Handel’s Alcina libretto: lexic, structure and stage potential

Tatiana M. Belova

Abstract


Handel took for his Alcina a libretto from the Riccardo Broschi’s opera, L’Isola di Alcina, based on the well-known novel by Ariosto, Orlando furioso. Handel, though, made lot of changes for his own opera, so the dramatic structure had also been changed. Author of the recent article researches what are the lexical and compositional ways to portray the characters as well as a balance between affected arias and arias d’azione. Examining the libretto of Alcina one can see the main problems in this opera staging and find some different ways to resolve them.

Keywords: Alcina, libretto, stage versions, mirror, war, instability, pity, Katie Mitchell

References


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Alcina delusa da Rugero, drama per musica da rappresentarsi nel Teatro di S. Cassan… dell’Anno MDCCXXV di Antonio Marchi. Venezia,

Dean W. Handel's Operas. 1726–1741. The Boydell Press, 2006.

Drammaturgia di Lione Allacci accresciuta e continuata fino all’anno MDCCLV. Venezia, 1755.

L’isola di Alcina. Drama da rappresentarsi in Roma nella Sala de’ Signori Capranica il Carnovale dell’Anno 1728.

THE PERFORMANCES MENTIONED IN THE ARTICLE

Alcina. The Grand Theatre of Geneva. William Christie (conductor), Philip Berling (director), Carlo Tommasi (set designer), Patrice Cauchetier (costume designer), Jean-Marie Villégier (conception). Arleen Auger (Alcina), Della Jones (Ruggiero), Donna Brown (Morgana), Kathleen Kuhlmann (Bradamante), Martina Musacchio (Oberto), Jorge Lopez-Yanez (Oronte), Natale De Carolis / Gregory Reinhart (Melisso). 1990.

Alcina. Stuttgart Staatsoper. Alan Hacker (conductor), Jossi Wieler, Sergio Morabito (directors), Anna Viebrock (set and costume designer). Catherine Naglestad (Alcina), Alice Coote (Ruggiero), Catriona Smith (Morgana), Helene Schneiderman (Bradamante), Rolf Romei (Oronte), Michael Ebbecke (Melisso), Claudia Mahnke (Oberto), Heinz Greger (Astolfo). 1999.

Alcina. Paris National Opera, Palais Garnier. Orchestra and choir Les Arts Florissants. William Christie (conductor), Robert Carsen (director), Tobias Hoheisel (set and costume designer), Jean Kalman (light). Renée Fleming (Alcina), Natalie Dessay (Morgana), Kathleen Kuhlmann (Bradamante), Susan Graham (Ruggiero), Juanita Lascarro (Oberto), Timothy Robinson (Oronte), Laurent Naouri (Melisso). 1999. The production had multiple revivals at the Paris National Opera and the La Scala theatre.

Alcina. Wiener Staatsoper. Marc Minkowski (conductor), Adrian Noble (director), Anthony Ward (set and costume designer), Jean Kalman (light), Sue Lefton (choreography). Anya Harteros (Alcina), Veronica Cangemi (Morgana), Vesselina Kasarova (Ruggiero), Kristina Hammarström (Bradamante), Alois Mühlbacher (Oberto), Benjamin Bruns (Oronte), Adam Plachetka (Melisso). 2010.

Alcina. Teatro Real, Madrid. Christopher Moulds (conductor), David Alden (director), Gideon Davey (set and costume designer), Simon Mills (lighting designer), Beate Vollack (choreographer). Karina Gauvin (Alcina), Anna Christy (Morgana), Christine Rice (Ruggiero), Sonia Prina (Bradamante), Allan Clayton (Oronte), Luca Tittoto (Melisso), Erika Escribà (Oberto). 2015. Co-production with the Opéra National de Bordeaux (2012) and Santa Fe Opera (2017).

Alcina, or The Enchanted Island. Natalia Sats Musical Theatre for children. Alevtina Ioffe (conductor), Georgy Isaakyan (director), Igor

Grinevitch (costume designer). 2014. The production keeps reviving with changing cast.

Alcina. Aix-en-Provence and the Bolshoi Theatre coproduction. Andrea Marcon (conductor), Katie Mitchell (director), Joseph W. Alford (movement director), Chloe Lamford (set designer), Laura Hopkins (costume designer), James Farncombe (lighting designer). Cast for Aixen Provence performances, 2015: Patricia Petibon (Alcina), Anna Prohaska (Mor-gana), Philippe Jaroussky (Ruggiero), Katarina Bradić (Bradamante), Anthony Gregory (Oronte), Krzysztof Baczyk (Melisso), Elias Mädler/ Lionel Wunsch (Oberto), Juliet Alderdice (old Alcina), Jane Thorne (old Morgana). Cast for the Bolshoi Theatre performances, 2017/18: Heather Engebretson (Alcina), Anna Aglatova (Morgana), David Hansen (Ruggiero), Katarina Bradić (Bradamante), Fabio Trumpy /Juan Sancho (Oronte), Grigory Shkarupa (Melisso), Alexei Korenevsky (Oberto), Tatyana Vladimirova / Svetlana Brejkina (old Alcina), Taisiya Miholap / Nataliya Korchagina (old Morgana)




Copyright (c) 2018 Tatiana Belova

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