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| Composer : | Haendel, Georg Friedrich (1685 - 1759) | ||||
| Instrumentation : | Oboe solo, String quartet | ||||
| Style : | Baroque | ||||
| Arranger : Publisher : | MAGATAGAN, MICHAEL (1960 - ) | ||||
| Date : | 1735-36 | ||||
| Copyright : | Public Domain | ||||
| Added by magataganm, 19 Nov 2017 George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) started his career in 1702 as a church organist in the central European city of Halle, but a visit to Berlin sometime before that (his first biographer, John Mainwaring, dates the visit to 1698, arbitrarily it seems) introduced the composer to opera, the pursuit that would dominate four decades of his professional life. On February 24, 1711, Handel's first opera for London, Rinaldo, opened at the Queen's (King's after George I's accession in 1714) Theatre in the Haymarket. Rinaldo was the first Italian opera composed specifically for the London stage, to a libretto by the theater's librettist, Giacomo Rossi, based on the story of the crusader-knight Rinaldo and the sorceress-queen Armida from Tasso's Gerusalemme liberata (Jerusalem Liberated). Handel composed the work in a mere two weeks, partly by raiding many of his earlier scores - fifteen of the arias come from operas and oratorios he had written for Hamburg and Italy - but for his leading man, the castrato Nicolini, Handel composed only new music. The aria "Cara sposa," Rinaldo's lament over his lost love Almirena, who has been kidnapped by Armida, adds an emotional depth to a character that otherwise would run the risk of coming off as a two-dimensional hero. The minor key, the rich, contrapuntal string part, and Handel's use of chromaticism all reflect the sense of loss and longing in the text. After composing two Italian operas for Hamburg, two Italian oratorios for Rome, and a third Italian opera for Venice, George Frideric Handel moved to England in 1710 to compose his first Italian opera for London. Produced in the Queen's Theater in the Haymarket on February 24, 1711, Rinaldo would certainly have been an enormous success if the librettist and impresario Aaron Hill had not neglected to pay the tradesmen, thereby causing the Lord Chamberlain to revoke Hill's theater license nine days after the premiere. But Rinaldo paved the way for the quick success of Handel and Italian opera in London and the work was revived in 1712, then again in 1717, and again in 1731. Hill's libretto is based on Tasso's epic poem on the First Crusade Gerusalamme liberata, but with a new plot and a new female lead to give the story appeal to a then-contemporary London audience. Handel's music is in part a pastiche drawn from many of his earlier dramatic works, and in part a newly composed work with deeply expressive arias and recitative adorned with extravagant trumpet and woodwind writing. Together, Hill's libretto and Handel's music create a powerful and plangent opera with strong and sympathetic leads in Rinaldo and Almirenda and a superbly coherent and convincing score. "Cara sposa" (from Rinaldo Act I Scene 7) is a wonderful example of Handel's growing confidence with aria forms. "Or la tromba" is praised for the brilliance of its orchestration: 4 trumpets, drums, strings & oboes—the only aria Handel ever wrote for this combination. The melody for Almirena's "Lascia ch'io pianga" began its life as an Asian dance in Almira before appearing as an aria in the oratorio Il trionfo. From this simple tune and plain accompaniment Handel achieves an "intensely moving effect" in this, the best-known of all the arias. Source: AllMusic (https://www.allmusic.com/composition/rinaldo-opera-hwv -7-mc0002384468). Although originally created for Voice & Orchestra, I created this Interpretation of the "Cara sposa, amante cara" (Beloved spouse, dearest heart Where art thou? Woe!) Rinaldo's aria for Oboe & Strings (2 Violins, Viola & Cello). Sheet central : | Opus 7 Nos. 1-6 (2 sheet music) | | |||
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