Handel - Partenope "Un altra volta ancor" Hilary Summers. George Frideric Handel Partenope, HWV 27, Opera in three acts "Un altra volta ancor" Rosmira's aria, Act I, Sc.5 Premiere Cast, January 31, …More
Handel - Partenope "Un altra volta ancor" Hilary Summers.
George Frideric Handel Partenope, HWV 27, Opera in three acts "Un altra volta ancor" Rosmira's aria, Act I, Sc.5 Premiere Cast, January 31, 1727: (Conductor:- ) Partenope: Anna Maria Strada del Pò (soprano) Arsace: Antonio Maria Bernacchi (alto castrato) Armindo: Francesca Bertolli (contralto) Emilio: Annibale Pio Fabri (tenor) Rosmira/Eurimene: Antonia Maria Merighi (contralto) Ormonte: Johann Gottfried Reimschneider (bass) In this recording: Hilary Summers (alto) as Rosmira also in the cast: Rosemary Joshua (s) - Partenope Lawrence Zazzo (ct) - Arsace Kurt Streit (t) - Emilio Stephen Wallace (ct) - Armindo Andrew Foster-Williams (b) - Ormonte Early Opera Company Christian Curnyn Recorded in: All Saints' Church, East Finchley, London 15-19 November 2004 Partenope ranks among the best of Handel's London operas. Its music is consistently fresh, with memorable tunes and an engaging storyline. It is therefore surprising that the work has been so neglected in the recorded catalogue. It was completed only on the 12th February 1730, was produced on the 24th of the same month at the Haymarket Theatre, London. Libretto is older, being by Silvio Stampiglia, and first published at Naples in 1699. This is a recording of the original version of Partenope, as it was performed at its premiere in 1730. The plot of Partenope is simple but offers plenty of scope for emotional intensity, insightful characterization, wit, sexual innuendo, and profound despair. Partenope is the Queen of the newly founded city Naples, and she is loved by three suitors: Emilio, Armindo and Arsace. Emilio is the military-minded leader of a neighboring kingdom, and wishes to command Partenope to love him. Partenope is indifferent to Emilio, and though she is fond of Armindo, Arsace is her chosen favorite. However, Arsace was previously betrothed to Princess Rosmira, who turns up at court disguised as a man, 'Eurimene'. Arsace recognizes her and becomes confused about which woman he loves. He privately confronts Rosmira and she forces him to swear, on pain of her revealing his infidelity, that he will keep her identity secret. Throughout the rest of the opera, Rosmira wreaks her chaotic revenge on him. The story of Partenope was set many times during the early eighteenth century, and it is likely that Handel attended a performance of Antonio Caldara's Partenope while he was at the Venice Carnival in 1708.The music of this opera is now lost but its libretto was certainly the model which Handel chose for his own setting over two decades later, despite his familiarity with at least two more recent adaptations including Leonardo Vinci's "La Rosmira Fedele". The work had appealed to Handel's dramatic instinct and musical imagination. He had wanted to produce his own version of it in 1726, but the Royal Academy rejected his proposal -- probably because of the opera's irreverent treatment of the serious style, which it had struggled to establish in London: in Partenope the leading man, Arsace, is neither virtuous nor evil, but weak and morally flawed, and he struggles to earn forgiveness from Rosmira, a cross-dresser obsessed with revenge. Handel assumed artistic control of the Academy in 1729, and it cannot be coincidence that he composed Partenope, arguably one of the finest librettos he ever set, so shortly afterwards. Original Text: Un'altra volta ancor mi promettesti amor, poi mi ingannasti; d'aver tradita un dì Rosmira tua così, crudel, ti basti.
George Frideric Handel Partenope, HWV 27, Opera in three acts "Un altra volta ancor" Rosmira's aria, Act I, Sc.5 Premiere Cast, January 31, 1727: (Conductor:- ) Partenope: Anna Maria Strada del Pò (soprano) Arsace: Antonio Maria Bernacchi (alto castrato) Armindo: Francesca Bertolli (contralto) Emilio: Annibale Pio Fabri (tenor) Rosmira/Eurimene: Antonia Maria Merighi (contralto) Ormonte: Johann Gottfried Reimschneider (bass) In this recording: Hilary Summers (alto) as Rosmira also in the cast: Rosemary Joshua (s) - Partenope Lawrence Zazzo (ct) - Arsace Kurt Streit (t) - Emilio Stephen Wallace (ct) - Armindo Andrew Foster-Williams (b) - Ormonte Early Opera Company Christian Curnyn Recorded in: All Saints' Church, East Finchley, London 15-19 November 2004 Partenope ranks among the best of Handel's London operas. Its music is consistently fresh, with memorable tunes and an engaging storyline. It is therefore surprising that the work has been so neglected in the recorded catalogue. It was completed only on the 12th February 1730, was produced on the 24th of the same month at the Haymarket Theatre, London. Libretto is older, being by Silvio Stampiglia, and first published at Naples in 1699. This is a recording of the original version of Partenope, as it was performed at its premiere in 1730. The plot of Partenope is simple but offers plenty of scope for emotional intensity, insightful characterization, wit, sexual innuendo, and profound despair. Partenope is the Queen of the newly founded city Naples, and she is loved by three suitors: Emilio, Armindo and Arsace. Emilio is the military-minded leader of a neighboring kingdom, and wishes to command Partenope to love him. Partenope is indifferent to Emilio, and though she is fond of Armindo, Arsace is her chosen favorite. However, Arsace was previously betrothed to Princess Rosmira, who turns up at court disguised as a man, 'Eurimene'. Arsace recognizes her and becomes confused about which woman he loves. He privately confronts Rosmira and she forces him to swear, on pain of her revealing his infidelity, that he will keep her identity secret. Throughout the rest of the opera, Rosmira wreaks her chaotic revenge on him. The story of Partenope was set many times during the early eighteenth century, and it is likely that Handel attended a performance of Antonio Caldara's Partenope while he was at the Venice Carnival in 1708.The music of this opera is now lost but its libretto was certainly the model which Handel chose for his own setting over two decades later, despite his familiarity with at least two more recent adaptations including Leonardo Vinci's "La Rosmira Fedele". The work had appealed to Handel's dramatic instinct and musical imagination. He had wanted to produce his own version of it in 1726, but the Royal Academy rejected his proposal -- probably because of the opera's irreverent treatment of the serious style, which it had struggled to establish in London: in Partenope the leading man, Arsace, is neither virtuous nor evil, but weak and morally flawed, and he struggles to earn forgiveness from Rosmira, a cross-dresser obsessed with revenge. Handel assumed artistic control of the Academy in 1729, and it cannot be coincidence that he composed Partenope, arguably one of the finest librettos he ever set, so shortly afterwards. Original Text: Un'altra volta ancor mi promettesti amor, poi mi ingannasti; d'aver tradita un dì Rosmira tua così, crudel, ti basti.