Festival plans to put on all 42 Handel operas
mainIt’s the centenary of the Handel Festival in Göttingen and they are nothing if not ambitious.
The May 2020 festival will produce all 42 of Handel’s operas in various formats, reductions and arrangements.
Until Göttingen launched its festival in 1920, they claim, hardly any of Handel’s operas had been seen for 200 years.
But all 42 in 3 weeks? A bit of a digestion problem.
Absolutely brilliant. Would love to be there.
“Absolutely brilliant.”
Could be, but you obviously didn’t read the transcript:
Deidamia: Slam Poetry meets Händel-Oper
Händel goes Tinder: “Multimedia Oper”
Ezio: HipHOpera
Il pastor fido: Händel goes Tango
Radamisto: Händel goes Pop
Of course, there are 37 other operas out there. But they also mentioned Jazz-arrangements and readings, so there may be other horrible stuff lurking in the shadows.
Ah, speaking of which:
Giulio Cesare: Händel goes Impro
Brettermeier now goes Drinking
I didn’t see that for some reason. My ‘translate’ function only showed me the small section about ‘Rodelinda’.
‘Horrible stuff lurking in the shadows”? I would avoid “horrible” and will readily take the “brilliant”. Always.
Every time I listen to Handel for more than, say, 30 mins – I really wish it was Bach as JSB has so much more to fill your ear, mind and soul
Yes, I prefer all of those operas by Bach to the less soul filling works of Handel. Oh, right, there aren’t any. I love Bach and especially the cantatas, but for opera, I run (don’t walk) back to Handel, who really fills my need for story, drama and narrative in glorious musical form. Fortunately I don’t have to choose between them – they wrote for different audiences using different styles and both are magnificent. Try Agrippina, or Serse, or Ottone or Giulio Cesare. Bach will always be there after you are enchanted by the Handel operas (albeit they are more than 30 minutes in length. They require a better than sitcom attention span.) And in direct comparison with Bach, listen to the new recording of Handel’s Brockes Passion conducted by Egarr. No need to fret about who is better as they both are.
“Bach will always be there after you are enchanted by the Handel operas.” How fortunate we all are!!
I don’t see these as mutual exclusive – particularly the Bach operas!!!
Beethoven considered Handel “God”. Enough said.
Perhaps a little extreme, but would love to see some.
“Dabei werden wir Ihnen, unserem Publikum, alle 42 Operntitel in den unterschiedlichsten Formaten präsentieren: szenisch, konzertant, als Jazz-Arrangement, Puppentheater, Film oder Lesung.”
(https://www.haendel-festspiele.de/de/jubilaeum-2020/index.html)
I guess the reading will be fun…
“EZIO: Game of Rome – HipHOpera ”
Ugh. Why.
Dear Brettermeyer: don‘t hurt your sensibilities – don‘t go. This way you will never know what they actually put on, and you can safely condemn it.
Dear Dych teure Halle: Yes! Shame on me for expecting Händel on a Händel festival! Bad Brettermeier! Bad, bad, bad! 😀
How many da capo arias will that be in all?
JSB’s operas are a bit overrated I think….
As hip as they make these operas to appeal to modern sensibilities, Baroque opera without the castrati is just ‘meh’
You have heard Baroque opera sung by castrati? You have aged well…
“Almira” uncut is longer than “Gotterdammerung.”
It’s not an opera for old bladders.
My post has nothing to do with this subject but does have lots to do with Handel.
I once visited Handel House in Brook St., London (well worth it and recommended) when the very British tour guide noted that Handel lived with his butler for many years and left much of his money, house and possesions to him. I thought, that means a lot especially since Handel never married: it was obviously an “arrangement” to get around the feelings of the time. To bad the “I’m British-no sex please” tour guide never had a thought about that.
Well, yes, there have been suggestions around for a couple of decades now that Handel might have been (what we now call) gay.
On the other hand, wealthy people generally shared homes with their butlers; it was rather in the nature of the butler’s job to live in his employer’s home.
And I think it wasn’t entirely unheard-of for a wealthy person with no blood heirs to leave his/her estate to a trusted and long-serving servant.
So I wouldn’t take Handel’s will, by itself, as evidence that he and his butler were lovers.
IMHO a silly idea, especially when in Handel there are so many self-borrowings. Better to select (say) the ten or so choicest operas – less eye-catching but not so gimmicky.
God help them all and the audience. Give me Agrippina at the MET or Caesar at ENO any day with unbottled yet tasteful singers who can sing a lot more than either early music and 21st century music!!!