Thetis, mother of Achilles, disguises her son as a woman to hide him in the court of King Lycomedes of Scyros and prevent him being sent off to the Trojan War. The plan begins to come apart when Achilles, incapable of subduing his virility, falls in love with Princess Deidamia. Disguise and transvestism have been an essential part of opera plots from the Venetian origins of the genre. In line with this tradition, the story of Achilles on the Island of Scyros inspired more than 30 compositions for voice based on Metastasio’s libretto of 1737. The Italian composer Francesco Corselli was a key figure in Spanish opera of the 18th century. As Kapellmeister of the Royal Chapel of Madrid for nearly 30 years, he was the principal supplier of opera to the Spanish court. Some of these were under the artistic direction of the famous castrato Farinelli.
1764. Durante más de un año, Josef ha llevado una vida precaria en Venecia. Aspira a ser compositor de ópera. La ciudad, llena de autores con talento y ya consolidados, parece cerrada para él. Buscando trabajo como violinista, entra en la órbita de una joven adinerada. Gracias a ella tiene la oportunidad de tocar en salones. Pero su verdadera oportunidad surge cuando se convierte en el amante de una marquesa libertina. Ella le enseña modales sofisticados, le libra de los trazos de su origen provinciano y le introduce en una existencia hedonista libre de intolerancia religiosa. Transformado, Josef recibe un increíble encargo: escribir una ópera para el San Carlo, el teatro más grande de Europa.
Max Emanuel Cencic excels with his celebrated and award-winning production of George Frideric Handels masterpiece Arminio at the International Handel Festival Karlsruhe. The remarkable counter-tenor Cencic, who dedicates himself to the revival and performance of the music of the 18th century, demonstrates once more that Baroque singing can be both technically brilliant and at the same time modern and emotionally engaging. His enchanting staging of Arminio is the revival of the heroic story. When premiered in 1737 at Londons Covent Garden Arminio strangely received only six performances, despite being praised as a miracle and in every respect excellent and vastly pleasing by contemporaries.
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. 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.[3]
La virtù de strali dAmore was the first of ten operas Cavalli wrote with librettist Giovanni Faustini. Set in Cyprus, the plot involves enchanted and pastoral elements, love and its thwarting, the counterpointing of Man and God, sorcery, revelation and ultimate resolution, all accomplished in a brilliant series of scenes. A follower of Monteverdi, Cavalli reveals the influence of the older man but also his own pronounced independence. Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante have become one of the most admired partnerships in the history of baroque music performance.
