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Handel’s Rodelinda at the Met

Nov. 29, 2011

Handel’s <em>Rodelinda</em> at the Met

This season, the Metropolitan Opera celebrates the art of the Baroque opera among many other varied and plentiful offerings. On November 30, the curtain rose on Stephen Wadsworth’s acclaimed 2004 production of Handel’s Rodelinda, Regina de’Longobardi in a performance using the Bärenreiter critical edition by Andrew W. Jones. Rodelinda features Renée Fleming in the title role, joined by Stephanie Blythe and countertenor Andreas Scholl, led by Baroque specialist Harry Bicket. Anthony Tommasini wrote of the work's Metropolitan Opera debut in 2004:

... it's the work itself, as staged by Stephen Wadsworth and conducted by Harry Bicket, both in their Met debuts, that should entice audiences to this landmark production. Handel shows stunning skill at conveying the psychological complexities of his characters, who form uneasy romantic and political alliances as they angle to make a claim on the throne, or find a little comfort in a dangerous society. Seldom has Handel's inexhaustible imagination seemed as miraculous as in Rodelinda.

Composed in 1725 after the success of Guilio Cesare, Handel’s Rodelinda is loosely based on French playwright Pierre Corneille’s “Pertharite, roi desLombards.” The opera tells the story of 17th-century Queen Rodelinda of Lombardy, whose throne was overturned and whose husband, Bertarido, was forced to flee Milan and is believed to have died in exile. However, Bertarido returns in disguise, and the tale of betrayal, unrequited love, devotion and courage unfolds. Performances of Rodelinda continue on December 3, 7, and 10.

Also this month the Oratorio Society of New York performs Handel’s The Messiah at Carnegie Hall on December 19. The work is performed in Mozart’s orchestration from 1789, in an edition available from Bärenreiter.

Learn more on Bärenreiter’s Handel Edition at www.bärenreiter.com. 

Rodelinda, Regina de’ Longobardi (1724/1725)
opera in three acts
edited by Andrew V. Jones
for soprano, mezzo-soprano, 2 altos, tenor, bass and orchestra
1.bfl.2.0.0-2.0.0.0-str
full evening

George Frideric Handel
The Messiah (1741)
arr. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
2(1.pic).2.2.2-2.2.3.0-timp.org-str
ca. 90'

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