ACIS AND GALATEA Selections New York 2021 Juilliard School
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: Acis and Galatea
- Composer: Handel George Frideric aka Händel Georg Friedrich
- Libretto: John Gay
- Venue & Opera Company: The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity, New York City
- Recorded: May 11, 2021
- Type: Concert Semi-staged
- Singers: Julie Roset, Patrick Bessenbacher, Richard Pittsinger, Jarrett Porter
- Conductor: Avi Stein
- Orchestra: Juilliard415
- Stage Director:
- Costume Designer:
Information about the Recording
- Published by: Juilliard School
- Date Published: 2021
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: yessubs, ensubs
- This Recording is NOT AVAILABLE from a proper commercial or public source
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
Acis and Galatea was the pinnacle of pastoral opera in England. Indeed, several writers, such as musicologist Stanley Sadie, consider it the greatest pastoral opera ever composed. As is typical of the genre, Acis and Galatea was written as a courtly entertainment about the simplicity of rural life and contains a significant amount of wit and self-parody. The secondary characters, Polyphemus and Damon, provide a significant amount of humor without diminishing the pathos of the tragedy of the primary characters, Acis and Galatea. The music of the first act is both elegant and sensual, while the final act takes on a more melancholy and plaintive tone. The opera was significantly influenced by the pastoral operas presented at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane during the early 18th century. Reinhard Keiser and Henry Purcell also served as influences, but overall the conception and execution of the work is wholly individual to Handel.
Acis and Galatea was by far Handel’s most popular dramatic work and is his only stage work never to have left the opera repertory. The opera has been adapted numerous times since its premiere, with a notable arrangement being made by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1788. Handel never gave the work in the form in which it is generally heard today, since it contains music which, while by Handel, was never added by him.