Rinaldo

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Work data
Original title: Rinaldo
Title page of the text book for the Hamburg performance in 1715

Title page of the text book for the Hamburg performance in 1715

Shape: Opera seria
Original language: Italian
Music: georg Friedrich Handel
Libretto : Giacomo Rossi after Aaron Hill
Literary source: Torquato Tasso , La Gerusalemme Liberata (1574)
Premiere: February 24, 1711
Place of premiere: Queen's Theater , Haymarket, London
Playing time: about 3 hours
Place and time of the action: in and around Jerusalem , 1099, during the First Crusade
people
  • Goffredo , Captain General of the Christian Army ( Alt )
  • Almirena, his daughter, Rinaldo's fiancée ( soprano )
  • Rinaldo, a Christian knight (soprano)
  • Eustazio , Goffredo's brother and ambassador (old)
  • Argante, King of Jerusalem, Beloved Armidas ( Bass )
  • Armida, Queen of Damascus and sorceress (soprano)
  • Mago, Christian magician (old)
  • A woman (soprano)
  • Two sirens (soprano)
  • A herald ( tenor )
  • Mermaids, monsters, fairies, officers, guards, servants

Rinaldo ( HWV 7a / 7b) is an opera ( opera seria ) in three acts by Georg Friedrich Händel . It marks the beginning of his thirty-year career as an opera composer in London .

First version - creation

Rinaldo is the first opera that Handel wrote in London. Although the composer was appointed Kapellmeister at the court of Hanover by Elector Georg Ludwig on June 16, 1710 , Handel traveled to London via Düsseldorf in August 1710 , where he arrived in November 1710. At the time, playwright Aaron Hill had taken over the management of the Queen's Theater on Haymarket at the age of 24 . At the same time, the theater was granted a monopoly on opera productions.

libretto

In this situation, the libretto was created in two steps: First, Aaron Hill created an English-language scenario, which Torquato Tasso's epic La Gerusalemme Liberata (The Liberated Jerusalem) (1574) used as a basis. (In the fourth song of the poem, Tasso told of the love of the Saracen sorceress Armida for the crusader Rinaldo.) On the basis of this sketch, the theater poet Giacomo Rossi wrote a textbook in Italian in no time at all, which remained one of the few original opera librettos that Handel set to music . In the foreword of the text book, Rossi reported on his collaboration with the composer:

«[…] Signor Hendel, Orfeo del nostro secolo, nel porla in musica, a pena mi die tempo di scrivere, e viddi, con mio grande stupore, in due sole settimane armonizata da quell'ingegno sublime, al maggior grado di perfezzione un opera intiera. "

“[…] Herr Handel, Orpheus of our time, gave me little leisure to put the words on paper while he was writing the music, and to my greatest amazement I saw an entire opera by this amazing genius in music in just two weeks set, and this in the greatest perfection. "

- Giacomo Rossi : Rinaldo. Argomento , London 1711

Rossi may not have known that Handel adopted about fifteen numbers - in whole or in part - from the scores of earlier works, particularly from Agrippina , Almira and La Resurrezione . These include the instrumental saraband of the opera Almira : here the famous aria Lascia ch'io pianga (No. 22), which is now sung by Almirena in the second act. Due to the time saved by the parody process , Handel needed only about 14 days for the composition from December 1710 to January 1711. The first performance took place on February 24, 1711 in the Queen's Theater .

Cast of the premiere:

The performances met with extraordinary interest from the London public and the press as a result of the brilliant stage equipment, with live sparrows , fire-breathing dragons and flying machines. In the 1711 season the opera achieved 15 performances and was resumed in several seasons (1712, 1713, 1714, 1717) - most recently with minor arrangements and individual changes in the vocal range. Rinaldo came to Dublin in 1711 and for the first time to Hamburg on November 27, 1715 , where it was repeated in 1720/21, 1723/24, 1727 and 1730. Barthold Feind had translated the recitatives and most of the chants into German. It was his last work for the stage. On October 1, 1718, Leonardo Leo carried out the work on the occasion of the birthday of King Charles VI. also in the royal palace in Naples . For this production Leo wrote an allegorical prologue and added comic scenes and several movements from his own works to the score. In the same year the piece could also be heard in Milan. During Handel's lifetime, the opera reached a total of 53 performances.

After a break of almost two hundred years, the first revival of the play took place in the 20th century on June 18, 1923 as a production by the State Conservatory in Prague in the Theater in the Vineyards : the students of the conservatory gave larger excerpts from all three acts in the Czech language . The first professional production could then be experienced on June 16, 1954 in Handel's native Halle in the local theater under the direction of Horst-Tanu Margraf . The first performance of the piece in historical performance practice and original language (concert version) was seen as early as 1977 in the "Abbaye aux Dames" in Saintes (France) as part of the record production with La Grande Écurie et la Chambre du Roy under the direction of Jean- Claude Malgoire . Three hundred years after its premiere, the opera Rinaldo had a premiere in the Kiel Opera House in autumn 2010, which is justified by the current discussions between believers from the two religions Christianity and Islam . In the direction of Thomas Enzinger , the view of the insoluble conflict remains secular and satirical.

Second version - creation

Senesino took over the title role in 1731.

After some changes to the first version in the performances after the premiere (especially in 1717), which were primarily an adaptation for the available singers, Handel created a heavily revised new version of Rinaldo for the changed conditions of the second Opera Academy in 1731 , the is listed in the works directory as HWV 7b. In addition to several changes of voice and the deletion of an entire part (Eustazio), the work was also dramaturgically changed. The text book was revised again by Giacomo Rossi and provided with many additions. Handel also added a number of chants, some of which were borrowed from the operas Lotario , Partenope and Admeto , but some were also newly composed. The spectacular machine effects, already heavily criticized in the first version by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele in their magazine " The Spectator " of March 6, 1711, have been deleted and the solution to the conclusion has been made more believable. The second version came on the stage for the first time on April 6, 1731 at the King's Theater (since the succession to the throne in 1714, the new name of the previous Queen's Theater) and had six performances.

Cast of the premiere of the second version:

Plot (first version)

Historical and literary background

Tasso worked for over 15 years on his main work, the epic La Gerusalemme Liberata , which he completed in April 1574 and then published in 1580/81 after initial doubts. In addition to historical facts, such as the First Crusade with the siege of Jerusalem and the fall of the Holy City on the afternoon of July 15, 1099 under the leadership of Godfrey of Bouillon , this book contains an abundance of fictional episodes that sparkle with fairytale imagination. The Saracen sorceress Armida appears in the Christian camp and asks about their destination; their speeches lead to a dispute among the Christian knights. Some of the knights leave the camp with her and are shortly thereafter transformed into animals by the sorceress. Armida then tries to kill the famous Christian crusader Rinaldo, but falls in love with him and takes him to a magical island. Two Christian knights search for Rinaldo and discover the magical fortress of the sorceress. They manage to get to Rinaldo and they give him a mirror made of diamonds. When Rinaldo looks in the mirror, he recognizes the enchanted world around him and leaves the magic island to continue fighting in front of Jerusalem. Armida is left heartbroken. She tries to commit suicide, but Rinaldo finds her in time and prevents this. He persuades them to convert to Christianity. This describes Tasso's central concern - the victory of Christianity over the infidels - which also comes into play in other episodes of the epic (which are not the subject of this opera), for example when the Muslim warrior Clorinda unknowingly dies during a fight by the crusader Tankred being wounded. He falls in love with her and before Clorinda dies, she converts to Christianity and is baptized by Tankred. Such topics would have been branded as blasphemous on the opera stage and not accepted. But Aaron Hill was particularly keen to highlight this Christian element in the opulence of the material. His last scene in the opera is about the conversion of Armida and Argante.

In Rinaldo Hill combined episodes from chants 4, 5, 10, 14 and 16-20. While the figure of Almirena is his invention, the Circassian hero and enemy of the Crusaders Argante appears at a very different point in the epic. In the opera he is the (still) ruling king of Jerusalem.

first act

The Christian armies under Goffredo (Godfrey of Bouillon) lay siege to the city of Jerusalem, which is being defended by its Saracen king Argante. With Gottfried are his brother Eustazio and his daughter Almirena, who loves the Christian knight Rinaldo and is loved again by him. Argante's ally and lover is Armida, Queen of Damascus, who is a sorceress of high skill.

In the Christian camp, Goffredo anticipates the glory that the imminent capture of Jerusalem will bring, and confirms to Rinaldo that he can marry Almirena if the Christians are victorious. Almirena encourages Rinaldo to concentrate on the campaign and to forget all love thoughts for so long, but he complains that his love has to wait.

A herald announces the arrival of Argante, who, as Eustazio correctly suspects, comes for fear of defeat and asks for a three-day armistice, which Goffredo also grants. Alone again, Argante longs for Armida, who descends from heaven in a chariot drawn by dragons. She tells him that her magic has enabled her to see that her only hope of victory is to withdraw the support of Rinaldo's Christian troops - a task that she will undertake herself.

In a beautiful garden with chirping birds, Almirena's thoughts revolve around her love. She and Rinaldo exchange endearments until Armida suddenly kidnaps Almirena under a cloud produced by fire-breathing monsters, leaving behind a desperate Rinaldo. He tells Goffredo and Eustazio what happened, and Eustazio suggests that they seek help from a Christian magician. Rinaldo feels encouraged and asks the heavens and the winds to support him in his quest for revenge.

Second act

Eustazio, Rinaldo and Goffredo arrive on the bank near the Sorcerer's Cave. A ghost in the form of a beautiful woman who pretends to be sent by Almirena tries to lure Rinaldo into her boat while two sirens sing of the joys of love. Rinaldo's companions, who suspect a trap, try to hold him back, but he rejects their advice, breaks free, gets into the boat and sails away. Eustazio is surprised by Rinaldo's apparent escape, Goffredo encourages himself to fight, although he has now lost both Almirena and Rinaldo.

In a beautiful garden in Armida's enchanted palace, Almirena laments her imprisonment. Argante declares his love for Almirena; she asks him to prove it by letting her go. When she continues to complain, Argante's resistance weakens, and he finally promises to help her.

Armida is now delighted that she was able to capture Rinaldo. But when he is brought to her, she is captivated by his pride and declares her love for him, only to be rejected with contempt. She tries to seduce him by taking the form of Almirena, but after initial confusion, Rinaldo quickly suspects the deception. He walks away and Armida is torn between angry vengeance for rejection and a love that makes her incapable of revenge. Armida still hopes to deceive Rinaldo and takes on the form of Almirena again, but now Argante approaches. In contrast to Rinaldo, he doesn't see through the deception and makes “Almirena” again advances - much to Armida's annoyance. She accuses him of treason, and he confesses to love Almirena and agrees to go into battle without Armida's help. Armida swears vengeance on Argante.

Godfrey of Bouillon leads the First Crusade.
Miniature from the 13th century

Third act

Eustazio and Goffredo reach the cave of the magician, which lies at the foot of the mountain, on the top of which is Armida's palace guarded by monsters. The magician informs Eustazio and Goffredo that Rinaldo and Almirena are in the palace, and so they immediately move up the mountain with their troops. All warnings that they will only get to the palace if they can parry the infernal power of Armida by the same means blow them to the wind. Terrible monsters drive them back, and the whole mountain is shrouded in smoke and flames.

The wizard now equips Eustazio and Goffredo with wands that they can use to break Armida's spell and encourages them to try another attack on the palace. With their wands they can defeat the monsters. When the brothers touch the gates of the palace, both the mountain and the palace vanish, and they find themselves on a rock above the foaming sea. They climb the rock and you lose sight of them. The hermit sings to encourage them until they have won their victory, then he disappears into his cave.

Meanwhile, in the garden of her palace, Armida is on the verge of killing Almirena in order to get revenge for Rinaldo's indifference. He draws his sword, but ghosts suddenly appear from the ground to defend Armida. She calls the Furies to protect them when Goffredo and Eustazio approach. But when they touch the garden with their wands, it disappears and one sees a wide plain and Jerusalem in the distance. Armida tries again to stab Almirena, but she disappears when Rinaldo hits her with his sword. Goffredo, Eustazio, Almirena and Rinaldo cheer that they are reunited. The heroes decide to begin their attack on Jerusalem the next morning and Goffredo asks Rinaldo to make up for the time he has spent declaring his love with honorable deeds on the battlefield. Rinaldo thinks that love and the desire for glorious deeds spur him to excel.

The Saracens are also preparing for battle. Argante encourages his generals to courageously defend Jerusalem. With the common enemy in mind, he is reconciled with Armida, and they examine their troops.

In the Christian camp, Almirena is already looking forward to finally being reunited with her loved one. As the enemies approach, Goffredo entrusts them and the camp to Eustazios for protection. Goffredo and Rinaldo inspect their troops and plan their combat strategy. Goffredo is supposed to lead the main army, while Rinaldo is supposed to attack from the flank. Rinaldo is looking forward to winning the battle and fulfilling his love for Almirena. Argante and Goffredo command and encourage their troops, and finally the battle begins. At times the outcome seems uncertain, but when Rinaldo, who has already managed to take Jerusalem, makes his flank attack, the Saracens are routed. Argante is captured by Rinaldo, Armida by Eustazio. Rinaldo and Almirena are finally reunited, Armida and Argante profess Christianity and Goffredo releases them again. All declare virtue to be the highest value.

music

In both versions the opera includes a French overture and 39 other numbers. In 1711, these numbers were divided as follows: 29 arias and three duets, five instrumental pieces, an Accompagnato recitative and the final chorus. In the second version, individual voices of the protagonists have now been changed: Rinaldo is sung by a mezzo-soprano (previously soprano), Armida by an alto (previously soprano), Goffredo by a tenor (previously mezzo-soprano) and Mago by a bass (previously alto). Above all, the end of the opera is changed, which is not only expanded quantitatively by three arias (Rinaldo, Armida, Almirena), but also by a sinfonia . In terms of content, the crucial difference is that the warlike ending is exchanged for a magical one. This "extension" is based on a change in the apotheosis. In the first version, a preliminary decision is made in the magic realm, but the final decision is made through battle, the victory of the Christian army and the conversion of Argante and Armida to Christianity. In the version from 1731, the couple did not convert to Christianity, but achieved a solution with magic.

The aria by Almirena Lascia ch'io pianga mia cruda sorte (“Let me weep my cruel fate”) contributed to the great success of the opera . Handel had already used this musical material in Hamburg for his first opera Almira (1705), here a purely instrumental sarabande , and in the soprano aria Lascia la spina of his Roman oratorio Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (1707). The singing voice unfolds a touching melody in its simplicity. The aria is accompanied by a calmly striding, chordal string section. The piece has been adapted and edited many times by musicians of various styles. The Danish director Lars von Trier used the song for the prologue and epilogue of his film Antichrist as well as in chapter 6 of Nymphomaniac .

Another famous piece is the final aria of the second act, Armidas Vo 'far guerra, e vincer voglio (No. 28), in which Handel through “… the lightness and elasticity of his fingers…” (“… the lightness and agility his fingers ... ”) in improvised interim solos on the harpsichord.

In the span between the gentle aria Cara sposa, amante cara (No. 14), "... which the author would frequently say was one of the best he ever made" ("... which the composer often used to say was one the best he has ever written ”) , and the bravura aria Venti, turbini, prestate (No. 17), the arias of Rinaldo aimed to bring out all the vocal possibilities of the castrato Nicolini.

Structure of the opera

first act

  • Sovra balze scoscesi e pungenti (Goffredo)
  • Combatti da forte (Almirena) (1731: replaced by Quel cor che mi donasti )
  • Ogni indugio d'un amante (Rinaldo)
  • Sulla ruota di fortuna (Eustazio) (1717: deleted; 1731: revised and assigned to Argante)
  • Sibillar gli angui d'Aletto (Argante) (1717: replaced by the variety amor vuol che quest'alma , this deleted in 1731)
  • No, no, che quest'alma (Goffredo) (1731: replaced by D'instable fortuna )
  • Vieni o cara, a consolarmi (Argante) (1731: replaced by Sulla ruota di fortuna )
  • Furie terribili! (Armida)
  • Molto voglio, molto spero (Armida) (1731: replaced by Combatti da forte )
  • Augelletti, che cantate (Almirena)
  • Scherzano sul tuo volto (duet: Almirena / Rinaldo)
  • Sinfonia
  • Cara sposa, amante cara (Rinaldo)
  • Cor ingrato, ti rammembri (Rinaldo)
  • Col valor, colla virtù (Eustazio) (1717: deleted)
  • Venti, turbini, prestate (Rinaldo)

Second act

  • Siam prossimi al porto (Eustazio) (1717: deleted; 1731: sung by Goffredo)
  • Il vostro maggio (siren)
  • Il tricerbero umiliato (Rinaldo)
  • Mio cor, che mi sai dir? (Goffredo)
Excerpt from the libretto of 1711; on the left the Italian text, on the right the English translation
  • Lascia ch'io pianga (Almirena)
  • Basta che sol tu chieda (Argante) (1717: replaced by Ogni tua bella stilla ; 1731 by Per salvarti, idolo mio )
  • Fermati! / No, crudel! (Duet, Armida / Rinaldo)
  • Abbrugio, avampo e Fremdo (Rinaldo)
  • Dunque i lacci d'un volto (Accompagnato, Armida)
  • Ah! crudel, Il pianto mio (Armida)
  • Vo 'far guerra, e vincer voglio (Armida)

Third act

  • Sinfonia
  • Andate, o forti (Mago) (1717: deleted)
  • Sorge nel petto (Goffredo) (1717: deleted)
  • È un incendio fra due venti (Rinaldo)
  • Marcia (1731: deleted)
  • Al trionfo del nostro furore (Duet, Armida / Argante) (1731: sung by Goffredo / Almirena)
  • Bel piacere e godere (Almirena)
  • Di Sion nell'alta sede (Eustazio) (1717: sung by Goffredo; 1731: sung by Argante)
  • Marcia (1731: deleted)
  • Or la tromba in suon festante (Rinaldo) (1731: deleted)
  • Battaglia (1731: deleted)
  • Solo dal brando (Goffredo) (1731: deleted)
  • Vinto è sol della virtù (Coro)

Additional arias (or substitutions) 1717

  • Act 1: Kind amor vuol che quest'alma (Argante)
  • Act 2: Veni, O caro, che senza il suo core (Almira)
  • Act 2: Ogni tua bella stilla (Argante)
  • 3rd act: Pregio è sol d'un alma forte (Argante) (1731: deleted)
  • 3rd act: Si t'amo (Almirena)

Additional arias (or substitutions) 1731

  • Act 1: Quel cor che mi donasti (Almirena)
  • 1st act: D'instable fortuna (Goffredo)
  • Act 2: Arma lo sguardo (Armida)
  • Act 2: Per salvarti, idolo mio (Argante)
  • 3rd act: Orrori menzogneri (Accompagnato recitative, Rinaldo)

orchestra

1711: Flagoeletto , two recorders , two oboes , bassoon , four trumpets , timpani , strings, basso continuo (violoncello, lute, harpsichord).

1731: Flagoeletto, two recorders, two oboes, bassoon, two horns , trumpet, strings, basso continuo (violoncello, lute, harpsichord).

Discography (selection)

La Grande Écurie et la Chambre du Roy ; Dir. Jean-Claude Malgoire (171 min)
Academy of Ancient Music ; Dir. Christopher Hogwood (172 min)
Bavarian State Orchestra Munich; Dir. Harry Bicket (159 min)
Freiburg Baroque Orchestra ; Dir. René Jacobs (192 min)
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment ; Dir. Ottavio Dantone (DVD 190 min)
  • Arthaus Musik 102207 (DVD and 2 CDs) (2015): Antonio Giovannini (Rinaldo), Gesche Geier (Armida), Marie Friederike Schöder (Argante), Florian Götz (Goffredo)
Lautten Compagney ; Dir. Wolfgang Katschner ; Marionette Theater Compagnia Marionettistica Carlo Colla & Figli Milan (137 min)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ 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 978-3-7618-0717-0 , p. 49.
  2. ↑ Christopher Hogwood: Georg Friedrich Handel. A biography (= Insel-Taschenbuch 2655). Translated from the English by Bettina Obrecht. Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main a. Leipzig 2000, ISBN 3-458-34355-5 , p. 98.
  3. ↑ Supplement Theaterzeit. In: Kieler Nachrichten , October 2010.
  4. ^ Silke Leopold: Handel. The operas. Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel 2009, ISBN 978-3-7618-1991-3 , pp. 279 f.
  5. ^ Charles Burney: A General History of Music: from the Earliest Ages to the Present Period. Vol. 4, London 1789, reproduction true to the original: Cambridge University Press 2010, ISBN 978-1-108-01642-1 , p. 224.
  6. ↑ John Hawkins: A General History of the Science and Practice of Music. Vol. V, Book III, T. Payne, London 1776, p. 268.