The Librettos Of Handel S Operas

'This volume is a monument to the source-critical method. It is a rigorous investigation of the bewilderingly abundant musical and literary sources of each opera, and its most lasting influence will be on all future editions of Handel's music.'

Presenting an overview of Handel's final operas by the world's leading authority, this book features chapters that offer synopsis and study of the libretto, discussions of the music, a performance history, and a comparison of different versions of the opera. It also provides a complete overview of the works.

After two centures of near-total neglect, Handel's operas are now increasingly popular in the theatre, but modern productions are hampered by dependence on obsolete and inaccurate editions, and by ignorance of the musical and theatrical practice of Handel's age. Although Handel's autographs and performing scores have long been available, they have never before been fully studied, still less the very early manuscript copies. The manuscripts have yielded a great deal of unknown music, besides throwing fresh light on Handel's methods of composition and performance practice. This book covers Handel's first seventeen surviving operas, including his greatest and most successful. Each opera has a chapter, with a full synopsis of the libretto (including all original stage directions) and a comparison with its literary and dramatic sources. Each chapter covers the history of the opera in performance and the different versions in the manuscripts. Every known surviving manuscript has been examined. Eight appendices cover all performances in Handel's time, borrowings, modern revivals, new information on his singers, and a complete index of Italian first lines in all Handel's works. About the Authors: Wynton Dean is the author of Handel's Dramatic Oratorios and Masques. John Merrill Knapp is Emeritus Professor of Music at Princeton University.

Originally published in 1925, the text for this edition of Semele was compiled from the 1710 edition of Congreve's works and the altered version adopted by Handel and published in 1762. The work was performed in this form at the New Theatre, Cambridge in February 1925. Lines omitted by the composer are printed in smaller type, and his interpolations are set within square brackets. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in the works of Congreve and Handel.

Reinhard Strohm examines the relationship between Handel's great operas and the earlier European Baroque tradition.