Deidamia (opera)

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Work data
Original title: Deidamia
Title page of the libretto

Title page of the libretto

Shape: Opera seria
Original language: Italian
Music: georg Friedrich Handel
Libretto : Paolo Antonio Rolli
Premiere: January 10, 1741
Place of premiere: Theater Royal, Lincoln's Inn Fields , London
Playing time: 3 hours
Place and time of the action: Skyros , at the beginning of the Trojan War ( 12th or 13th century BC )
people
  • Deidamia , daughter of King Licomede ( soprano )
  • Nerea, a princess of royal blood, her confidante (soprano)
  • Achille (Achilles), in women's clothes under the name Pirra, (soprano)
  • Ulisse , King of Ithaca (Odysseus), son of Nestore , under the name Antiloco ( Alt )
  • Fenice (Phoenix), King of Argos , Achilles father and envoy to all of Greece ( Bass )
  • Licomede , King of the Aegean island Skyros (Bass)
  • Nestore , King of Pylos (silent role)
  • Master of ceremonies, companions of Deidamia, court, people

Deidamia ( HWV 42) is the last opera ( melodrama ) by Georg Friedrich Händel . It's a humorous version of the story of Achilles in women's clothes during the Trojan War .

Emergence

Bowl with the portrait of Deidamia, Nicolò da Urbino , around 1525

As in his one Handel entries Autograph be seen, he began composing on 27 October 1740, she finished on 20 November: "started Octob r 27 1740." - "Fine dell Atto 1 | GF Handel ♄ Nov. 1. 1740. ” - “ Fine dell Atto 2 do | GF Handel Novemb r 7th 1740 | ♀. ” - “ Fine dell 'Opera. | GF Trading London Novemb r 20. ♃ | 1740. “ After completing the second act and before starting the next, he paused for a week (November 8th - 13th) - perhaps because of the performance of Il Parnasso at Festa on November 8th and the preparations for the premiere of Imeneo on November 22nd. For the previous season, which was the first at John Rich's Theater in Lincoln's Inn Fields Theater , Handel had not composed a new opera, but only published a pasticcio Giove in Argo ( Jupiter in Argos ) in May 1739, which was composed from his own music , but what was only performed twice. Instead, he had devoted all his energies to creating choral works in English: between January 1739 and February 1740 the oratorios Saul and Israel in Egypt as well as the Ode for St. Cecilia's Day and L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato had their world premieres. These masterpieces built on the success of earlier English works such as Esther , Deborah , Athalia and The Alexander's Feast and seemed to indicate that Handel could easily leave the opera to other music establishments, such as the Duke of Dorset- funded troupe, the 1739 and 1740 operas brought to the stage on a modest scale. But Handel was not yet ready to give up the genre in which he had proven himself for almost forty years. On November 22, 1740 (two days after completing the score for Deidamia ) he opened a limited season at the theater in Lincoln's Inn Fields with his Imeneo , designed as early as 1738, but now revised and completed. But then no further performances followed until December 13th, when Imeneo was given for the second and last time (apart from a concert version performed in Dublin in 1742 ). The delay was attributed to an illness of leading soprano Élisabeth Duparc known as "La Francesina" .

Deidamia premiered on January 10, 1741 and was repeated a week later. On January 31, Handel resumed L'Allegro , including several new arias, primarily intended for the castrato Giovanni Battista Andreoni , who did not speak English and sang his part in Italian. There was only one performance of Deidamia left on February 10th, announced for the Little Theater on Haymarket, built in 1720 , across the street from the more splendid King's Theater that had seen so many of Handel's earlier productions.

The strange inconsistency of this season is not adequately explained by the illness of "Francesina", especially since no other theater offered operas at the time. However, there is evidence that Handel was the victim of a deliberate boycott, as a result of an insult he inflicted on those influential theatergoers whose support he needed to keep houses full. An anonymous letter published in the London Daily Post suggests that Handel's performances

"[...] upon a single Disgust, upon a faux pas made, but not meant [...]"

"[...] in response to a single outrage, a faux pas that took place but was not meant to be angry [...]"

- The London Daily Post , London, April 4, 1741

However, there is no explanation for what a faux pas it might have been. At the end of the season, Handel was unsure where his future might lie, but his thoughts found a focal point in the invitation to perform oratorios in Dublin . In the late summer of 1741 he composed his Messiah and immediately followed up with Samson's first draft . His stay in Ireland in 1741/42 and his first extensive oratorio season in London in 1743 finally convinced him that compositions in oratorio form could both satisfy his artistic endeavors and offer a good source of income, and he never turned back to Italian opera.

libretto

The libretto for Deidamia was provided by Paolo Antonio Rolli , a renowned Italian poet who had lived in England since 1716. He had Handel and other composers in 1720 he supplied years with opera libretti (usually it was editing existing texts of other authors), but his re-emergence as Handel's staff at that time is a surprise. His relationship with the composer had never been the best, and in the 1930s he had clearly joined the Opera of the Nobility , an opera company founded in direct opposition to Handel. There must have been a rapprochement, because Rolli also provided the Italian translations of the texts Andreoni sang in L'Allegro .

Attributed to Paolo Antonio Rolli, Don Domenico Pentini

In the 17th century, the story served as a template for various opera libretti. Probably the first was La finta pazza (Venice 1641) by Giulio Strozzi with music by Francesco Sacrati . This was followed by L'Achille in Sciro (Ferrara 1663, Venice 1664), attributed to Ippolito Bentivoglio , set to music by Giovanni Lenzei . Further, by Antonio Draghi a Achille in Sciro of a libretto Cavaliere Ximenes (Vienna 1663) to music.

Two libretti from the 18th century were written before Rollis Deidamia : Tetide in Sciro by Carlo Sigismondo Capece , set to music by Domenico Scarlatti , performed in Rome in 1712 and Achille in Sciro by Pietro Metastasio (1736), first set to music by Antonio Caldara for Vienna , and finally by many other composers until 1794.

It is uncertain whether Rolli knew this libretti. While most of Handel's London operas are revisions of older texts that have already been set to music by other composers, none of the known earlier arrangements of this subject Rolli served as a direct model. Rollis treatment of the fabric is radically different from all other treatments. In La finta pazza (1641), Achilles' identity is revealed in the first act. Deidamia's attempt to keep his affection in check by pretending to be crazy is described below. The operas by Lenzei and Draghi from 1663 show the mix of styles and forms typical of the mid-17th century; they contain elaborate intrigues and comical scenes for servants. In the version by Bentivoglio / L Limiti, Deidamia has a sister, Cirene. It plays a role similar to Rollis Nerea and could have been a model for it. Metastasios Achille in Sciro has no suggestion of Rolli's cynical and humorous treatment of some aspects of the story, and undoubtedly did not serve as a source. His Lycomedes, for example, does not know that Pyrrha is actually Achilles. The plot of Capeces Tetide in Sciro also differs considerably from the Rollis version: Thetis (Tetide) plays an important role in the action, Deidamia is not in love and believes that “Arminda” (Achilles) is actually a girl, while Lykomedes - like his predecessor in Draghi's opera is in love with “Arminda” (“Artamene” in Draghi) and has no idea that “she” is Achilles. However, Capece's libretto may have inspired Rolli to some ideas. Thetis is disguised as "Nerea" (she is a Nereid , a mermaid, and the daughter of Nereus ), and Odysseus comes as Agamemnon's ambassador, as with Rolli . There are a few text parallels that could indicate that Capeces had an influence on Rolli. However, there are ideas and expressions here that every librettist might think of when working on this subject.

Rolli had not previously been a successful librettist for Handel, but Deidamia is his best work. The action is at an appropriate pace and is logical, the language direct and free from affectation, the characterization of the two main characters clear and consistent. Achilles is an impulsive and carefree youth and - apart from his love for the hunt - without deeper feelings. He is amused when Odysseus, in his disguise as a girl, pays court to him and too immature to understand Deidamia's anger over his irresponsibility to tease Agamemnon's envoy. When he thinks Deidamia is unfaithful, his jealousy is pure childish irritation, and when he waves his gun he is as happy as a little boy. Deidamia is sensitively portrayed as a woman in love: she is dismayed at the prospect of losing the person she adores, but at the same time annoyed by their behavior and both angry and depressed because of Odysseus' deception, which robs her of her happiness. In the end, she knows that there is nothing she can do to change Achilles' fate and approves of the sacrifice she has to make.

In Deidamia , Rolli seems to have deliberately dispensed with the sublime manner that would have been expected from a drama based on classical mythology - an approach that corresponds to that of the immediately preceding works in the Handel canon, Serse (Xerxes) and Imeneo . This departure from the serious heroic drama is likely to have also advocated Handel himself (whose predilection for comedic or ironic elements had already emerged in Agrippina , Flavio and Partenope ), but the negative reception of his last operas suggests that there is no corresponding change in public taste had taken place. The very high-minded circle of friends to which Charles Jennens , the philosopher James Harris and the Earl of Shaftesbury belonged (all of whom urged Handel to produce English odes and oratorios) viewed the last Italian operas with skepticism. Jennens told Harris that he thought Imeneo was

"[...] the worst of all Handel's compositions, yet half the songs are good."

"[...] the worst of all Handel's compositions, even if half of the arias are good."

- Charles Jennens : Letter to James Harris , London, December 29, 1740

and in the same letter, almost two weeks before the corresponding premiere, he also said that Handel was coming soon

"[...] a fine opera to come out [...] called Deidamia, which might perhaps have tolerable success, but that it will be turn'd into farce by Miss Edwards [,] a little girl representing Achilles."

"[...] a fine opera out [...] with the name Deidamia , which could probably have tolerable success if it were not turned into a farce by Miss Edwards, a little girl who gives the Achilles."

- Charles Jennens : Letter to James Harris , London, December 29, 1740

(Jennen's opinion on the performance of the opera is unknown.) In fact, Miss Edwards (later Mrs. Mozeen), a protégé of the comedian and singer Kitty Clive , was approaching twenty at the time, so her cast was the boy Achilles, who spends much of the opera disguised as a girl, was quite appropriate.

Cast of the premiere

After the three performances in London under Handel's direction, Deidamia did not sound again until the 20th century: In a German text version by Rudolf Steglich , the opera was performed on May 31, 1953 at the Handel Festival in Halle (Saale) under the musical direction of Horst- Tanu Margraf brought back to the stage after more than 200 years in a production by Heinz Rückert. The old game of Ulysses was for the tenor Werner Enders down an octave . The Handel Festival in Göttingen experienced the first performance of the piece in historical performance practice on June 17, 1985 with the concert guest performance of the Bremen baroque orchestra Fiori musicali under the direction of Thomas Albert . Barbara Schlick sang the title role.

action

Achilles was the son of Peleus and the Nereid Thetis . In Homer's legend, he is a grim war hero, the most terrible of the Greeks, who killed Hector but then died himself before Troy was finally captured. Later traditions add accounts of his childhood to the story of his heroic deeds. According to one of these traditions, the high priest Kalchas declared that without Achilles Troy could never be taken. However, an oracle prophesied that he would not survive the campaign and die on the battlefield. Achilles' parents tried to prevent this by sending him disguised as a girl to Lykomedes, king of the Aegean island of Skyros. There he was given the name Pyrrha because of his golden hair and was hidden with Lykomedes' daughters, among whom was Deidamia. During his stay on Skyros, he became Deidamia's lover and father of Pyrrhus. When the Greeks were preparing their campaign against Troy, Odysseus, disguised as a trader, came to Skyros to look for the young man without whom Troy could not be conquered. Odysseus devised a trick to unmask him: he offered the women some robes, between which he had hidden weapons and pieces of armor. Achilles revealed himself by ignoring the clothes and taking up arms. Then he went voluntarily with Odysseus and joined the Greek campaign.

music

A total of 48 bars of the allegro of the overture are a revision of passages from the overture to Reinhard Keiser's Die verdammte Staat-Sucht, or Der verführte Claudius , which was performed in Hamburg in 1703. This makes it Handel's most extensive loan from Keiser's works in a lifetime. (These are bars 23–31, 33–39, 49–66, 75–88.)

An interplay of distant comedy and seriousness pervades the entire opera. The male figures, a cynical bunch, are more concerned about abstract ideas about honor and maintaining their reputation than about the plight of Deidamia, who they see as a mere hindrance to their grandiose plans to subjugate Troy. Achille is only too eager to leave her when the call to battle rises, and even the aged King Licomede seems to want to use his age as an excuse for moral weakness. Handel's music, however, gives the men a touch of high disposition that makes them appear likeable and believable as mythical heroes. Licomedes regret in the aria Nel riposo e nel contento (No. 18) that his frailty prevents him from participating in the hunt, so that his only remaining joy is to enjoy rest, is amazingly moving and perhaps conveys something of feeling by the 55-year-old composer who no longer needs the hectic pace of an opera production. In the two contrasting female roles, Handel shows himself to the very best of form. Nerea is the traditional confidante, with her own expression of cynicism, but always charming and occasionally robust. Deidamia is a fully formed portrait - she matures in the course of the opera, when the carefree ecstasy of young love, as heard in the first aria, gives way to the feeling of irreparable loss. Two inconsolable arias give expression to this development. In Se 'l timore (No. 17) from the second act, when Deidamia first realizes that she can lose Achille forever, Handel creates great intensity only with the singing voice and a single violin line, often with compelling tension in the harmony. In M'hai resa infelice (No. 30) from the third act, Deidamia is torn between despair and anger when she accuses Ulisse of destroying her happiness. The aria dispenses with the traditional da capo form and instead uses alternating slow and fast sections that lead to an unexpectedly abrupt ending.

In general, the opera is solidly cast with the usual strings, reinforced with oboes and bassoons. Brass instruments are used sparingly but effectively. But in the first scene with Deidamia and her companions, a lute contributes decisive timbres and appears here for the last time in a London orchestral score. Ulisse's aria Come all'urto aggressor (No. 31) has an extraordinary instrumentation: Handel wanted to give the middle voice - in the autograph Bassons [,] Viole [,] Sg r Caporale violoncell - a special meaning. Francisco Caporale was an excellent cellist, famous for his

"[...] full, sweet, and vocal tone."

"[...] full, sweet and melodious tones."

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

He worked in London from about 1733 for about twelve years and was a member of Handel's orchestra. If Handel had only a few violas (probably only two), Caporales' five-string cello, which consistently doubles the violas in this movement, not only significantly enhanced its sound, but also gave it a special color thanks to the special sound of the fifth high string. Burney writes about this aria:

Come all 'urto , is an admirable composition, with a fine solo part, originally designed for Caporale's violoncello.

" Come all 'urto is an admirable composition, with a fine solo part, which Caporales cello was written for."

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

Handel's neighbor and lifelong admirer Mrs. Pendarves (formerly Mary Granville), a regular correspondent for the news of London musical life to her sister, wrote shortly before Christmas about Handel's preparations for the New Year:

“Mr. Handel has got a new singer from Italy, her voice is between Cuzzoni 's and Strada ' s - strong, but not harsh, her person miserably bad, being very low, and excessively crooked. "

“Handel has a new singer from Italy. Her voice lies between the Cuzzoni and the Strada - powerful, but not rough, but her figure is very poor, she is very small and really too crooked. "

- Mary Pendarves : Letter to Ann Granville, London, December 21, 1740

It was Maria Monza who was supposed to be performing for the first time in Imeneo . But when their arrival was delayed, Handel had played it safe by arranging the role of Nerea in such a way that she made little demands on the vocal technique. Now, in late 1740, the Monza arrived, and Handel made extensive changes to Nerea's arias. In her first aria Diè lusinghe, di dolcezza (No. 6), Handel reversed the key from minor to major and expanded the range to emphasize her extraordinary ambitus of two octaves (b - b 2 ) and her brilliant coloratura, which makes the Length of the number more than doubled. In their next Arie Sì, che desio quel che tu brami (no. 10), he gave up a rather monotonous sequenced set in D major benefit of alla breve in B Minor of great counterpoint density and chromatic notes when using ligatures the "Strong bonds of love" are represented, which bind Nerea to Deidamia. Non vuò perdere l'istane (No. 34) was also set to music, but Handel liked the original version, which has a beguiling melody, so much that he immediately reused it as a new aria in L'Allegro for Straight mine eye . He expanded the aria Quanto ingannata è quella (No. 28) from a mere A section to a complete da capo form. If you consider how much he changed in Nerea's arias when the Monza finally arrived in London, one can conclude that, as Burney claims, she was by no means under criticism. Neither is this aria

"[...] one of those subordinate airs of an opera for the under singers, which afford attentive hearers time to breathe, ans discuss the merit of superior compositions and performance."

"[...] one of those subordinate arias for secondary singers that attentive listeners use to take a deep breath and discuss the merits of better compositions and performances."

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

as Burney condescendingly called her. Certainly Handel did not make the same strict distinction between the needs of singers in supporting roles and stars as Burney did, whose comments on the really first-rate music of some insignificant roles in Handel's operas are therefore inadequate.

In Deidamia's aria Quando accenderan (No. 8), the gently plaintive opening and the energetic passage from bar 13 seem to belong to almost two different pieces of music, but the latter characterize (and even parody) Achilles' burgeoning fascination with the idea of ​​gaining glory on the battlefield while the first section depicts Deidamia's tender and careful love. The conflict between these two motifs determines the musical nature and the dramatic effect of the aria. Fenice's first aria AI tardar della vendetta (No. 3) is comparable to this, although here the two contrasting motifs appear at the same time as in a fugue with subject and counter-subject , with the continuous half notes of the oboes and first violins reproducing the “tardar” of the text , while the lively motif consisting of two sixteenths and one eighth notes in the second violins and bass heralds laughter ("ride"). In Licomede's first aria, Nelle nubi intorno al fato (No. 4), there follows an even more subtle example of how Handel created an entire piece from a text-based motif: the concept that mere human intelligence cannot penetrate the veiling mists of fate , is represented quite simply by an optimistic ascending scale, which suddenly drops by a seventh in the third measure ; repeated attempts to achieve a higher goal are similarly nullified.

In Deidamia , Rolli and Handel seem to have taken the genre of the opera seria , which in some opinion had become too inflexible, in other people's opinion almost perfected, neither this itself nor its approaching demise particularly seriously; they look back nostalgically, but with a knowing, ironic smile. When Deidamia holds up the prophecy of his death to Achilles before Troy, he cynically replies:

L'oracol parla quel che vuol Calcante.
Ignoto è l'avvenir.
Godersi importa quel ben
che la presente ora ti porta.

The oracle speaks what Kalchas wants.
All future is hidden from us.
Let us enjoy the good that
the present hour brings.

and the final chorus pushes the message " Carpe diem " even further:

Se son le belle ingrate,
cangiate di pensier:
folle chi vuol penar.

If the beautiful woman shows herself ungrateful,
change your mind:
foolish who wants to torment himself.

No other full-length work of Handel is so consistently in major, and hardly a dispensed as complete as Deidamia on accompagnato recitatives . Most of the few arias in minor are intended for the desperate heroine. In other late works, such as Arminio , minor plays the dominant role, but in his last three operas Handel seems to want to push his approach to opera seria in the direction of a lighter mood. The last words in Deidamia ,

Non trascurate, amanti,
gl'istanti del piacer:
volan per non tornar.

Do not forget, dear friends,
happy moments pass
never to return.

are evoked by a rapidly descending scale.

orchestra

Two oboes , bassoon , two horns , two trumpets , timpani , strings, basso continuo ( violoncello , lute , harpsichord ).

Discography

  • Albany TROY 460 (2001): Julianne Baird (Deidamia), Mary O'Brien (Nerea), D'Anna Fortunato (Achille), Brenda Harris (Ulisse), Peter Castaldi (Fenice), John Cheek (Licomede)
Brewer Baroque Chamber Orchestra; Dir. Rudolph Palmer (181 min)
Il Complesso Barocco; Dir. Alan Curtis (181 min)
  • Mondo Musica 80086 (2002): Ann Monoyios (Deidamia), Anke Hermann (Nerea), Akie Amou (Achille), Anna Lucia Sciannimanico (Ulisse), Martin Kronthaler (Fenice), Wolf Matthias Friedrich (Licomede)
Handel Festival Orchestra Hall of the Halle Opera House ; Dir. Alessandro De Marchi

literature

swell

Web links

Commons : Deidamia (opera)  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Anthony Hicks : Trade. Deidamia. Translated from the English by Anne Steeb and Bernd Müller. Virgin veritas 5455502, London 2003, pp. 19-22.
  2. ^ 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. 332.
  3. ↑ a b c d e Terence Best: Deidamia . Preface to the Halle Handel Edition , Bärenreiter-Verlag , Kassel 2001, pp. VI – IX.
  4. ↑ a b Handel Reference Database 1740 . ichriss.ccarh.org. Retrieved February 23, 2013.
  5. ^ John H. Roberts: Handel's Borrowings from Keizer. Göttinger Handel Contributions 2, 1986, pp. 51-76.
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g Christopher Hogwood : Georg Friedrich Händel. A biography (= Insel-Taschenbuch 2655). From the English by Bettina Obrecht, Insel Verlag , Frankfurt am Main / Leipzig 2000, ISBN 3-458-34355-5 , p. 289 f.
  7. ^ Charles Burney : A general history of music:… Vol. 4 , London 1789. Reprinted from the Cambridge Library Collection, 2010, ISBN 978-1-108-01642-1 , p. 657.
  8. ^ A b Charles Burney : A general history of music:… Vol. 4 , London 1789. Reprinted from the Cambridge Library Collection, 2010, ISBN 978-1-108-01642-1 , p. 435.
  9. ^ 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. 324.