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FULL HANDEL THE ENTERTAINER Documentary Germany 2001
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: HANDEL THE ENTERTAINER
- Composer: Handel George Frideric aka Händel Georg Friedrich
- Libretto: various
- Venue & Opera Company: various
- Recorded: 2001
- Type: Other
- Singers: various
- Conductor: various
- Orchestra: various
- Stage Director:
- Costume Designer:
Information about the Recording
- Published by: RM Associates, Digital Classics
- TV Director: Reiner E. Moritz
- Date Published: 2001
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: yessubs, ensubs, gensubs
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
As a young man, the German musician realized that the coming musical vogue was going to be Italian opera and went off to study in Italy. Shortly afterward, he visited England, and Rinaldo (1710) was the first work he wrote for the London stage. It was an instant success and did much to cement the prominence of Italian opera in England. Handel became the dominant figure in eighteenth-century English music with thirty-six operas to his credit between 1712 and 1741, very few duds among them, so modern revivals suggest.
One of the things he had learned in Italy was how to write real, beautiful melody; fluent, emotional and adjusted precisely to suit a particular singer’s strengths and weaknesses. Rinaldo’s arias were calculated to test the full range of the great castrato Nicolini’s style. Handel’s knack for capitalizing on the talents of his artists and on the particularities of the venues where his works were first produced is among the topics brought into focus in this programme.
Among the contributors is countertenor David Daniels, whose superlative artistry, magnetic stage presence and voice of singular warmth and surpassing beauty have served to redefine his voice category for the modern public. He is seen singing the title role in extracts from Rinaldo. Producer David Alden, conductor Harry Bicket and Peter Jonas, director of the Bayerische Staatsoper, also talk in an interview.
Footage from recordings of other Handel operas including Xerxes, Julius Caesar and Ariodante as well as documentary and archive material is used by way of illustration.
0:00 Rinaldo: Lascia ch’io Pianga
4:33 Julius Caesar: The Huntsman
8:12 Xerxes: Romilda & Arsamene
11:01 Ariodante: Aria “Dark night…”
14:10 Rinaldo: Armida & Argante
18:39 Agrippina: Poppea
20:06 Rinaldo: Bel piacer
21:37 Julius Caesar: Ptolomeo
25:44 Xerxes: Ombra
28:57 Rinaldo: Cara sposa
33:41 Rinaldo: Venti turbini
42:15 Rinaldo: Eustazio
44:07 Rinaldo: Almirena
46:06 Almirena & Rinaldo
48:01 Rinaldo: Argante
52:11 Rinaldo: Finale
A film by Reiner E. Moritz, 2001.