Handel: Scipione, HWV 20

Description

When the librettist Paolo Rolli and George Frideric Handel composed an Italian opera about Scipio's conquest of the Iberian port city of Carthago Nova in 1726, these events from 209 BC were already almost two thousand years in the past. Research on the critical edition of the opera "Scipione" in the Halle Handel Edition suggests that the librettist and composer had something special in mind with the traditional subject matter. Their opera, created for the Royal Academy of Music in February/March 1726, was by no means just a stopgap in the repertoire, as was previously believed – in contrast to "Alessandro", which was performed in April; Handel wanted to juxtapose the two most famous generals of antiquity, Alexander the Great and Scipio Africanus, and emphasize their (sometimes only apparent) renunciation of despotism among their glorious deeds.

At the opera's premiere in 1726, the virtuoso duo Cuzzoni/Senesino captivated the audience with their highly dramatic and dialogue-like, sometimes tragic arias. Rolli's Scipione (sung by alto castrato Antonio Baldi) was the first operatic hero of this historical material to do good for his own sake and not just forced by circumstances (like Alessandro) or out of political calculation. This dramaturgical approach opens up new perspectives on the musical portrayal of love, honour, violence and sacrifice in this rarely performed masterpiece.

The edition reconstructs the version of the premiere from the no longer complete autograph score and the later altered director's score. Handel had composed too much despite – or perhaps because of – a lack of time; four arias of the highest quality which were omitted and several early versions are published in the edition, some for the first time. Handel added no fewer than 14 newly composed interludes to a second version of the opera from 1730. The edition makes this second version fully performable. As the title role was intended for a tenor in 1730, some of the recitatives missing from the director's score have been adapted for this voice part. Although a decisive monologue by Scipione has been deleted in this version, his character is now more credible.