Opera in three acts. Par HAENDEL GEORG FRIEDRICH. ; Almira, Handel's first opera, was well received when premiered in 1705 at the Theater am Gänsemarkt in Hamburg. The director was Reinhard Keiser, who, remarkably, had himself already set Friedrich Christian Feustking's text to music. The role of Fernando was sung by Johann Mattheson. The translation used by Handel leaves several Italian arias in their original language, resulting in a delightful mixture of German and Italian. The opera which, after sundry entangled romances, ends in the wedding of three couples, is characterised by exuberant scenes: the procession at Almira's crowning ceremony, a duel, a prison scene and a masked-ball involving the three continents Europe, Africa and Asia. The vocal score to ; Almira by George Frideric Handel brings about a small sensation: Whilst conducting a reenactment of this work in 1732, Georg Philipp Telemann removed the Aria no. 28 ; Ingrato, spietato from his conducting score. Since then this aria has been deemed lost. Due to necessity only the edited vocal text devoid of any music was presented in the 1994 volume of the ; Halle Handel Edition. Thanks to a recently discovered contemporary manuscript copy from the beginning of the 18th century which was found in the music library of the Mariengymnasium in Jever, this aria has now been made available to performers for the first time in this new vocal score edition. Previous to this the corresponding pages could only be seen as a facsimile in an article of the ; Göttinger Händel -Beiträge. Now the aria can be performed again. Furthermore, with the help of this new source, missing measures in the basso continuo which had initially been completed by the editor of the ; Halle Handel Edition volume, could be reconstructed from the basso continuo part of the Bellante aria ; Ich brenne zwar (no. 71). - Urtext edition based on the ; Halle Handel Edition - Original German and Italian text with a German translation of the Italian arias/ Répertoire / Solistes, SATB et Orchestre

Oper in Funf Akten Version 1756. Par RAMEAU JEAN-PHILIPPE. Richer than ever ? Rameau?s ?Zoroastre? in the version of 1756. Opera in five acts. Rameau?s revised version of his opera ?Zoroastre?, which could be heard and seen between 20 January 1756 and 26 March 1757 at the Académie royale de musique, was favourably received. Also from today?s point of view the work profits dramaturgically from many of the changes and seems altogether richer and more tightly woven than the original of 1749. The subject matter of the libretto, derived from Ancient Persian sources, is timeless: the struggle between good and bad. The good is embodied by the religious reformer Zoroastre, a representative of the supreme light being Orosmade. He is opposed by the ambitious magician Abramane who serves Ariman, the spirit of the dark. The opera includes some of Rameau?s most ecstatic and spiritual musical numbers, such as the episode of sun worship in Act 3 with the sublime ?Hymne à la Lumière?, which, for unknown reasons, was not integrated in the revision of 1756. It is therefore included in Appendix 3 of this Bärenreiter edition. Incidentally, with ?Zoroastre? the prologue, wh ich had been customary since the beginnings of French opera in the 1670s, was abandoned. Instead Rameau was the first to introduce an overture which set the scene for the entire drama and thereby anticipated Gluck?s opera reform by many years. - One of Rameau?s main works for the stage, now available with all its versions - With a straight-forward piano reduction in the vocal score by François Saint-Yves - Available on sale full score (B0A8867-01) and vocal score (BA08867-90) - Performance material available for hire BA08867-72 - Jean-Philippe Rameau - Opera Omnia (OOR) IV/26 / Date parution : 2022-07-30/ Répertoire / Chant et Piano