Arianna in Creta

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Work data
Original title: Arianna in Creta
Shape: Opera seria
Original language: Italian
Music: georg Friedrich Handel
Libretto : unknown
Literary source: Pietro Pariati , Arianna e Teseo (1721)
Premiere: January 26, 1734
Place of premiere: King's Theater , Haymarket, London
Playing time: 2 ¾ hours
Place and time of the action: Crete , in mythical times
people
  • Arianna , daughter of the Cretan king Minos, is mistaken for the daughter of the king of Thebes ( soprano )
  • Teseo , son of the Athenian king Egeo , in love with Arianna ( old )
  • Carilda, an Athenian virgin, friend of Arianna, intended as a sacrifice for the Minotaur (old)
  • Alceste, Teseo's friend, in love with Carilda (soprano)
  • Tauride, son of Vulcano , general of the Cretan Army (soprano)
  • Minos , King of Crete ( bass )
  • Il Sonno , god of sleep (bass)
  • Pallas Athene , warriors, youths and girls from Athens, guards, people
Title page of the text book (London, 1734)

Arianna in Creta ( HWV 32) is an opera ( Dramma per musica ) in three acts by Georg Friedrich Handel and the last of his second opera company, because the contract between Johann Jacob Heidegger and Handel expired at the end of the season. Arianna is still one of Halle's seldom performed works , although this opera seria also shows Handel's masterful instinct for the efficient use of musical forms and structures.

Emergence

Less than a month after the last performance of the Orlando on May 5, 1733, the famous castrato Senesino left Handel's ensemble, after having been with a competing opera company that was being planned on June 15, 1733 and soon as an opera of the Nobility ("Adelsoper") became known, had negotiated a contract. Identical June 2 press releases from The Bee and The Craftsman state :

“We are credibly inform'd that one day last week Mr. H – d – l, Director-General of the Opera-House, sent a Message to Signior Senesino, the famous Italian Singer, acquainting Him that He had no earlier Occasion for his service; and that Senesino reply'd the next day by a letter, containing a full resignation of all his parts in the Opera, which He had performed for many years with great applause. "

“As we know from a reliable source, Mr. Handel, the general manager of the opera house, sent the famous Italian singer Signor Senesino a message last week informing him that he has no further use for his services; and that Senesino replied by letter the next day that he was giving up all of his roles in the opera, which he had played with great applause for many years. "

- The Bee. June 1733.

Senesino joined almost all of Handel's other singers: Antonio Montagnana , Francesca Bertolli and Celeste Gismondi . Only the soprano Anna Maria Strada del Pò remained loyal to Handel. After returning from Oxford from a successful concert series in July 1733, Handel wrote Arianna in Creta for the coming season.

Meanwhile, London was eagerly awaiting the new opera season, as Antoine-François Prévost d'Exiles, author of the famous novel Manon Lescaut , writes in his weekly Le Pour et le Contre (The pros and cons) :

«L'Hiver (c) approche. On scait déja que Senesino brouill're irréconciliablement avec M. Handel, a formé un schisme dans la Troupe, et qu'il a loué un Théâtre séparé pour lui et pour ses partisans. Les Adversaires ont fait venir les meilleures voix d'Italie; ils se flattent de se soûtenir malgré ses efforts et ceux de sa cabale. Jusqu'à présent ìes Seigneurs Anglois sont partagez. La victoire balancera longtems s'ils ont assez de constance pour l'être toûjours; mais on s'attend que les premiéres représentations décideront la quereile, parce que le meilleur des deux Théâtres ne manquera pas de reussir aussi-tôt tous les suffrages. »

"The winter is coming. The reader is already aware that there was a final break between Senesino and Handel, and that the former sparked a split in the troupe and leased his own theater for himself and his followers. His opponents got the best votes from Italy; they have enough pride to want to continue despite the machinations of Senesino and his clique. The English nobility is currently split into two camps; neither of the two parties will be victorious for a long time if they all stick to their point of view. But it is expected that the first performances will put an end to the dispute, because the better of the two theaters will inevitably attract everyone's support. "

- Antoine François Prévost : Le Pour et le Contre. Paris 1733.

Handel and Heidegger hastily put together a new troupe and a new repertoire. Margherita Durastanti , now a mezzo-soprano, over three decades earlier in Italy Handel's prima donna , in the early 1720s - before the great times of Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni - the mainstay of the Royal Academy of Music , returned from Italy, although she was her last appearance the season ended on March 17, 1724 with the sung lines of an English cantata:

"But let old Charmers yield to new, Happy Soil, adieu, adieu."

"But let the old wizards give way to the new one, good-bye, good-bye, lucky soil!"

- The Daily Journal. March 18, 1724.

Two new castrati, Carlo Scalzi and Giovanni Carestini , were hired. Handel quickly needed a repertoire: he found it in a revival of Ottone and two pasticci , for which he only wrote the (short) recitatives: Semiramide riconosciuta (the music is mainly from Leonardo Vinci , whom Handel preferred as the source for his pasticci) and Caio Fabbricio (much of the music was written by Johann Adolph Hasse ). Handel's strategy was to surprise and then follow suit in rapid succession. He opened the season two months before his competitors, although he had new singers, the aristocratic opera on the other hand his old troupe. He decided to open it with Semiramide on October 30th, King George's birthday , a day usually celebrated with a princely ball at St James's Palace . This time, however, the entire court decided to visit the opera, even the Prince of Wales was present, although he otherwise openly supported the aristocratic opera. A first tactical victory for Handel. But the second evening was less favorable, as we learn from Lady Bristol , who wrote to her husband on November 3rd:

“I am just come home from a dull empty opera, tho 'the second time; the first was full to hear the new man, who I can find out to be an extream good singer; the rest are all scrubbs except old Durastante, that sings as well as ever she did. "

“I have just returned home from a boring, empty opera, even though this was only the second performance. The first one was sold out because everyone wanted to hear the new man [Carestini] whom I can call an extremely good singer; the rest are all rubbish apart from good old Dura aunt who sings as well as she always did. "

- Lady Bristol : letter to Baron Hervey . London 1733.

It is unclear whether Lady Bristol thought the opera itself was artistically boring - although Handel tried to match current tastes by using arias by Vinci - or whether she lacked interesting conversation with other viewers.

The King , Queen and the Prince of Wales also appeared at the premiere of Ottone , but the aristocratic opera became active around Christmas time. Rumors of Handel's setting of Arianna in Creta reached the “Opera of the Nobility”, whose music director Nicola Porpora had already written a successful piece of music for Pietro Pariati's Arianna e Teseo for Venice in 1727 . The noble opera decided to respond vigorously to Handel by staging their own Ariadne story. The ensemble's Italian poet, Paolo Antonio Rolli , provided the new libretto: Arianna in Nasso , and Porpora's music was ready in time for the singing rehearsals on Christmas Eve in 1733 in the Crown Prince Friedrich's Carlton House :

“Last Night there was a Rehearsal of a new Opera at the Prince of Wales's House in the Royal Gardens in Pall Mall, where was present a great Concourse of the Nobility and Quality of both Sexes: Some of the choicest Voices and Hands assisted in the Performance."

“Last night there was a rehearsal of a new opera in the Prince of Wales's house in the Royal Gardens of Pall Mall; there was a great influx of people of class and nobility of both sexes; some of the most excellent voices and instrumentalists performed. "

- The Daily Post . London, December 25, 1733.

Senesino, Montagnana and Gismondi were among the “most excellent voices”, but not the Cuzzoni, who did not come to England until the following spring. Porpora's Arianna premiered in Nasso on December 29, 1733 at Lincoln's Inn Fields , almost a month before Handel's Arianna was shown in Creta . But Porporas and Rollis' haste brought them little long-term advantage. Arianna in Nasso hardly contains the seriousness and emotional intensity that make Handel's Arianna in Creta so enduring and popular.

The King of Prussia was informed about the aristocratic opera premiere by his minister in London, who focused on the political background:

"Last Saturday [29. December 1733] the beginning of the new opera was made, which entreprenniret the noblesse, after they were not satisfied with the conduite des directeurs of the old opera, Handel, and to dismantle them a new one, which subscribes over two hundred people, and have praenumeriret any 20 guinées to it. The first singer, Nahmens Senesino, is embossed on the piquet of the subscribers with the heading: Nec pluribus impar. [Not even inferior to several.] This new opera was first called the opera of the rebels. But while the whole court was present at the first overture, it has become legitimized and loyal. Hiebey let himself see the genius of the nation, how much it is inclined to novelty and facts. In the praeliminair tracts that were drawn up on this foundation, the first article is called: Point d'accommodement à jamais avec le S r Handel. [Never an agreement with Handel.] "

- Kaspar Wilhelm von Borcke : Letter to Friedrich Wilhelm I. London. January 1, 1734.

On October 5, Handel completed Arianna's composition, but waited before the premiere. "Fine dell 'Opera | London 5 Octobr GF Trading | 1733 ”, notes Handel at the end of his autograph score . The first performance finally took place on January 26, 1734 at the King's Theater in London's Haymarket. And in the “Opera Register”, wrongly attributed to Francis Colman for a long time , the following was entered in January 1734:

"Jan ry p mo Ariadne in Crete, a New Opera & very good & perform'd very often Sig r Carestino sung Surprisingly well: a new Eunuch - many times perform'd."

“First performance of Ariadne in Crete, a new opera and very good, very often played, Signor Carestini sang amazingly well: a new eunuch. - Often played. "

- “Opera Register.” London 1734.

In fact, the opera was performed seventeen times, only briefly interrupted by Easter and three performances of the oratorio Deborah . Although it had fewer subscribers than the aristocratic opera, the tide seemed to be turning once more in Handel's favor. In November, Arianna was re-recorded at the Covent Garden Theater for five performances, this time with ballet interludes.

Cast of the premiere:

libretto

Pietro Pariati's libretto Teseo in Creta was first set to music by Francesco Bartolomeo Conti and performed for the first time in Vienna on August 28, 1715 , but none of these aria texts appear in Handel's version, which was written 18 years later. The next version was Arianna e Teseo , a pasticcio by Leonardo Leo and Leonardo Vinci (Naples 1721). Handel was probably not familiar with the other settings, by Nicola Porpora ( Venice 1727) and Francesco Feo ( Turin 1728). Instead, the anonymous London libretto is based on Leo's second treatment of the text for the Teatro della Pace during the Carnival in Rome in 1729. Recent research has shown that Handel also prepared his opera directly on the basis of the pasticcio version of 1721. Three of the aria texts come from this joint work. For the London version, the templates were reworked and partly also mutilated in such a way that Winton Dean was prompted to comment,

"[...] Handel and / or his London collaborator made mincemeat of his recitatives [...]"

"[...] Handel and / or his London agent made minced meat out of his [Pariatis] recitatives [...]"

- Winton Dean : Handel's Operas, 1726–1741. London 2006.

Although the Englishman Francis Colman , at times British envoy in Florence, who died in Pisa in April 1733, is often named as the editor , this cannot be proven. Winton Dean is of the clear opinion that Colman has nothing to do with the libretto.

Most of the arias and duet texts were taken over almost unchanged from the Naples and Rome libretti, but seven of the 28 texts from Arianna in Creta appear only in Handel's setting. It is not known why Handel decided to compose a version of Arianna in Creta , however it is possible that he met Leonardo Leo in 1729 during the Venice Carnival. If that was the case, it is clear that Handel's artistic relationship with Leo, or at least a certain handling of his most recent works, decisively influenced his choice of topics in the summer of 1733. Certainly, Handel's trip to Italy in 1729 had a direct influence on Arianna in Creta in other ways : During this trip, Handel's interest was first aroused in employing the castrati Carestini and Scalzi. Carestini (born 1704) was a celebrity. When he was twelve he began his studies in Milan. In 1724 he made his debut in Rome in Alessandro Scarlatti's La Griselda at the side of his teacher Antonio Bernacchi (who later taught Farinelli and in the season 1729/1730 played the main male role in Handel's Lotario and Partenope ). Carestini enjoyed great success in Vienna, Venice, Prague , Rome, Naples and Munich before coming to London in the autumn of 1733. 18th-century music historian Charles Burney writes:

“His voice was at first a powerful and clear soprano, which afterwards changed into the fullest, finest, and deepest counter-tenor that has perhaps ever been heard ... Carestini's person was tall, beautiful, and majestic. He was a very animated and intelligent actor, and having a considerable portion of enthusiasm in his composition, with a lively and inventive imagination, he rendered every thing he sung interesting by good taste, energy, and judicious embellishments. He manifested great agility in the execution of difficult divisions from the chest in a most articulate and admirable manner. It was the opinion of Hasse, as well as of many other eminent professors, that whoever had not heard Carestini was inacquainted with the most perfect style of singing. "

“His voice was first a strong and clear soprano, later he had the fullest, finest and deepest counter-tenor that could ever be heard… Carestini's figure was tall, beautiful and majestic. He was a very dedicated and intelligent actor and since he was endowed with a good dose of enthusiasm for composition coupled with a lively and resourceful imagination, he made everything he sang interesting through good taste, energy and clever adornments. He had a great ability to make the chest voice wonderful with great clarity, even in difficult areas. In the opinion of Hasse and many other famous teachers, anyone who has not heard Carestini was not yet familiar with the most perfect singing style. "

- Charles Burney : A General History of Music. London 1789.

The return of the Durastanti must have been a big surprise for Handel's audience. Although her best years were already behind her and she was cast as a supporting role, Handel created some wonderfully effective moments for her role as Tauride: for example the haughty aria Mirami, altero in volto (No. 2a) and a magnificent piece with horns, Qual Leon, che fere irato (No. 14). Carlo Scalzi only sang in Handel's opera ensemble in the 1733/34 season, so Alceste is the only original role that Handel composed for him. Scalzi, "... to whom Handel gave but little to do", as Burney remarked, but had Alceste's magnificent aria Son qual stanco pellegrino (No. 18) and thus the real heart the Opera. She has a graceful Cello Solo for Handel's new solo cellist that, ( "... the capabilities, according to Burney" ... Intended to display the abilities of Caporale. " Caporales should show.") Carilda was the first role that Handel for Maria Caterina Negri composed . Burney made the contemptuous remark that she "... seems to have possessed no uncommon abilities", but Handel also did not always reach his own high standard when he first asked for a new one Singer wrote. Negri was such a solid and reliable performer that Handel would later write a few confident roles for her, including the evil Polinesso in Ariodante and the heroine Bradamante in Alcina . Burney further claimed that the German bassist Gustav Waltz had "... a coarse figure, and a still coarser voice", but shows the music Handel wrote for him, including the Title role in Saul that Waltz must have been a capable singer.

Usually Handel composed his operas very quickly, but the preparations for Arianna in Creta were unusually complicated. An examination of Handel's handwritten manuscript revealed that after the first draft of the opera, which was completed on October 5, 1733, many changes were made. Most of Teseo's arias had to be transposed lower, as Handel probably misjudged Carestinis Tessitur . He worked, at least in part, from his memory of Carestini's voice, which he had heard four years earlier, but which, as Burney later writes, had evidently changed since 1729.

Handel biographer Newman Flower created the following memorable quote in 1923 that still influences general judgment about Handel's operatic career in the mid-1730s:

“Trading was going down; the empty theater was the visible sign of it. His wretched singers could scarcely maintain the beauties of the songs he had given them. Not that Ariadne was Handel at his best. His worries, the increasing cohorts of the enemies against him, the falling away of friends who, in fat years and lean, had followed his fortunes and patronized his work, his treasury thin and starved for want of new capital just when his enemies had money of plenty to burn, colored his composing. "

“Handel went under; the empty theater was the outward sign of it. His pathetic singers could hardly convey the beauty of the songs he had written for them. Not that Ariadne Handel is best opera. His problems, the growing cohort of his enemies, the absence of his friends who had followed his fortune in fat years and had promoted his work, his thin financial ceiling, which hungered for new capital precisely at a time when his opponents had money in abundance had to burn, shaped his compositions. "

- Sir Walter Newman Flower : George Frideric Handel, his personality and his times. New York 1948.

Even a cursory glance at the score proves without a doubt that Carestini and the Strada weren't pathetic singers. Flower's suggestion that Handel's theater was empty is disproved by the fact that Arianna was a box office hit in Creta with 22 performances in 1734. Despite the tense situation caused by the competition from the aristocratic opera, Handel had every reason to relax with friends. Reported on Mary Pendarves , his lifelong admirer and neighbor in Brook Street, in a letter on April 12, 1734 her sister:

“I had Lady Rich and her daughter, Lady Cath. Hanmer and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Percival, Sir John Stanley and my brother, Mrs. Donellan, Strada and Mr. Coot. Lord Shaftesbury begged of Mr. Percival to bring him, and being a profess'd friend of Mr. Handel (who was here also) was admitted; I never was so well entertained at an opera! Mr. Handel was in the best humor in the world, and played lessons and accompanied Strada and all the ladies that sang from seven o'clock till eleven. I gave them tea and coffee, and about half an hour after nine had a salver brought in of chocolate, mulled white wine and biscuits. Everybody was easy and seemed pleased [...] ”

“I had Lady Rich and her daughter, Lady Cath. Hanmer and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Percival, Sir John Stanley and my brother, Mrs. Donellan, the Strada and Mr. Coot as guests. Lord Shaftesbury asked Mr. Percival to bring him, and since he is an avowed supporter of Mr. Handel (who was also here) he was admitted. I was never so entertained in an opera! Mr. Handel was in the best mood in the world, playing pieces and accompanying the Strada and all the ladies who sang from seven to eleven o'clock. I served tea and coffee, and about nine-thirty a tray was brought out with chocolate, white mulled wine and biscuits. Everyone was relaxed and everyone seemed satisfied [...] "

- Mary Pendarves : letter to Ann Granville. London 1729.

(The guests of Mary Pendarves, an attractive widow of 35, were Handel supporters and some were themselves amateur musicians. Philip Percival was a versatile art dilettante, viola player and composer. Lady Catherine sang and played the harpsichord, and Thomas Hanmer , former speaker of the House of Commons and Leader of the Hanoverian Tories, played violin. Earl Anthony Shaftesbury , later became as ardent an admirer of Handel as his cousin James Harris . Anne Donellan was a relative of the Percivals; Handel later bequeathed her 50 guineas in his will .)

In August 1738, four years after the first performance in London, Arianna found her only performance on the mainland in Creta in Braunschweig under the direction of Georg Caspar Schürmann . At the end of the 18th century, Handel's Arianna was still admired by connoisseurs in Creta : Gottfried van Swieten ( Mozart's patron and Joseph Haydn's lyricist) put Handel's Ariadne on his shortlist for printed sheet music, which he ordered from James Harris Junior in 1777.

On June 30, 1946, the opera was brought back to life by the Göttingen Handel Festival . The German version of the text was by Emilie Dahnk-Baroffio, the Göttingen Municipal Orchestra played under the musical direction of Fritz Lehmann . At the same festival on May 28, 1999, the first re-performance in the original language and historical performance practice took place . The Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra San Francisco played under the direction of Nicholas McGegan .

music

With around two dozen da capo arias , two duets and two accompaniment recitatives, Handel not only gave the opera a well-thought-out change of moods, but also oriented himself more closely than before to the bel canto of Italian opera. His concept is characterized by the clarity of the vocal lines and their connection with the instrumental events, the most striking feature of which is the emphasis on similar resumption of vocal phrases in the strings. The very first aria by Tauride Mirami, altero in volto (No. 2a) shows the outstanding peculiarity of the chants of this opera, namely the most careful and finest interweaving of the accompaniment with the vocal part. Such a combination of singing and accompaniment, carried out in all types of writing and with all possible tricks, is one of Handel's great advantages and is present in all of his operas, but is seldom so intentionally applied as here. He knew that the composers of the aristocratic opera would offer the best possible melodies, as they were in vogue at the time, and would also make sufficient noise for the sake of the English; therefore he was careful to clothe the gold threads of the melody in the elaborate garment of rich tone. He could not show the artistic sense of the part of his listeners who remained loyal to him more than by performing such a composition and was also pleased that the witty Dr. John Arbuthnot reminded the master "Porpoise" (Porpora), "... that there is a wide difference betwixt full Harmony, and making a noise." ("... that there is a great difference between rich harmony and making noise.") All chants of the first act are real gold, even as a mere melody.

The fight with the Minotaur, which Teseo has to fight in the darkness of the labyrinth in the third act, is exciting. He dominated Teseo's thoughts at the beginning of the second act, and this is one of the most beautiful scenes in Handel's opera music. His future is prophesied in his sleep, and when Teseo dreams of the Minotaur, the gently murmuring slumber music is abruptly interrupted by excited sixteenth- note tremolos in the strings, to the sounds of which Teseo wrestles with the monster in his imagination. The scraps of melody that he brings out in this state are the same with which he begins his aria in the third act - the dream has become a reality. Qui ti sfido, o mostro infame (“Here I challenge you, shameful monster”, No. 26) is the musical climax of the scene, which is accompanied by a dramatic Accompagnato recitative, Ove son, qual orrore, accompanied by whipping dotted eighth notes in the orchestra ? (“Where am I, what horror?”, No. 25) begins and ends with the lengthened end of the aria, which sounds a second time separately as an instrumental symphony , to whose sounds Teseo kills the Minotaur. This ritornello layers hammering eighth notes in the bass and wild sixteenth notes in the three upper parts. Very rarely, for example when the orchestra joins the vocal dotted eighth note declamation with the words “io non pavento” (“I'm not scared”), this excited movement briefly gives way to another, but no less tense gesture (bars 12, 31, 39). The fact that this particular motif extends the final ritual for the fight by six bars allows conclusions to be drawn about what is happening on the stage: Teseo undauntedly hits the monster.

The choice of keys in this scene doesn’t direct the gaze towards the beaming winner, but rather towards the dark ambience in which Teseo and the Minotaur meet. Bb keys up to D flat major (bar 27 of the aria) create a gloomy mood. The Accompagnato begins in G minor and touches keys like A flat major and F minor. And E flat major, the basic key of the aria, as well as C minor, the key of its B part, are traditionally in league with the underworld. The location of the action, described as "Orrida sotterranea da un canto del Labirinto" ("Horrible underground vault in a corner of the labyrinth") influences the musical events at least as strongly as Teseo's courage to fight. For this, the military, ruling D major would have been better; but it is not a war that Teseo wages, not a battle that he fights, not a knightly duel among equals, but a struggle with the powers of the underworld. At the end of the opera, Teseo is allowed to present himself as a radiant hero: his last aria Bella sorge la speranza ("Beautiful hope stands up", No. 30), with its D major, shines the shining light of triumph on the vanquisher of the Minotaur.

Success and criticism

In the 1780s, Charles Burney added a review of Arianna in Creta to his General Music History, ruling that Handel

"[...] his powers of invention, and abilities in varying the accompaniments throughout this opera with more vigor than in any former drama since the dissolution of the Royal Academy of Music in 1728."

"[...] in this opera he used his inventiveness and the possibilities of variation in the accompaniment with more effect than in the earlier dramas since his separation from the Royal Academy of Music in 1728."

- Charles Burney : A General History of Music. London 1789.

It is clear that Handel's audience, the librettist of Haydn's great oratorios (van Swieten) and the highly influential late 18th century music historian (Burney) did not underestimate Arianna in Creta .

The musicologist Edward J. Dent wrote that Arianna was in Creta

"[...] a lamentable falling-off after Orlando [...] otherwise the best one can say of the opera is that it is generally good average Handel, of the conventional type."

"[...] represents a regrettable step backwards after Orlando [...] otherwise the best thing that can be said about opera is that it is generally a good average Handel, in the conventional style."

- Edward Dent : The Operas. London 1954.

But Dent's view of Handel's operatic activities was limited, as if the only interesting elements could be reduced to a chronological review of new compositions. But like any of Handel's plays, Arianna in Creta must be understood in the context of other projects. At the same time, Handel helped revive old operas, rewrote English oratorios for his bilingual cast and wrote pasticci based on arias by modern Italian composers. Handel always pursued a strategy of artistic diversity during his seasons in the early 1730s, and his Arianna was an integral part of his quest to assert himself against the Opera of the Nobility . Dent would also be pleasantly surprised that audiences admire a "good average Handel" much more seriously these days.

Arianna in Creta deals with a philosophical topic that remains appealing even in the 21st century: imperturbability and love will conquer barbarism and cruelty. It is a moral message that is made clear during the sinfonia in the opera's opening scene. The libretto, printed in 1734, says that “the stone on which the Treaty of Athens is written will fall and break into pieces. Four Cupidos fly through the air. ”These stage directions reinforce the opera's imagery: love destroys the old order characterized by hate and death. Love is symbolized by the four ascending Cupids. This contrasts with the broken marble tablet on which the primitive agreement between Athens and Crete is engraved. The concept of sincere love as a superior victor is also the motto for Alcestes' enduring relationship with Carilda, which initially despises him. Each of the main characters in the opera has an important dramatic function as part of the philosophy that true love overcomes irrational violence. Hence, we can understand that Arianna in Creta - like several other Handel operas from the 1730s, such as B. Partenope , Orlando , Alcina, and Serse - contains a compelling, soulful theme that enlightenment and contentment arise from the ashes of misery.

Probably not until November 1734, when the opera was included in the repertoire of the Coventgarden Theater, did Handel add the ballet interludes (not included in the autograph), which were danced by Marie Sallé and her troupe.

orchestra

Transverse flute , two oboes , bassoon , two horns , strings, basso continuo (violoncello, lute, harpsichord).

Discography

  • Handel Society (1999): Sophie Daneman (Arianna), Wilke te Brummelstroete (Teseo), Jennifer Lane (Carilda), Christine Brandes (Alceste), Cécile van de Sant (Tauride), Philip Cutlip (Minos), Tilmann Prautzsch (Il Sonno )
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra San Francisco; Gov. Nicholas McGegan
  • MDG 609 1375-2 (2005): Mata Katsuli (Arianna), Mary-Ellen Nesi (Teseo), Irini Karaianni (Carilda), Theodora Baka (Alceste), Marita Paparizou (Tauride), Petros Magoulas (Minos / Il Sonno)
Orchestra of Patras; Dir. George Petrou (164 min)

literature

Web links

Commons : Arianna in Creta  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Editing management of the Halle Handel Edition: Documents on life and work. In: Walter Eisen (Ed.): Handel Handbook: Volume 4. Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1985, ISBN 3-7618-0717-1 , p. 208.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l David Vickers: Handel. Arianna in Creta. Translated from the English by Eva Pottharst. MDG 609 1273-2, Detmold 2005, p. 30 ff.
  3. ↑ a b Edition management of the Halle Handel Edition: Documents on life and work. In: Walter Eisen (Hrsg.): Handel manual: Volume 4. Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1985, ISBN 3-7618-0717-1 , p. 225.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Christopher Hogwood: Georg Friedrich Händel. A biography (= Insel-Taschenbuch 2655). Translated from the English by Bettina Obrecht. Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main / Leipzig 2000, ISBN 3-458-34355-5 , p. 202 ff.
  5. ↑ Commerce Reference Database . ichriss.ccarh.org. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  6. ^ Editing management of the Halle Handel Edition: Documents on life and work. In: Walter Eisen (Hrsg.): Handel manual: Volume 4. Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1985, ISBN 3-7618-0717-1 , p. 227.
  7. ^ Editing management of the Halle Handel Edition: Documents on life and work. In: Walter Eisen (Hrsg.): Handel manual: Volume 4. Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1985, ISBN 3-7618-0717-1 , p. 228.
  8. ^ Editing management of the Halle Handel Edition: Documents on life and work. In: Walter Eisen (Hrsg.): Handel manual: Volume 4. Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1985, ISBN 3-7618-0717-1 , p. 229.
  9. ^ Bernd Baselt: Thematic-systematic directory. Stage works. In: Walter Eisen (Ed.): Handel Handbook: Volume 1. Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1978, ISBN 3-7618-0610-8 (Unchanged reprint, Kassel 2008, ISBN 978-3-7618-0610-4 ) , P. 25.
  10. ↑ Winton Dean: Handel's Operas, 1726-1741. Boydell & Brewer, London 2006, Reprint: The Boydell Press, Woodbridge 2009, ISBN 978-1-84383-268-3 , p. 259.
  11. ^ A b Bernd Baselt: Thematic-systematic directory. Stage works. In: Walter Eisen (Ed.): Handel Handbook: Volume 1. Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1978, ISBN 3-7618-0610-8 (Unchanged reprint, Kassel 2008, ISBN 978-3-7618-0610-4 ) , P. 394.
  12. ↑ Winton Dean: Handel's Operas, 1726-1741. Boydell & Brewer, London 2006, Reprint: The Boydell Press, Woodbridge 2009, ISBN 978-1-84383-268-3 , p. 273.
  13. ^ Charles Burney: A general history of music:… Vol. 4. London 1789, reprint of the Cambridge Library Collection, 2011, ISBN 978-1-108-01642-1 , pp. 369 f.
  14. ↑ a b c d Charles Burney: A general history of music:… Vol. 4. London 1789, reprint of the Cambridge Library Collection, 2011, ISBN 978-1-108-01642-1 , pp. 372 f.
  15. ^ Sir Walter Newman Flower: George Frideric Handel, his personality and his times. C. Scribner's Sons, New York 1948, p. 234.
  16. ↑ a b Edition management of the Halle Handel Edition: Documents on life and work. In: Walter Eisen (Ed.): Handel Handbook: Volume 4. Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1985, ISBN 3-7618-0717-1 , p. 240.
  17. ↑ Braunschweig State Theater
  18. ^ Editing management of the Halle Handel Edition: Documents on life and work. In: Walter Eisen (Ed.): Händel-Handbuch: Volume 4. Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1985, ISBN 3-7618-0717-1 , p. 231.
  19. ^ Harmony in an Uproar , Handel Reference Database . ichriss.ccarh.org. Retrieved February 11, 2013.
  20. ^ A b Friedrich Chrysander: GF Handel. Second volume. Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig 1860, p. 334 ff.
  21. ↑ a b Silke Leopold: Handel. The operas. Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel 2009, ISBN 978-3-7618-1991-3 , p. 121 f.
  22. ^ Charles Burney : A general history of music:… Vol. 4. London 1789, reprint of the Cambridge Library Collection, 2011, ISBN 978-1-108-01642-1 , p. 371.
  23. ^ Edward Dent: The Operas. In: Gerald Abraham (Ed.): Handel: A Symposium. Oxford University Press, London 1954, p. 50.