Class 4: Handling Handel

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4. Handling Handel. Apart from the pun, why "Handling Handel," rather than simply staging him? Because, of all the composers holding a long-term place in the opera repertoire, Handel is the most different. Even today, with baroque opera performances a lot more common, directors need to develop strategies to keep his operas accessible to a modern audience. In the first part of the class, we will look at some of these characteristic differences, and consider approaches for addressing them, with particular reference to his 1724 opera Giulio Cesare.

In the second part of class, we will enjoy some longer scenes from his 1733 opera Orlando, with special emphasis on Handel’s shift from heroic to pastoral, and the introduction of comedy. rb.

The script, videos, and images will be posted immediately after class.

Handout Class Script

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VIDEO LINKS

Everything played in class is available on YouTube at the links below, all *asterisked; not all have titles and you may have to poke around to find those that have. I uploaded two of my own videos, although I did not include my opening section title (striking but irrelevant), and replaced the comparison of "Va tacito e nascosto" as sung by various voice-types with the full versions of the performances from which my clips were taken (plus two extras).

I added a fair number of extra things. There are four other complete performances of Giulio Cesare, three with countertenors in the title role and one with a contralto (as was the Glyndebourne production that we watched). I also put in other versions of Cleopatra's arias: I'd call your attention to the Sabine Devieilhe "Piangerò" with the score, the very beautiful one by Natalie Dessay (who virtually recomposes the da capo in expressive bel canto style), and the outrageous snatch of "Da tempeste" sung by Maayan Licht, a mustachioed male soprano!

The Zurich Orlando is available complete, though unfortunately without titles. The other complete options include the Bejun Mehta stage production from Bruges, and the rather dark Claus Guth staging in Madrid, set apparently in an underground garage, as you will have glimpsed in my title montage. I put in a trailer from the 2025 "museum" production from Nancy that also appeared in the montage, plus two numbers from a 2019 production in San Francisco that follows the Zurich idea of setting the action in a military hospital (although WW2 rather than WW1); neither of these arias were in the sections played in class. On a similar priciple, I include versions of Orlando's celebrated mad scene with both interpreters of the leading role: Marijana Mijanovic and Bejun Mehta. Finally, since all the video productions of both operas are updated to some degree, I attach an 8½-minute promo from a group in Britain that were mounting Orlando just as it would have been in Handel's time; alas, there are no clips of their actual performance.

GIULIO CESARE
	Glyndebourne 2005	* complete (production watched in class) * trailer (same production in Berlin)
	Other complete productions	* Copenhagen 2005 (countertenor, English titles) * Salzburg 2016 (countertenor, titles, radically updated) * Göttingen 2022 (countertenor, German titles, interesting!) * Paris 2022 (contralto, titles, radically updated)
	Va tacito e nascosto	* Justino Diaz, bass * Jakub Józef Orlinski, countertenor (in concert) * Yuriy Mynenko, countertenor * Andreas Scholl, countertenor * Sarah Connolly, contralto
	Piangerò la sorte mia	* Danielle de Niese (Glyndebourne 2005) * Inger Dam-Jensen (Copenhagen 2005) * Natalie Dessay (Paris 2011) * — skip straight to da capo * Sabine Devieilhe, with score * — the same onstage (Paris 2022)
	Da tempeste	* Danielle de Niese (Glyndebourne promo) * Inger Dam-Jensen * Sabine Devieilhe (incredible coloratura!) * Maayan Licht (male soprano!)
ORLANDO
	Zurich 2007	* complete (production watched in class, no titles) * — section shown in class 1 (Angelica/Medoro/Dorinda arias) * — section shown in class 2 (fammi combattere) * — section shown in class 3 (trio) * trailer (actually Orlando/Angelica duet)
	Other complete productions	* Bruges 2013 (Mehta/Jacobs, no titles) * Madrid 2023 (Claus Guth, garage, Spanish titles)
	Other samples	* Photos shown in section title (own video) * San Francisco 2019, Angelica (Heidi Stober) * San Francisco 2019, Dorinda (Christina Gansch) * Nancy 2025, trailer (set in a museum)
	Fammi combattere	* Bejun Mehta in concert (with René Jacobs) * — analysis of the above (my video) * Bejun Mehta on stage * Marijana Mijanovic on stage
	Mad scene	* Marijana Mijanovic, Zurich * Bejun Mehta, Bruges
	Liberata Collective	* Preparing an authentic production, 2023


IMAGES
The thumbnails below cover the slides shown in class, though there may be a few small discrepancies. Click the thumbnail to see a larger image. Click on the right or left of the larger picture to go forward or back, or outside it to close.