Acis and Galatea (Handel)

Acis and Galatea (HWV 49 ) is a Masque (sometimes referred to as an oratory or by Mozart in his arrangement as Pastorale ) by Georg Friedrich Händel.

Formation

Handel had written in 1708, the Italian-speaking " Serenata " Aci, Galatea e Polyphemus. The English Acis and Galatea was built probably in the early summer of 1718 for the estate of the Earl of Carnarvon ( 1719 Duke of Chandos ) and has no musical similarities with the earlier composition. This first version is not divided into acts. As figures it contains in addition to Acis, Galatea and Polyphemus the Shepherd Damon. Together with another tenor were the solo singers the singly occupied choir.

The resumption of Acis has a similar background to that of Esther ( qv). On May 17, 1732 produced Thomas Arne ( father of the composer Thomas Augustine Arne ) the piece along with John Frederick lamp and Henry Carey in London's Little Theatre. As a singer Susanna were legendary Arne (later Cibber ) and Gustavus Waltz involved, both of which came later Handel's operas or oratorios troops.

As with Esther Handel responded to this competition by himself played the work in an expanded version of an Italian opera singers. For this purpose, he added numerous arias from his previous Serenata Aci, Galatea e Polifemo without go to great lengths to adapt. The resulting piece was organized in three acts and consisted of eight roles. The Italian singers sang in Italian, the English in English. On 10 June this bilingual piece first appeared at the Haymarket to the performance and was repeated seven times.

In the years from 1739 Handel was again largely due to the version of 1718. The most important change he divided the work into two acts. He shortened the duet Happy we and sat behind a chorus of the same title, which now forms the conclusion of the first part.

This late version was in 1743 in print and was the only major work of Handel, which was published in his lifetime as a complete score. Today's performances are generally based on this version.

Mozart processing

Acis and Galatea is the first work of Handel, the Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart worked on behalf of Gottfried van Swieten. He added per two clarinets, bassoons and horns, replacing the Recorders Flutes by. The neuinstrumentierte and sung in German language Acis and Galatea (KV 566 ) Mozart made ​​in November 1788, later followed the Messiah, Alexander 's Feast, Ode for St. Cecilia and the 's Day.

Libretto

The libretto was written by John Gay. The fabric is borrowed from Greek mythology and is found for example in the Metamorphoses of Ovid, see Aki and Galatea.

People

Dramatic people according HWV 49:

  • Galatea, a nymph ( Soprano )
  • Acis, a shepherd (Tenor)
  • Damon, a shepherd (tenor, and treble )
  • Polyphemus, a Cyclops ( bass)
  • Chorus of shepherds and shepherdesses

At the first public performance under Handel line 1732, the occupation of the following singers sang:

  • Acis, a shepherd - Senesino ( alto castrato )
  • Galatea, a sea nymph - Anna Maria Strada (soprano )
  • Polyphemus, a monster - Antonio Montagnana ( bass)
  • Cloris - Ann Turner Robinson ( soprano)
  • Eurilla - Mrs. Davis ( soprano)
  • Dorinda - Francesca Bertolli (Alt )
  • Filli - Anna Bagnolesi (Alt )
  • Silvio - Giovanni Battista Pinacci (Tenor)
Galatea (mythology) Bass (voice type) Friedrich Chrysander Winton Dean
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