3 renditions of "Ombra mai fu (Never was a shade)," the opening aria from Georg Friedrich Händel's "Serse (Xerxes)" 1738 opera, presented here (not on YouTube) as a playlist.

1) Andreas Scholl & the Akademie Für Alte Musik, Berlin, 1999.

2) Ann Murray & the English National Opera, 1985, perform an English translation.

3) Cécilia Bartoli & Il Giardino Armonico, 2009.

In this opening aria, Xerxes I goes gaga over an oriental plane tree, locallly known as a Chinar.  A performance of the whole "Serse (Xerxes)" opera at the Dresden Music Festival of 2000, with anachronistic costumes, can be viewed here. According to the storyline of this Baroque-style "soap" opera, Xerxes I, "the King of Persia, is engaged to Amastre, but he really loves Romilda, the daughter of Ariodate, the commander of Xerxes' army. Romilda is in love with Arsamene, Xerxes' brother. Arsamene returns her love, but he in turn is loved [by] Atalanta, Romilda's sister. Xerxes' and Atalanta's jealousy is the wheel on which the plot revolves. Elviro, Arsamene's tippling manservant, provides comic relief. ... The role of Xerxes originally was sung by a castrato [castrated male singer]."  As the introductory remarks in the 2nd clip state, "Some imbecilities, and the temerity of Xerxes (such as his being deeply enamour'd with a plane tree, and the building of a bridge over the Hellespont to unite Asia to Europe) are the basis of the story; the rest is fiction."