Almira
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“Der in Krohnen erlangte Glückswechsel”, or “Almira, Königin von Castilien” (HWV 1), is George Frideric Handel's first opera.
[edit] Creation
Handel came to the city of Hamburg in the summer of 1703 and played as a violinist in the theatre at the Gänsemarkt, the local market place. On later occasions, he also played the harpsichord in the orchestra. His first opera – announced as a Singspiel—had its premiere on 8 January 1705 under the direction of Reinhard Keiser, so it is presumed that it must have been composed in the months directly preceding this.
The Italian libretto was written by Giulio Pancieri in Venice in 1691. Giuseppe Boninventi used it in his opera at the time. The translation used by Handel was made by Christian Feustking. While most of the recited parts and arias are sung in German, some remain untranslated.
"Almira" was a resounding success. The opera was shown twenty times in total until its place was taken by Handel's next opera, Nero, whose music has not been preserved. In 1732 the piece was once more shown in a version edited by Georg Philipp Telemann.
The first modern showing of Almira took place during the “Halleschen Händelfestspiele” (a festival dedicated to Handel) on the 4 June 1994, in Bad Lauchstädt.
[edit] Characters
The characters are as follows:
- Almira, Queen of Castilia (soprano)
- Edilia, a princess (soprano)
- Consalvo, Almira's guardian (bass)
- Osman, his son (tenor)
- Fernando, an orphan (tenor)
- Raymondo, King of Mauretania (bass)
- Bellante, princess of Aranda (soprano)
- Tabarco (tenor)
Thus "Almira" is an exception amongst Handel's operas, in that all the male characters have natural tonalities.
[edit] References
- Almira (Händel) in German Wikipedia
- Paul Henry Lang. George Frideric Handel
- Albert Scheibler. Sämtliche 53 Bühnenwerke des Georg Friedrich Händel
