Ariodante
Ariodante (HWV 33) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. The anonymous Italian libretto was based on a work by Antonio Salvi, which in turn was adapted from Canti 4, 5 and 6 of Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso. Each act contains opportunities for dance, originally composed for dancer Marie Sallé and her company.
For the opera by Étienne Méhul, see Ariodant.
The opera was first performed in the Covent Garden Theatre, London, on 8 January 1735. Ariodante opened Handel's first season at Covent Garden and successfully competed against the rival Opera of the Nobility, supported by the Prince of Wales. Handel had the tacit and financial support of the King and Queen and, more vocally, of the Princess Royal. The opera received 11 performances during its premiere season at Covent Garden.[1]
Like Handel's other works in the opera seria genre, Ariodante, despite its initial success, fell into oblivion for nearly two hundred years. An edition of the score was published in the early 1960s, from the Hallische Händel-Ausgabe.[2] In the 1970s, the work began to be revived, and has come to be considered one of Handel's finest operas. On 29 March 1971, the Handel Society of New York performed the American premiere of the work in a concert version with mezzo-soprano Sophia Steffan in the title role and Judith Raskin as Ginevra.[3]
Charles Cudworth has discussed the influence of French dance music in the opera.[4] Winton Dean has noted that Act 2 of the opera, in its original version, is the only act in a Handel opera which ends with accompanied recitative.[5]
Reception and performance history[edit]
Ariodante was given eleven performances in its original run, a mark of success for the time, and was revived by Handel for his 1736 season. It then went unperformed until a revival in Stuttgart in 1926. Two performances in Birmingham, England, in May 1964, with Janet Baker in the title role and Anthony Lewis conducting, brought the opera into the modern repertory, since when it has been performed on many of the world's stages.[8]
Among other performances, a four-way co-production between the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, the Canadian Opera Company, Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, and Lyric Opera of Chicago premiered at Aix in 2014. This updated the setting to the 1960s and altered the ending so that Ginevra departs the celebration, heartbroken.
The English Concert gave semi-staged performances in 2017 in the U.S. and Europe, including at Carnegie Hall,[18] where the event was filmed, and at the Barbican Centre.[19] The Salzburg Whitsun Festival presented a new production by Christof Loy on 2 June 2017 featuring Cecilia Bartoli as Ariodante, Kathryn Lewek as Ginevra, Sandrine Piau as Dalinda, Christophe Dumaux as Polinesso, Rolando Villazón as Lurcanio and Nathan Berg as the King.[20]