![George Frideric Handel by Balthasar Denner](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/George_Frideric_Handel_by_Balthasar_Denner.jpg)
''Oreste'' ("Orestes",
HWV A11,
HG 48/102) is an opera by
George Frideric Handel in three
acts
The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message ...
. The
libretto was anonymously adapted from
Giangualberto Barlocci’s ''L’Oreste'' (1723, Rome), which was in turn adapted from
Euripides
Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars a ...
' ''
Iphigeneia in Tauris
''Iphigenia in Tauris'' ( grc, Ἰφιγένεια ἐν Ταύροις, ''Iphigeneia en Taurois'') is a drama by the playwright Euripides, written between 414 BC and 412 BC. It has much in common with another of Euripides's plays, '' Helen'', as ...
''.
[Hicks]
The opera is a ''
pasticcio
In music, a ''pasticcio'' or ''pastiche'' is an opera or other musical work composed of works by different composers who may or may not have been working together, or an adaptation or localization of an existing work that is loose, unauthorized, o ...
'' (
pastiche), meaning that the music of the arias was assembled from earlier works, mainly other operas and
cantatas also by Handel. The
recitative
Recitative (, also known by its Italian name "''recitativo''" ()) is a style of delivery (much used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms and delivery of ordinary speech. Recitative does not repeat ...
s and parts of the
dances
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its reperto ...
are the only parts composed specifically for this work.
Handel had put together similar works before, fitting the music of pre-existent arias to new words, but this was the first time he had made an opera in this way using entirely his own music. He assembled a collection of his arias from the previous years, ranging from ''
Agrippina'' of 1709 to ''
Sosarme
''Sosarme, re di Media'' ("Sosarmes, King of Media", HWV 30) is an opera by George Frideric Handel written in 1732 for the King's Theatre in the Haymarket, London, where it ran for 12 performances. The text was based on an earlier libretto by ...
'' of 1732, binding the pre-existent music seamlessly together with the newly-written recitatives to create a new musical drama.
[
The opera is in ]Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
, although it was written and performed in England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. The lead role was written for the castrato Giovanni Carestini
Giovanni Carestini (13 December 1700 in Filottrano, near Ancona – 1760 in Filottrano) was an Italian castrato of the 18th century, who sang in the operas and oratorios of George Frideric Handel. He is also remembered as having sung for Johan ...
. It is now performed by either a countertenor or soprano.
Performance history
The opera was first performed at Covent Garden Theatre on 18 December 1734. A notice in the London press said :Last Night their Majesties were at the Theatre Royal in Covent-Garden, to see the Opera of Orestes, which was perform’d with great Applause.
(London ''Bee'', 19 December 1734).[Editorial Board of the Halle Handel Edition: Handel's Guide: Volume 4. German publishing house for music, Leipzig 1985, , p.248]
The work was performed three times in Handel's lifetime and was first revived in 1988. Among other performances, ''Oreste'' received a staging by the English Bach Festival at the Linbury Studio Theatre in the Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Ope ...
, London, in 2000, and was staged for the first time in the USA at Juilliard School
The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...
in 2003. The work was staged by the Royal Opera
The Royal Opera is a British opera company based in central London, resident at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. Along with the English National Opera, it is one of the two principal opera companies in London. Founded in 1946 as the Cove ...
, London, at Wilton's Music Hall
Wilton's Music Hall is a Grade II* listed building in Shadwell, built as a music hall and now run as a multi-arts performance space in Graces Alley, off Cable Street in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is one of very few surviving music ...
in 2016 and by the Handel Festival, Halle
The Handel Festival (in German: Händel-Festspiele) in Halle an der Saale, Saxony-Anhalt, is an international music festival concentrating on the music of George Frideric Handel in the composer's birthplace. It was founded in 1922 and it grew into ...
in 2018.
Roles
Synopsis
*Scene: Tauri
The Tauri (; in Ancient Greek), or Taurians, also Scythotauri, Tauri Scythae, Tauroscythae (Pliny, ''H. N.'' 4.85) were an ancient people settled on the southern coast of the Crimea peninsula, inhabiting the Crimean Mountains in the 1st millenn ...
s (modern day Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...
), in legendary antiquity
Years before the action of the opera, the young princess Ifigenia narrowly escaped death by sacrifice at the hands of her father, Agamemnon
In Greek mythology, Agamemnon (; grc-gre, Ἀγαμέμνων ''Agamémnōn'') was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Greeks during the Trojan War. He was the son, or grandson, of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the ...
. At the last moment the goddess Diana, to whom the sacrifice was to be made, intervened and replaced Ifigenia on the altar with a deer, saving the girl and sweeping her off to Tauris. She has since been made a priestess at the temple of Diana in Tauris, a position in which she has the gruesome task of ritual
A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized ...
ly sacrificing foreigners who land on King Toante's shores. Ifigenia hates her forced religious servitude and has had a prophetic dream about her younger brother Oreste
''Oreste'' ("Orestes", HWV A11, HG 48/102) is an opera by George Frideric Handel in three acts. The libretto was anonymously adapted from Giangualberto Barlocci’s ''L’Oreste'' (1723, Rome), which was in turn adapted from Euripides' '' Iphi ...
and believes that he is dead. Meanwhile, Oreste has killed his mother Clytemnestra
Clytemnestra (; grc-gre, Κλυταιμνήστρα, ''Klytaimnḗstrā'', ), in Greek mythology, was the wife of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and the twin sister of Helen of Troy. In Aeschylus' '' Oresteia'', she murders Agamemnon – said by E ...
to avenge his father Agamemnon with assistance from his friend Pilade. He becomes haunted by the furies
The Erinyes ( ; sing. Erinys ; grc, Ἐρινύες, pl. of ), also known as the Furies, and the Eumenides, were female chthonic deities of vengeance in ancient Greek religion and mythology. A formulaic oath in the ''Iliad'' invokes the ...
for committing the crime and goes through periodic fits of madness.
To this mythological material adapted from Euripides' ''Iphigenia in Tauris'', ''Oreste'' adds the character of Oreste's wife Hermione, searching for him to aid him in his quest for restoration of his mind and peace of spirit, and also adds another character, Filotete, not present in the Euripides play.
Act 1
Sacred Grove of Diana with a statue of the goddess - Oreste is tormented both by personal remorse for the killing of his mother and by the furies. Wandering the world in a restless search for relief, he has been shipwrecked on the coast of Tauris. He prays to the goddess for peace and forgiveness (Aria:''Pensieri, voi mi tormentate''). Ifigenia enters with a retinue of priests and does not recognise the stranger as her brother, whom she has not seen since childhood and she believes to be dead (Aria:''Bella calma''). It is Ifigenia's duty to sacrifice strangers who appear in the kingdom to Diana, but she does not want to do this and advises the stranger to take refuge in the temple of Diana, to which he agrees (Aria:''Agitato da fiere tempeste'').Filotete,captain of King Toante's guard, who is in love with Ifigenia and she with him, arrives and promises to help her to try to save the young stranger from death, for which Ifigenia is grateful (Aria: ''Dirti vorrei''). Left alone, Filotete is happy that Ifigenia trusts him to help her and looks forward to her love as his reward (Aria:''Orgogliosetto va l'augelletto'').
A seaport with ships at anchor - Ermione has arrived in Tauris, in search of her husband Oreste (Aria:''Io sperai di veder il tuo volto''). She is met by Pilade, faithful friend of Oreste, but they are both arrested by Filotete as foreigners. King Toante decrees that according to law both Ermione and Pilade must be put to death as human sacrifices to the goddess Diana, but changes his mind, and orders that Pilade only will be killed. Left alone with Ermione, he tells her he has fallen in love with her and will save her life if she will be his. She refuses this offer, whereupon he warns her to beware his wrath (Aria:''Pensa ch'io sono''). Left alone, Ermione laments her fate (Aria:'' Dite pace e fulminate''). The act concludes with a set of dances for the Grecian sailors.
Act 2
The forecourt of the temple of Diana - The act begins with an introductory sinfonia
Sinfonia (; plural ''sinfonie'') is the Italian word for symphony, from the Latin ''symphonia'', in turn derived from Ancient Greek συμφωνία ''symphōnia'' (agreement or concord of sound), from the prefix σύν (together) and ϕωνή (sou ...
. Oreste is in the temple where he has taken refuge at Ifigenia's advice when he sees his friend Pilade in chains, dragged in ready to be sacrificed to the goddess. Oreste swears he will fight to save his beloved friend (Aria:''Empio, se mi dai vita''). Ifigenia intervenes however, and capitalising on Filotete's love for her, persuades him to allow Oreste to leave the temple freely (Aria:''Se'l caro figlio''). Oreste is reluctant to leave Pilade in danger but Pilade insists Oreste save himself (Aria:''Caro amico, a morte io vo''),and is then led away. In an accompanied recitative and aria, Oreste rails against the gods for their cruelty (Aria:''Un interrotto affetto'').
Royal garden with a gate that leads to the sea - Ifigenia shows Oreste the way to the sea and urges him to flee (Aria:''Sento nell'alma''). Alone, Oreste expresses his thanks to the gods for sending him the "noble virgin" who has rescued him but feels guilty for leaving his friend Pilade in danger of death (Aria:''Dopo l'orrore''). Ermione has traced Oreste's steps and is overjoyed to have found her husband (Aria:''Vola l'augello''). King Toante enters to see them embracing and orders them both to be executed. Oreste and Ermione take a loving farewell of each other (Duet:''Ah, mia cara''). A set of dances concludes the act.
Act 3
The King's chamber - Toante offers to Ermione that he will free both her and Oreste if she will be his (Aria:''Tu di pieta mi spogli''.) She scorns this offer, preferring chains and death, and, left alone, laments her cruel destiny (Aria:'' Piango dolente il sposo'').
The temple of Diana with an altar and statue - Ifigenia, whose duty it will be to ritually sacrifice the human victims, wishes she could die instead (Aria:''Mi lagnerò, tacendo''). Oreste is led in to be sacrificed and Ifigenia now recognises him as her brother. Ermione and then the King arrive and she begs him for mercy, as does Pilade who offers to die in Oreste's place. Toante refuses these pleas, even when Ifigenia reveals that Oreste is her brother. The King commands her to slay both Oreste and Pilade, but Ifigenia threatens to kill him instead. She is supported in this by Filotete. Combat ensues; the King is killed. Human sacrifice will now be ended, brother and sister, husband and wife can be re-united. Oreste expresses his joy (Aria:'' In mille dolci modi''). A suite of dances follows, then a concluding chorus as all celebrate the fortunate outcome of events.[
]
Context and analysis
The German-born Handel, after spending some of his early career composing operas and other pieces in Italy, settled in London, where in 1711 he had brought Italian opera for the first time with his opera ''Rinaldo
Rinaldo may refer to:
*Renaud de Montauban (also spelled Renaut, Renault, Italian: Rinaldo di Montalbano, Dutch: Reinout van Montalbaen, German: Reinhold von Montalban), a legendary knight in the medieval Matter of France
* Rinaldo (''Jerusalem Lib ...
''. 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.
The Royal Academy of Music collapsed at the end of the 1728 - 29 season, partly due to the huge fees paid to the star singers. Handel went into partnership with John James Heidegger
John James (Johann Jacob) Heidegger (19 June 1666 – 5 September 1749) was a Swiss count and leading impresario of masquerades in the early part of the 18th century.
The son of Zürich clergyman Johann Heinrich Heidegger, Johann Jacob Heidegger ...
, the theatrical impresario who held the lease on the King's Theatre in the Haymarket where the operas were presented and started a new opera company with a new prima donna, Anna Strada.
In 1733, a second opera company, The Opera of the Nobility The Opera of the Nobility (or Nobility Opera ) was an opera company set up and funded in 1733 by a group of nobles (under Frederick, Prince of Wales) opposed to George II of Great Britain, in order to rival the (Second) Royal Academy of Music compan ...
was set up to rival Handel's, employing several of Handel's former star singers including the celebrated castrato Senesino. Handel's lease on the King's Theatre in the Haymarket expired at the end of the 1733 - 34 season, and the Opera of the Nobility moved into what had been Handel's artistic home for years. In addition to Senesino, the rival opera company had also hired the renowned castrato Farinelli, who created a sensation. These were considered serious setbacks for Handel as the French author Antoine François Prévost
Antoine is a French given name (from the Latin ''Antonius'' meaning 'highly praise-worthy') that is a variant of Danton, Titouan, D'Anton and Antonin.
The name is used in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, West Greenland, Haiti, French Guiana ...
wrote in 1734:He has so suffered great losses and written so many wonderful operas, which proved to be utter failures, that he will be forced to leave London and return to his home country
but, undeterred, Handel moved into a new theatre, the Theatre Royal Covent Garden, built by John Rich largely on the proceeds of the extremely successful ''The Beggar's Opera
''The Beggar's Opera'' is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of satiri ...
'' which had parodied Italian opera of the kind Handel supplied for London.[ Rich had equipped his new theatre with the latest technology in stage machinery and also employed a troupe of dancers, which had not been the case at the King's Theatre in the Haymarket. Handel opened his first season at Covent Garden with a re-working of his earlier '']Il Pastor Fido
''Il pastor fido'' (''The Faithfull Shepherd'' in Richard Fanshawe's 1647 English translation) is a pastoral tragicomedy set in Arcadia by Giovanni Battista Guarini, first published in 1590 in Venice.
Plot summary
To redress an ancient wron ...
'' with an entirely new prologue, ''Terpsichore
In Greek mythology, Terpsichore (; grc-gre, Τερψιχόρη, "delight in dancing") is one of the nine Muses and goddess of dance and chorus. She lends her name to the word "terpsichorean" which means "of or relating to dance".
Appearance
...
'', featuring the internationally famous French dancer Marie Sallé
Marie Sallé (1707–1756) was a French dancer and choreographer in the 18th century known for her expressive, dramatic performances rather than a series of "leaps and frolics" typical of ballet of her time.
Biography
Marie Sallé was a promi ...
. The pasticcio ''Oreste'', which followed, also features dances unlike the operas Handel had previously composed for London.[
Anna Strada, who alone of the stars of Handel's previous operas had not defected to the rival opera company, was in the cast of ''Oreste'', as she was in all of Handel's large-scale vocal works from 1729 to 1737. She was joined by celebrated castrato Carestini, of whom 18th century musicologist Charles Burney wrote:]“His voice was at first a powerful and clear soprano, which afterwards changed into the fullest, finest, and deepest counter-tenor that has perhaps ever been heard... Carestini’s person was tall, beautiful, and majestic. He was a very animated and intelligent actor, and having a considerable portion of enthusiasm in his composition, with a lively and inventive imagination, he rendered every thing he sung interesting by good taste, energy, and judicious embellishments. He manifested great agility in the execution of difficult divisions from the chest in a most articulate and admirable manner. It was the opinion of Hasse, as well as of many other eminent professors, that whoever had not heard Carestini was inacquainted with the most perfect style of singing.”
Also joining the cast of ''Oreste'' was seventeen-year-old tenor John Beard John Beard may refer to:
* John Beard (artist) (born 1943), Welsh artist and painter
* John Beard (colonial administrator) (died 1685), Chief Agent and Governor of Bengal
* John Beard (embryologist) (1858–1924), Scottish embryologist and anatomi ...
, who in this season began a collaboration with Handel that lasted until the end of the composer's life, creating many roles in his works. An acquaintance of Handel's wrote to her friend at this time:A Scholar of Mr Gates, Beard, (who left the Chappell last Easter) shines in the Opera of Covent Garden & Mr Hendell is so full of his Praises that he says he will surprise the Town with his performances before the Winter is over.
The opera is scored for two oboes, two horns, strings, lute, and continuo (cello, lute, harpsichord).
Recordings
Mary-Ellen Nesi (Oreste), Maria Mitsopoulou (Ermione), Mata Katsuli (Iphigenia), Antonis Koroneos (Pilade), Petros Magoulas (Toante), Nicholas Spanos (Filotete).Camerata Stuttgart, George Petrou
George Petrou ( el, Γιώργος Πέτρου) is a Greek conductor, pianist and stage-director.
Biography
George Petrou was born in Greece. He studied at the Athens Conservatoire, the Royal College and the Royal Academy of Music in London. He ...
, conductor. CD:MDG Cat:LC 6768 Recorded 2003.
References
Notes
Sources
* The second of the two volume definitive reference on the operas of Handel
*Anthony Hicks
Anthony Hicks (26 June 1943 – 26 May 2010) was a Welsh musicologist, music critic, editor, and writer.
Born in Swansea, a city in Wales, Hicks read mathematics at King's College London during the mid-1960s and worked for roughly a quarter of ce ...
, "Oreste", '' Grove Music Online'', ed. L. Macy (accessed April 2, 2006)
grovemusic.com
(subscription access).
{{Authority control
1734 operas
Operas
Operas by George Frideric Handel
Operas based on classical mythology
Opera world premieres at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden
Operas based on Iphigenia in Tauris