Alcina
Music by George Frideric Handel · premiered 1735 · at Theatre Royal, Covent Garden
Alcina (HWV 34) is a 1735 opera by George Frideric Handel. Handel used the libretto of L'isola di Alcina, a work set to music in 1728 in Rome by Riccardo Broschi, which he had acquired a year later during his travels in Italy. Partly altered for better conformity, the story was originally taken from Ludovico Ariosto's epic poem Orlando furioso (like those of the Handel operas Orlando and Ariodante). The opera contains several musical sequences with opportunity for dance: these were composed for dancer Marie Sallé.
Text from the Wikipedia article "Alcina", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
About the Composer
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( HAN-dəl; baptised Georg Fried[e]rich Händel, German: [ˈɡeːɔʁk ˈfʁiːdʁɪç ˈhɛndl̩] ; 5 March [O.S. 23 February] 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti. Born in Halle, Handel spent his early life in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London in 1712, where he spent the bulk of his career and became a naturalised British subject in 1727. He was strongly influenced both by the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition and by composers of the Italian Baroque. In turn, Handel's music forms one of the peaks of the "high baroque" style, bringing Italian…
Text from the Wikipedia article "George Frideric Handel", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Other Operas by George Frideric Handel
- Flavio
- Floridante (1696)
- Almira (1705)
- Daphne (1706)
- Florindo (1708)
- Agrippina (1709)
- Berenice (1709)
- Amadigi di Gaula (1715)