George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (1685 – 1759)
was a German-British Baroque composer well known for
his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and
organ concertos. Handel received his training in Halle
and worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy before
settling in London in 1712, where he spent the bulk of
his career and became a naturalised British subject in
1727. He was strongly influenced both by the
middle-German polyphonic choral tradition and by
composers of the Italian Bar...(+)
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (1685 – 1759)
was a German-British Baroque composer well known for
his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and
organ concertos. Handel received his training in Halle
and worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy before
settling in London in 1712, where he spent the bulk of
his career and became a naturalised British subject in
1727. He was strongly influenced both by the
middle-German polyphonic choral tradition and by
composers of the Italian Baroque. In turn, Handel's
music forms one of the peaks of the "high baroque"
style, bringing Italian opera to its highest
development, creating the genres of English oratorio
and organ concerto, and introducing a new style into
English church music. He is consistently recognized as
one of the greatest composers of his age.
Alessandro (HWV 21), is an opera composed by George
Frideric Handel in 1726 for the Royal Academy of Music.
Paolo Rolli's libretto is based on the story of
Ortensio Mauro's La superbia d'Alessandro. This was the
first time the famous singers Faustina Bordoni and
Francesca Cuzzoni appeared together in one of Handel's
operas. The original cast also included Francesco
Bernardi who was known as Senesino.
Handel had originally planned Alessandro to be his
first contribution to the 1725/1726 season of the Royal
Academy. However, Bordoni did not arrive in London in
time to stage Alessandro, and Handel substituted his
own Scipione in March and April 1726 until her arrival.
The opera received its first performance on 5 May 1726
at the King's Theatre, London, and was received "with
great applause".
The story recounts Alexander the Great's journey to
India and depicts him less in a heroic vein than as
vainglorious as well as indecisive in matters of the
heart. The work's charm and lightness of touch make it
at times almost a comic work. Handel would later
revisit the subject of Alexander in his 1736
English-language ode, Alexander's Feast.
After spending some of his early career composing
operas and other pieces in Italy, he settled in London,
where in 1711 he had brought Italian opera for the
first time with his opera Rinaldo. A tremendous
success, Rinaldo created a craze in London for Italian
opera seria, a form focused overwhelmingly on solo
arias for the star virtuoso singers. In 1719, Handel
was appointed music director of an organisation called
the Royal Academy of Music (unconnected with the
present day London conservatoire), a company under
royal charter to produce Italian operas in London.
Handel was not only to compose operas for the company
but hire the star singers, supervise the orchestra and
musicians, and adapt operas from Italy for London
performance.
Handel had composed numerous Italian operas for the
Academy, with varying degrees of success; some were
enormously popular. In February 1726 Handel revived his
Ottone, which had been spectacularly successful at its
first performances in 1723 and was again a hit at its
revival, with a London newspaper reporting
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alessandro_(opera)).
Although originally scored for Violini, Mezzo Soprano &
Bassi I created this Interpretation of the Aria
"Risolvo abbandonar la bella che mi sprezza" from
"Alessandro" (HWV 21 Act 2 No. 7) for Oboe & Piano.
