Faramondo

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Work data
Original title: Faramondo
Title page of the libretto, London 1737

Title page of the libretto, London 1737

Shape: Opera seria
Original language: Italian
Music: georg Friedrich Handel
Libretto : unknown
Literary source: Apostolo Zeno , Faramondo (Venice, 1698)
Premiere: January 3, 1738
Place of premiere: King's Theater , London
Playing time: 2 ¾ hours
Place and time of the action: In the empire of the Cimbri , around 420
people
  • Faramondo , King of the Salian Franks ( soprano )
  • Clotilde, his sister (soprano)
  • Gustavo, King of the Cimbri ( bass )
  • Rosimonda, his daughter ( old )
  • Adolfo, his son (soprano)
  • Gernando, King of the Suebi (alto)
  • Teobaldo, General of the Cimbri (bass)
  • Childerico, his presumed son, in truth Gustavo's son (soprano)
  • Warriors, people, messengers, servants

Faramondo ( HWV 39) is an opera ( Dramma per musica ) in three acts by Georg Friedrich Händel and the first opera after the collapse of the Third Opera Academy in 1737. With it Handel returned to the King's Theater on Haymarket.

Emergence

The previous seasons of his third opera academy at the Theater Royal in Covent Garden had been so tense, hectic and busy that Handel hardly had time to reflect on his personal situation and that of Italian opera in London. This opportunity presented itself unexpectedly: in mid-April 1737, just one month before the planned premiere of the Berenice , Handel suffered a catastrophic collapse as a result of his physical and mental tension: a stroke ! During these days he wanted to lead the pasticcio Didone abbandonata, which he had compiled and edited, based on Pietro Metastasio 's debut work of the same name with music by Leonardo Vinci , Johann Adolph Hasse , Geminiano Giacomelli and Antonio Vivaldi , but the paralysis of his right arm and the mental troubles had to lead possibly Handel's second harpsichordist Johann Christoph Schmidt jun. take over the evening management. At that point it was completely unclear whether this stroke of fate would end his work as a composer and conductor forever. In any case, his friends and followers were by no means sure, as the scholar James Harris wrote to his cousin, the Earl of Shaftesbury :

"Y r Lord p’s information concerning M r Handel's Disorder was y e first I received - I can assure Y r Lord p it gave me no Small Concern - when y e Fate of Harmony depends upon a Single Life, the Lovers of Harmony may be well allowed to be Sollicitous. I heartily regrett y e thought of losing any of y e executive part of his meritt, but this I can gladly compound for, when we are assured of the Inventive, for tis this which properly constitutes y e Artist, & Separates Him from y e Multitude. It is certainly an Evidence of great Strength of Constitution to be so Soon getting rid of So great a Shock. A weaker Body would perhaps have hardly born y e Violence of Medicines, w ch operate So quickly. "

“Your lordship's news of Handel's illness was the first to reach me - I can assure you that I am very concerned about it. If the fate of harmony depends on a single life, one must forgive the friends of harmony for the excitement. I feel it is the deepest loss when we lose him as a performing musician, but I can easily come to terms with it as long as his ingenuity remains with us, because it is what defines the artist and sets him apart from the crowd. It is certainly a sign of great strength and endurance that he overcame such a severe blow so quickly. A weaker body would hardly have been able to cope with the powerful drugs that work so quickly. "

- James Harris : Letter to the Earl of Shaftesbury , London, May 5, 1737

In his Memoirs of Handel (1760) the Earl of Shaftesbury reported:

“Great fatigue and disappointment, affected him so much, that he was this Spring (1737) struck with the palsy, which took entirely away, the use of 4 fingers of his right hand; and totally disabled him from Playing: And when the heats of the Summer 1737 came on, the Disorder seemed at times to affect his understanding. "

“Great fatigue and disappointment burdened him so much that he was paralyzed in the spring that completely deprived him of the mobility of four fingers on his right hand and made it impossible for him to make music. And when the hot days of summer 1737 approached, the disease sometimes seemed to confuse his mind. "

- Earl of Shaftesbury : Memoirs of Handel , London 1760

After the last performance of the season, the Alexander Festival on June 25th, which Handel was presumably running again himself, probably using all his strength, his friends decided that he had now taken enough and urged him to visit the medicinal baths of Aix-la-Chapelle Aachen ). So in September he went there for six weeks. He could worry about a lot here: the failure of the opera; the volatility of the audience and patrons, his own position vis-à-vis the public and performing artists, the new opportunities opened up by the success of opera in English, and the constant happiness that had accompanied his experiments outside the opera stage.

His own future as a virtuoso seemed secured thanks to the “wonderful effect” of the cure, the drugs and his iron constitution. In the meantime, medicine has provided various diagnoses for Handel's ailments: the most common is the theory that he suffered from a brain thrombosis from which he recovered quickly due to good circulation. A second diagnosis is: chronic muscular rheumatism; this would better explain Handel's sudden recovery. The fact that Aachen is associated in a special way with the healing of sexually transmitted diseases does not constitute a sufficient basis for a theory according to which Handel suffered from syphilis.

It is more difficult to diagnose what Handel thought of Italian opera. He was too pragmatic not to admit to himself that the tastes of English audiences were changing and that his own operas, like Mrs. Pendarves , his lifelong admirer and Brook Street neighbor, once lamented

"[...] too good for the vile taste of the town"

"[...] too good for the bad taste of this city"

- Mary Pendarves : Letter to Ann Granville, Pall Mall, December 20, 1729

were. But Handel had a natural and legitimate feeling of superiority when it came to musical values, and the moods of the audience were by no means a reason for him to give up his belief in the dramatic concept of Italian opera. If he included features of Bononcini and the easier interludes in his own highly developed conception of opera seria , that was the ultimate compromise he was ready to make. But another consideration came into play, as important in 1737 as it was in 1729, when Paolo Antonio Rolli first mentioned it in a letter to Giuseppe Riva :

"[...] perchè parlerò solamente dell'Evento, cioè del concorso o del vacuo, da cui tutto dipende, siasi buono o cattivo."

"[...] I'll only talk about the till, that is, about whether the theater was full or empty, because everything depends on it, be it good or bad!"

- Paolo Antonio Rolli : Letter to Giuseppe Riva, London, November 6, 1729

Few facts shed light on this crucial problem of funding. With recent discoveries (mainly among the papers of the Duke of Portland ) and the work of Robert Hume and Judith Milhous, we now have a clearer and more solid picture of Handel's position. Although the financial situation of the Royal Academy was desperate from the day it was founded (1719), a rough examination of the financial situation in the 1732/33 season shows that both Handel and the impresario Johann Jacob Heidegger could have afforded the opera to continue, on the basis of their additional income - in the case of Heidegger, the mask games, which are said to have brought him more than 2000 pounds a year, in the case of Handel, lucrative concerts (the high income from Athalia, for example), the salary imposed on him by the king and his commissioned work ( Water music and odes for special occasions such as weddings and funerals). As long as Handel was not one of the main contractors in this project, his financial security was not at risk. But the more he felt compelled to actively participate in management, as he did in the second attempt from 1729 together with Heidegger, the more he attracted the “disgust” of the public, and the sooner he was accused of “tyranny” by his singers. Only his persistence and his own musical productivity spoke in favor of Handel as an entrepreneur. Tolerance was not one of his strong points, and a man who was able to declare that a royal prince was no longer in his grace could draw on the artistic excesses of the "far-fetched and dearly paid gentlemen" that made up his troops composed, only react gruffly. And yet it was probably as Colley Cibber put it:

“The truth is, that this kind of entertainment being so entirely sensual, it had no possibility of getting the better of our reason but by its novelty; and that novelty could never be supported but by an annual change of the best voices, which like the finest flowers bloom but for a season, and when that is over, are only dead nose-gays. "

“In truth, this kind of entertainment is so purely sensual that it has only ever been able to triumph over our reason through novelty; and this novelty could only be secured by an annual exchange of the best votes, which, like the noblest flowers, only bloom for one summer and at the end of which they are only a withered bouquet. "

- Colley Cibber : An Apology for the Life of Mr. Colley Cibber , London 1740

Handel's failure was certainly not due to a lack of support from a higher level. King George II , Queen Caroline and the Prince of Wales consistently supported Handel's projects.

"If everyone were as well satisfied with the company as is the Royal Family, we should have to admit that there never had been such an opera since Adam and Eve sang Milton's hymn in the Garden of Eden."

"If everyone were as happy with the opera company as the royal family, we would have to admit that there has been no opera like this since Adam and Eve sang Milton's hymns in the Garden of Eden ."

- Paolo Antonio Rolli : Letter to Senesino , London, November 6, 1729

Rolli wrote sarcastically in 1729. The real problem was that there were now two opera companies in London. A society alone might have found enough support to survive financially; two meant that both quickly became unprofitable to the point of ruin: the senseless arguments can only have accelerated their simultaneous decline:

“Our operas have given much cause of dissension; men and women have been deeply engaged; and no debate in the House of Commons has been urged with more warmth: the dispute of the merits of the composers and singers is carried to so great a height, that it is much feared, by all true lovers of music, that operas will be quite overturned. I own I think we make a very silly figure about it. "

“Our operas were the cause of major disputes. Women and men were absorbed in it, and no debate in the House of Commons has been carried on with such heat. The dispute about the merits of composers and singers goes so far that all true music lovers fear that the opera will completely go under. I admit that we paint a very sad picture. "

- Mary Pendarves : Letter to Jonathan Swift , May 16, 1735

The London public wanted content, not just visual and acoustic stimuli, and thus intensified competition and rivalry. Handel had still stubbornly refused to listen to the suggestions of Aaron Hill and other advocates of English opera, now the audience had turned to burlesque and satire . The beggar's opera had not dealt the fatal blow to Italian opera , but to hopes for a serious English opera. Now Handel could only tell that the London audience already had the new popular form of entertainment they had been asking for. It wasn't the shape he (or Aaron Hill) would have wanted, but the opportunity was missed.

Against the failure of his opera project, Handel now had to compensate for the success of Athalia and Esther , The Alexander Festival and Acis and Galatea . Although he was not yet convinced of the musical potential of the oratorio , the public already seemed to suspect that a combination of Handel's "noble and noble style" with corresponding verses by Dryden , Milton or the Bible was the missing link between the style of his semi-official festival music, which was based on the traditional English church idiom, and the masterful, but overstylized opera seria would arise. Handel had already encountered one of the risks inherent in the oratorio: hostility from the public. The opera was attacked because of its absurdity and extravagance, but the oratorio was threatened with the far more serious accusation of blasphemy. A compromise on the basis of his successes with Dryden and his first experiments in Cannons with Acis and Galatea was the English ode or pastoral. Far less risky, but a guaranteed financial success in the hands of an enterprising publisher, was the field of instrumental music. According to the audience, no one could write concerts better than Handel. The publication of instrumental music was less prestigious than opera, but it also hid fewer pitfalls. As long as there were two opera companies in London, Handel was actually only left with a choice between a concert, ode or oratorio. Strengthened as he was after his stay in Aachen, he might even be able to tackle more than one of these projects.

But no matter from what point of view one looks at Handel's career in retrospect, one fact always stands out: his stubborn refusal to give up the theater, his real calling. There were no financial or health disasters on the other hand, even in the face of a disinterested audience, a changed taste in music and rumors about his dwindling power, he remained steadfast. There has even been talk of

«[…] Que les beaux jours de Hendel sont passéz, sa tète est épuissée et son gout hors de mode. »

"[...] that Handel's great time is over, his creative power is gone and his taste is no longer up to date."

- Prince Friedrich of Prussia : Letter to Prince Wilhelm of Orange , October 8, 1737

But the six weeks of his recovery were not over when Handel countered all rumors of his defeat by delivering a pasticcio opera made from seven of his own to the city of Elbing on the Baltic Sea, near Danzig , for the celebration of its five hundredth anniversary Put compositions together. A libretto to Hermann von Balcke (who founded the city in 1237) is still preserved in the Elbingen city library, but the music has been lost. If Handel actually went to Elbing to direct the performance (which is doubtful), it says a lot about his admirable will to recover, and it is easier to believe Mainwaring's story that Handel's recovery among the Aachen nuns was a miracle was true. In his Memoirs of Handel , the Earl of Shaftesbury tells a different version of the story, suggesting Handel's full recovery; This is where the incident takes place on Handel's journey home:

“His recovery was so compleat, that in his Return from thence to England, he was able to Play long Voluntaries upon the Organ. In one of the great Towns in Flanders, where he had asked Permission to Play, the Organist attended him, not knowing who he was; and seem'd Struck with M r . Handell's Playing when he began: But when he heard M r . Handell lead off a Feuge, in Astonishment he ran up to him, & embracing him, said You can be no other but the great Handell ”

“His recovery was so complete that on the way back to England he was able to play long organ improvisations. In a large city in Flanders, Handel asked permission to make music. The organist, who did not know who he was looking at, accompanied him; and when Handel began to play he was moved by a blow. But when he heard Handel working a fugue, he ran up to him in amazement, and as he embraced him, he exclaimed: You cannot be any other than the great Handel! "

- Earl of Shaftesbury : Memoirs of Handel , London 1760

When Handel returned to England, for the first time he was faced with an opera season that had just started as a bystander. This season differed from the previous ones in one detail: The concession law, in effect since the summer, had given the two public theaters Covent Garden and Drury Lane a monopoly over dramatic (non-musical) entertainment. John Rich profited from the collapse of the small stages by buying the opera burlesque The Dragon of Wantley by Henry Carey (text) and Johann Friedrich Lampe (music) for Covent Garden after it had been unsuccessful at the Little Theater on Haymarket in May, and thus covered his losses in one fell swoop and secured the only musical attraction of this season that could cause a sold out house. It was performed 69 times in its first season, seven more performances than even the Beggar Opera had achieved; in doing so she finally dealt the fatal blow to the Italian opera.

Caricature by Caffarelli's Pier Leone Ghezzi , ca.1740

At the Haymarket, Heidegger, the last remaining professional operator of the failed aristocratic opera , opened the new season on October 29, 1737 with a pasticcio , Arsace , conducted by Giovanni Pescetti and with music arranged by him. Heidegger hired the haughty Caffarelli , who, according to contemporary reports, was a great singer, but moody and unbridled arrogance, to succeed Farinelli , who had finally left England last summer . He later ended up in prison in Italy for insulting a prima donna with obscene gestures on stage . Heidegger had advertised Pescetti, who had previously been a director of the Opera of the Nobility, as in-house composer, but he could hardly have expected him to play an entire season; he probably hoped Handel could not resist this bait. Less than two weeks after his return to England, Handel reached an agreement with Heidegger according to which he would write two new operas and a pasticcio for his troupe and place himself in his service as music director. He started work on Faramondo and noted in his score “Beginning November 15, 1737 | Tuesday. " . But all plans and projects were suddenly interrupted when Queen Caroline died on November 20th. The new season at Haymarket had only just seen three performances when all theaters had to close their doors for six weeks of national mourning.

Handel wrote the famous Funeral Anthem The Ways of Zion do Mourn (HWV 264) for the funeral , which was performed on December 17th. For him, the queen's death meant a personal loss: he had known her since she was eleven, when she was Caroline von Ansbach; and in 1711 in Hanover he had written duets for her, then Georg August's bride . In England she had given him sustained support by taking out opera subscriptions for herself and her daughters, hiring him as a music teacher and trying to mediate between her husband and son on his behalf.

Meanwhile, Handel continued with the new composition: "Fine dell Atto 1st Monday, November 28th 1737" - "Fine dell 'Atto 2 do | December 4, 1737. | Sunday evenings at 10 o'clock. ” A week after the funeral ceremonies, on Christmas Eve , Handel finished Faramondo : “ Fine dell 'Opera | GF trade. London Decembr 24th 1737. " , and immediately started a new opera, Serse : " started the 25th Decembr 1737 | Sunday or Monday 26th, the 2nd day. “ That means: Starting on December 25th, Sunday, or rather on Monday 26th, namely on Boxing Day. The number 25 is crossed out in the manuscript. He apparently took a day off for Christmas. There will be no clearer evidence of his vigor, perseverance and tenacity - despite the remark under the aria “Vanne, che piú ti miro” (No. 6) in Faramondo : “Mr Duval, doctor in Poland Street.” .

When the state of mourning was lifted on January 3rd, Faramondo came on stage at 6 p.m. that same evening:

“Last Night the new Opera of Faramondo was performed at the King's Theater to a splendid audience, and met with general applause. It being the first Time of Mr Handel's Appearance this Season, he was honored with extraordinary and repeated Signs of Approbation. "

“Last night the new opera Faramondo was performed at the King's Theater to a great audience with great applause. Since Handel appeared in public for the first time this season, he was honored with extraordinary and repeated applause. "

- A London newspaper, January 4, 1738

Lord Wentworth (not yet sixteen years old) wrote to his father after the trial on January 3rd:

"To be sure it will [be] vastly full since there has not been one so long a time & a new person to sing into the ba [rgain]"

"Certainly it will be extremely crowded, since there has been no (opera) for so long, and with a new person who sings ..."

- William Wentworth : Letter to his father, the Earl of Strafford , January 3, 1738

It remains unclear whether this meant Caffarelli. It could also be the soprano Élisabeth Duparc , known as “La Francesina”, who became one of Handel's regular singers. The troupe also included the boy William Savage , for whom Handel had already written soprano roles in Alcina (Oberto) and Giustino (Fortuna). His part is notated in the treble clef, except in the final chorus, where he had to sing the tenor part. We don't know when Savage's voice broke. He later continued to sing for Handel as a countertenor and bassist.

Cast of the premiere

It quickly became clear that Handel's opera did not win against The Dragon of Wantley , and on January 14th Lord Wentworth had to revise the prediction made to his father:

“The poor operas I doubt go on but badly, for tho 'every body praises both Cafferielli and the opera yet it has never been full, and if it is not now at first it will be very empty towards the latter end of the winter [ ...] ”

"I'm afraid things are going badly with the poor opera, because although everyone praises Caffarelli and the opera, it has never been sold out, and if that does not happen now at least, it will be played in front of almost empty seats towards the end of winter [ ...] "

- Lord Wentworth : Letter to his father, the Earl of Strafford, January 3, 1738

He should be right with his fears, because Faramondo , although at first commented enthusiastically, then only managed a miserable seven performances in January and one resumption on May 16 (for which Handel canceled the roles of Teobaldo and Childerico), what, how Charles Burney notes

"[...] reflects more disgrace on the public than composer."

"[...] throws a worse light on the audience than on the composer."

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

libretto

The libretto goes back to Apostolo Zeno's dramma per musica Faramondo , which was first performed in Venice on December 27, 1698 with music by Carlo Francesco Pollarolo . Zeno was not only a well-known literary critic and court poet in Vienna , but before Pietro Metastasio the most important lyricist for Italian opera. Through his melodramas and oratorios, in which he sought to realize the ideals of classical French tragedy, he influenced the reform of Italian opera, in whose European development Handel played a leading role. In Faramondo , too, Zeno had renounced the comic and magical elements characteristic of seventeenth-century opera and treated the story seriously, like political and military history, interwoven with the usual entanglements of love and human intrigues. In 1719 Nicola Porpora set the libretto for Naples to music . A year later it was Francesco Gasparini for the Teatro Alibert in Rome. The libretto had undergone a major change for Gasparini's version. Handel did not fall back on Zeno's original, but on Gasparini's version, which can also be seen from the musical suggestions in Handel's score. The text writer for Handel's version of the opera made a second noteworthy change in the original libretto and reduced this to around half. However, if it wasn't Handel himself, his name is still unknown today. As usual, the recitatives for London were drastically cut down: if Zeno had 1699 lines, Gasparini 1240, Handel's score was left with 540: which has the usual effect that the protagonists' dramaturgical connections and motivation for action are often no longer recognizable. It is noticeable that there is no contemporary criticism of this fact. For the premiere there was a booklet printed by John Chrichley in 1737 in Italian and English.

Neither Handel himself, nor his faithful him venues in Germany, Hamburg and Braunschweig , who Faramondo later brought back to the stage. In modern times, the work had to wait a comparatively long time to be rediscovered. It was not performed until March 5, 1976 at the Handel Festival in Halle in a German version of the text by Waltraut Lewin and under the musical direction of Thomas Sanderling , but after that it was seldom performed. The first re-performance of the piece in the original language and historical performance practice had to wait until October 1, 2008. As part of the Settimane Musicali di Ascona festival and CD production, the opera was performed in Ascona, Switzerland in concert form with the I Barocchisti orchestra under the direction of Diego Fasolis .

action

The legendary King Faramund from Sal Franconia
Pharamond is taken up by the Franks, Pierre Révoil and Michel-Philibert Genod , 1841–45

It is not possible to fix the events of the opera at a specific place and time period. The epochs of the episodes and people described were too different. If the mythical King Faramund is settled in the early 5th century, the time of the Cimbrian Wars was the end of the second century BC. The Cimbri were a Germanic tribe. Originally based in northern Jutland, they left around 120 BC. Their home. Their restlessness, paired with the intention of conquest, led them together with the Teutons and Ambrones over Silesia , Bohemia , through the Danube basin, Gaul (France) and Spain to Portugal. Ultimately, they were wiped out by the Romans in northern Italy and 101 BC. Defeated by Gaius Marius in the battle of Vercellae . Before that, around 110 BC BC, they must have come across the sedentary Salfranken . The Suebi resided as a group of Germanic peoples with a common religious cult in the area of ​​the Havel and Spree up to the Baltic Sea. The marcomanni and quadrupeds belonging to them have settled around 130 BC. On the way to Spain. They too must have arrived at the Salfranken around the same time as the Cimbri, albeit with peaceful intent. If one draws the point of intersection in terms of time and place, the events of the opera can only have taken place in this period, for example in what is now Provence , especially in the Rhone valley . Only King Faramund does not fit into this time at all.

“ARGOMENTO
A Gustavo re de 'Boemmi e de' Cimbri concesse il cielo tre figliuoli, Sveno, Adolfo e Rosimonda. Di questa invaghitosi Gernando re degli Svevi, fece per mezzo d'Ambasciatori richiederla al re suo padre per moglie, ma qualunque ne fosse il motivo o di politica, o di alterigia, ne riportò da Gustavo il rifiuto: del che oltremodo sdegnatosi, né potendo egli solo far la guerra ad un monarca, le cui forze erano di gran lunga maggiori delle sue, ricorse all'aiuto di Faramondo re della Franconia, principe suo confederato ed amico, da cui altre volte avea ricevuto la libertà, ed era stato rimesso nel regno. Faramondo, tuttoché fosse amico anche di Gustavo, al cui figlio Adolfo, che si tratteneva in sua corte, trattava allora di conceder in moglie la principessa Clotilde sua sorella, avendo nulladimeno maggior impegno di amicizia con lo Svevo, group il trattissi di nozze un 'Gernando, e vinto in una campale battaglia l'esercito di Gustavo, entrò armato nella Cimbria, ponendola tutta a ferro e fuoco. Gustavo sprovveduto di forze per porre argine ad un esercito vittorioso, fu costretto portarsi nella Boemmia per raccogliervi una nuova armata, ed intanto i due re collegati entrando nel Paese nemico de 'Cimbri se ne impossessarono agevolmente, assediando nella suvena e metropimoli nella suvena Avendo ivi inteso, che Gustavo si appressava con nuove forze maggiori delle passate per far loro scioglier l'assedio, diedero un feroce generale assalto alla città, e riuscì a Faramondo il prenderla, e l'uccidervi di sua mano Sveno che n'era alla difesa. La morte di questo principe dà occasione a tutto lo 'ntreccio del dramma, poiché quindi ne nasce che con giuramento inviolabile presso alla superstizione del gentilesimo, Rosimonda giura la morte di Faramondo, e Gustavo promette in consorte la figlia, e in premio la Cimbria, a chi verrà a presentargli il capo tronco del re nemico. Nel tempo stesso che Faramondo sull'imbrunir della notte prende la città, riesce a Teobaldo, uno de 'capitani e' l più confidente di Gustavo, far prigioniero nel campo de 'Franchi la principessa Clotilde condottavi dal fratello, conforme al noto costume degli antichi popoli della Germania, che usavano condur seco nelle guerre tutta la loro famiglia. L'odio che spinge Teobaldo a 'danni di Faramondo, non deve in lui condannarsi sino alla fine della favola, ove si scopre qual fosse Sveno creduto figliuolo di Gustavo, e Childerico stimato figliuolo di Teobaldo. Da queste azioni si dà cominciamento al dramma, che prende il nome di Faramondo dal suo attor principale. Questi è quel Faramondo, che prima essendo re della Franconia, chiamato poscia dal suo coraggio alla conquista di un regno, in cui nulla avesse di parte la nascita o la fortuna, ma che fosse tutto del suo valore, passato il Reno, andò ad insignorirsi delle Gallie, e dando loro il nome di Francia fu il primo che con lo stabilimento della legge salica desse principio a quella in ogni tempo gloriosa, e formidabile monarchia. Del soggetto principale di questo dramma, per tacere mons. di Mezeray, de la Serre, Verdier, ed altri storici francesi, confesso d'esser singolarmente tenuto a mons. de la Calprenede, che non solo me ne ha dato il motivo ma ancora mi ha somministrata una parte del viluppo nella seconda parte del suo Faramondo, o sia della sua Storia di Francia. "

“FOREWORD
Gustavo, King of the Bohemians and Cimbri, heaven brought three children: Sveno, Adolfo and the daughter Rosimonda. Gernando, King of the Suebi, was so charmed by her that he asked her father to give her to him as a wife. No matter whether he was driven by arrogance or political reasons - Gustavo rejected the application. Gernando was deeply offended by this, but found himself unable to take revenge in a warlike manner on a king whose powers were far superior to his. So he brought Faramondo, the king of the Franks, to help, who had already helped him to regain his empire and personal freedom. Faramondo was a friend of Gustavus and had promised his son Adolfo to his sister Clotilde as a wife. But he felt more committed to the friendship of the Suebi. So he broke the marriage contract, united with Gernando and, after defeating Gustavo's army in open battle, invaded Cimbria armed, where he subjected everything to fire and sword. Gustavo, unable to stop Faramondo's victorious army, withdrew to Bohemia and raised new troops there. Meanwhile, the allied kings advanced in the land of the Cimbri and besieged the capital. At the news that Gustavus was approaching at the head of a powerful army, Faramondo launched a general attack on the city, captured it and killed Sveno, who led the defenders, with his own hand. The death of the king's son is the cause of the whole conflict of this drama: Rosimonda swore to Faramondo, her brother's murderer, to die; Gustavo undertook an oath to give his daughter as a prize to the person who presented him with the head of the slain enemy. (And the oath or oath is an unbreakable bond in paganism!) At the same time as Faramondo was conquering the capital in the shadow of night, his sister Clotilde was kidnapped from the Franconian camp by Teobaldo, one of Gustavo's captains and close confidante. One should not condemn Teobaldo's hatred of Faramondo's misdeeds. It is revealed at the end of the fable that Sveno is just a faked son of Gustavo and Childerico just an alleged son of Teobaldo. These actions lead to the beginning of the drama, which is named FARAMONDO after its main hero. This is the Faramondo who was initially King of the Franks and was then moved by his courage to conquer an empire in which nothing belonged to him by birth or luck, but everything was owed to his bravery. After he had crossed the Rhine, he seized Gaul, from which, under the new name France, he created this empire, which was glorious and powerful at all times. I owe the subject matter of this drama - besides di Mézeray, de la Serre , Verdier and other French historians - above all to Monsieur de Calprenède and his 'History of France'. "

- Foreword to the text booklet by John Chrichley, London 1737

music

The structure of the opera text presented by Handel is open to criticism. The unknown (Italian) lyricist has cut, changed and rearranged so much for Gasparini's version compared to the Zenosian original that it is difficult to perform this opera yourself with dramaturgical skill. This is regrettable, as the music is varied and sometimes very captivating as well as light, catchy and lively in the new style.

The weight of the musical implementation is on the situational description and the scenic design. This means that there are indeed a number of the most beautiful arias and duets, melodically and tonally, but that a more in-depth description and painting of the characters was not possible. To this extent, Faramondo has its own place in the history of Handel operas. In any case, it is not a dramaturgical unit, although it is very nice and enjoyable to listen to. However, the failure in the London performance time in 1738 was not due to this, the reasons for this were, as is known, not on a musical level.

Like almost all Handel operas, Faramondo begins with an overture in the French style , which appears a few times in literature, e.g. B. by Hugo Leichtentritt and Paul Henry Lang , was judged as "extraordinarily beautiful". Charles Burney also praised her profusely:

“The overture to Faramond is one of the most pleasing of all Handel's opera overtures. [...] Nothing can be more grand than the opening, or more free and spirited than the fugue; and as to the air, it speaks intelligibly to all ears. "

"The overture to Faramondo is one of the most beautiful of all Handel's operatic overtures. [...] A more grand opening can hardly be imagined, or something more revealing, more spirited than this fugue; and to speak of Air: it speaks very catchy in all ears. "

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

Right at the end of the first scene there is a short and easy choral movement: “Pera, pera! l'alma fiera ” (No. 2). In the first act there are usually two soprano arias by two very different female characters, Rosimonda and Clotilde, that make you sit up and take notice. First there is Rosimonda's “Vanne, che piú ti miro, piú cresce il mio dolor” (No. 6), in which we experience the open heart of a young woman who is hoping to soon receive more tokens of love from Faramondo. This uncertainty as to whether she can and will experience something like this is expressed in the aria, which begins directly from the recitative without the usual orchestral prelude, in a beautiful melody, unusual modulations and with wave-like accompanying figures in the orchestra. The answer and exit aria “Rival ti sono” (No. 7) by Faramondo, lively and determined, is a real motto aria: it begins with the slogan, followed by the orchestral prelude. It is noticeable that Handel often gives his new Primo Uomo the opportunity to prove himself vocally in ad libitum passages. The second soprano aria is the imaginative chant of Clotilde "Mi parto lieta sulla tua fede" (No. 12), a woman who knows what she is worth, but who can give herself away completely. The first act ends with Faramondo: “Se ben mi lusinga l'infida speranza” (No. 13), a good example of how Handel integrates elements of the new style (especially in the accompanying figures) into his writing without this becoming superficial and hollow virtuosity. It's a rousing piece. The second act begins with a symphonia in Handel's earlier style. For the spirited role of Clotilde there is “Combattuta da due venti” (No. 18), a very original aria. Gustavo's bass part is particularly well suited to depicting ardent vengeance: “Sol la brama di vendetta” (No. 20), with an imposing theme, hard and jagged by giant leaps in the violins. Gernando's “Nella terra, in ciel” (No. 21), here with wild sixteenth-note figures in the violins , is just as upset . The second act ends with a one-part duet by Faramondo and Rosimonda "Vado e vivo / Vanne e vivi" (No. 22) in a friendly and hopeful G major. It anticipates earthly joys, but puts love and loyalty in the foreground.

The third act, which again begins with a symphony, is immediately followed by the second duet of the opera: “Caro / Cara, tu mi accendi nel mio core” (No. 24), this time for Clotilde and Adolfo and in a more extended da capo form. Faramondo's passionate aria "Voglio che sia l'indegno" (No. 26), a fiery and imaginative piece, which was obviously written for a great voice (Caffarelli) and is very varied and colorful, is also worth highlighting . The last aria of the opera, Faramondo's "Virtú che rende si forte un core, d'odio e d'amore" (No. 30) is one of the most beautiful opera arias written in the hunted rhythm. It is very richly orchestrated (with nine obbligato systems in the score), and the horn parts in it are particularly cheerful and lively. Faramondo's singing goes directly into the usual final chorus, from the assembled soloist ensemble, which has been reconciled after confusion.

Success and criticism

Winton Dean suspected that Handel was involved in the composition of Faramondo

“[...] was not consistently on the ball. He may have had his fill of Dark Age blood-and-thunder melodrama. Berenice and Arminio had been a come-down after the glories of the Ariosto operas, and though Giustino promised a new approach he had not yet found the lighter tone of Serse and Imeneo . Strohm suggests that the libretto of Faramondo may have been chosen by Heidegger, and that Handel set it unwillingly. However that may be, it is a very uneven opera, with half a dozen peaks where some facet set Handel's genius alight, chiefly in Act II, but a good deal of routine matter. "

"[...] was not" on the ball "all the time. Maybe he was fed up with the blood-and-thunder melodramas of the old days. Berenice and Arminio were a descent after the splendid Ariosto operas and although Giustino promised a fresh approach, he had not yet found the lighter tone of the Serse and Imeneo . According to [Reinhard] Strohm , Heidegger might have chosen the libretto for Faramondo and Handel reluctantly put it into music. Be that as it may: it is a very unbalanced opera, with half a dozen high points in which Handel's genius flashes (especially in the second act) but [overall] a good deal of routine work. "

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

orchestra

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

Discography

  • Vox Classics 7536 (1996): D'Anna Fortunato (Faramondo), Julianne Baird (Clotilde), Peter Castaldi (Gustavo), Jennifer Lane (Rosimonda), Mary Ellen Callahan (Adolfo), Drew Minter (Gernando), Mark Singer (Teobaldo ), Lorie Gratis (Childerico)
Brewer Chamber Orchestra; Dir. Rudolph Palmer (170 min)
I Barocchisti ; Dir. Diego Fasolis (166 min)

literature

swell

Web links

Commons : Faramondo  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Many musicologists, following Otto Erich Deutsch (Handel: A Documentary Biography , London 1955, reprint New York, 1974, p. 431), place the beginning of Handel's illness on April 13, 1737. Deutsch's statement is obviously a misinterpretation of Friedrich Chrysander ( GF Handel , second volume, Leipzig, 1860, p. 401) and cannot be justified. See also: John H. Roberts: Handel and Vinci's 'Didone abbandonata': Revisions and Borrowings. Music & Letters, Vol. & N68, No. & n2, Oxford University Press (1987), p. 141.
  2. ^ 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. 280
  3. ↑ a b Christopher Hogwood : Georg Friedrich Handel. A biography (= Insel-Taschenbuch 2655), from the English by Bettina Obrecht, Insel Verlag , Frankfurt am Main / Leipzig 2000, ISBN 3-458-34355-5 , p. 238 f.
  4. ^ Handel House Museum . www.handelhouse.org. Retrieved February 18, 2013.
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 , pp. 245 ff.
  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. 176
  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. 174
  8. ^ Colley Cibber : An Apology for the Life of Mr. Colley Cibber , London 1740, JM Dent & Sons, London, Reprint 1938, p. 214
  9. ↑ Commerce Reference Database . ichriss.ccarh.org. Retrieved February 18, 2013.
  10. ^ 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. 254
  11. ^ 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. 284
  12. ↑ Commerce Reference Database . ichriss.ccarh.org. Retrieved February 18, 2013.
  13. ^ Friedrich Chrysander : GF Handel , second volume, Breitkopf & Härtel , Leipzig 1860, p. 447 f.
  14. ↑ a b c Head 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. 288 f.
  15. ^ Charles Burney : A general history of music: ... Vol. 4 , London 1789, Reprint of the Cambridge Library Collection, 2010, ISBN 978-1-108-01642-1 , p. 423
  16. ^ Silke Leopold : Handel. The operas. , Bärenreiter-Verlag , Kassel 2009, ISBN 978-3-7618-1991-3 , p. 237 ff.
  17. ^ A b c Albert Scheibler: Complete 53 stage works by Georg Friedrich Handel, opera guide. Edition Köln, Lohmar / Rheinland 1995, ISBN 3-928010-05-0 , p. 279 ff.
  18. ↑ Winton Dean : Handel's Operas, 1726-1741. Boydell & Brewer, London 2006, Reprint: The Boydell Press, Woodbridge 2009, ISBN 978-1-84383-268-3 , pp. 404 f.
  19. ^ Charles Burney : A general history of music: ... Vol. 4 , London 1789, Reprint of the Cambridge Library Collection, 2010, ISBN 978-1-108-01642-1 , p. 420
  20. ↑ Winton Dean : Handel's Operas, 1726-1741. Boydell & Brewer, London 2006, Reprint: The Boydell Press, Woodbridge 2009, ISBN 978-1-84383-268-3 , p. 406