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Handel: Lotario
Handel: Lotario in Bloomington, MN
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Lotario
, from 1729, is perhaps the least-known among
Handel
's mature operas. It is a bit hard to say why this should be; even a few minutes of sampling will demonstrate that this is fully characteristic
, and there are some fabulous slow arias. The neglect may go back to the work's premiere year, when London fashion was shifting away from Italian opera and toward
John Gay
's
The Beggar's Opera
and other English material, often of a comic tinge. The opera had a few performances but basically failed and was never revived.
is an opera seria with a typically grim tale, taken from German legend via a play by
Antonio Salvi
, of a small-time Italian potentate and his wife who deploy military force to try to arrange a favorable marriage for their well-meaning but hapless son, Idelberto. The plan is foiled by the titular German king, who is not the same figure (from an English drama) who lent his name to the modern sense of a male seducer. The action is deployed across a sextet of soloists in da capo arias, some of which appear to be cut and lacking their concluding sections (it is hard to tell, because no libretto is provided, and none is even available in English online; there are Italian and Spanish versions). The singers are uniformly good until the introduction of
Carlo Vistoli
midway through, and there they ascend to top-notch; he has excellent heroic virtuosity and brings a sense of character in the rather generic material. Conductor
Attilio Cremonesi
keeps up a brisk pace, and his large continuo group with the
Handelfestspielorchester Halle
(eight players, with three cellos, a double bass, two bassoons, archlute, and harpsichord) gives the work rhythmic impetus and cuts through the ambient noise in this live recording, of which there is not much anyway. This is a strong, enjoyable recording of a neglected
work, and it whets the appetite for someone to do a production that fully realizes the composer's intentions. ~ James Manheim
, from 1729, is perhaps the least-known among
Handel
's mature operas. It is a bit hard to say why this should be; even a few minutes of sampling will demonstrate that this is fully characteristic
, and there are some fabulous slow arias. The neglect may go back to the work's premiere year, when London fashion was shifting away from Italian opera and toward
John Gay
's
The Beggar's Opera
and other English material, often of a comic tinge. The opera had a few performances but basically failed and was never revived.
is an opera seria with a typically grim tale, taken from German legend via a play by
Antonio Salvi
, of a small-time Italian potentate and his wife who deploy military force to try to arrange a favorable marriage for their well-meaning but hapless son, Idelberto. The plan is foiled by the titular German king, who is not the same figure (from an English drama) who lent his name to the modern sense of a male seducer. The action is deployed across a sextet of soloists in da capo arias, some of which appear to be cut and lacking their concluding sections (it is hard to tell, because no libretto is provided, and none is even available in English online; there are Italian and Spanish versions). The singers are uniformly good until the introduction of
Carlo Vistoli
midway through, and there they ascend to top-notch; he has excellent heroic virtuosity and brings a sense of character in the rather generic material. Conductor
Attilio Cremonesi
keeps up a brisk pace, and his large continuo group with the
Handelfestspielorchester Halle
(eight players, with three cellos, a double bass, two bassoons, archlute, and harpsichord) gives the work rhythmic impetus and cuts through the ambient noise in this live recording, of which there is not much anyway. This is a strong, enjoyable recording of a neglected
work, and it whets the appetite for someone to do a production that fully realizes the composer's intentions. ~ James Manheim
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