, where an opera aria of love is addressed to someone, or something, a wee bit unusual. For example, In La Boheme, a character sings a love song to his coat.

The operatic aria presented in this video may be the only example of an operatic love song addressed to a tree. Bass-baritone Marc Berman is the soloist.

The opera Serse is named after its protagonist, King Serse (Xerxes I) of the Persian empire, who historians tell us reigned from 486 to 465 BCE. Some scholars identify Xerxes I as King Ahasuerus of the biblical Book of Esther.

"Ombra Mai Fu" is also widely known as "Handel's Largo." "Largo," in this context, means music to be performed at a very slow tempo. Curiously, though, the actual marking in the score is not "largo," but rather "larghetto," indicating a tempo a little quicker than largo.

The first painting depicted in the video is of Handel composing at the harpsichord. It was painted by Philip Mercier circa 1730. The second painting depicted the video is Esther Denouncing Haman, an 1888 work by Ernest Normand.