Word: rodelinda
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Opera HANDEL: SERSE (Westminster; 3 LPs). One of the greatest boons of the expanding recorded repertoire was the debut last year on vinyl of Handel's Rodelinda; now comes his tragicomic opera Serse, or Xerxes, which begins with the famous aria Ombra mai fu, generally called Handel's Largo, a song of praise to a plane tree. The deep, dark, mellifluous voice of Alto Maureen Forrester as the Persian king is set off by the light, bright vocal acrobatics of Lucia Popp, a rising young Czech soprano. Brian Priestman is the conductor, using the Vienna Radio Orchestra...
...composer before or since. When he was buried with regal pomp in Westminster Abbey in 1759, 3,000 people attended the ceremony, and the press reminded its readers that Handel was to music what "Mr. Pope was in poetry." Last week, with performances of the operas Samson, Semele and Rodelinda, the English were again busy honoring their imported genius in the bicentennial year of his death...
...modern ears, Handel's more successful operas-Rodelinda, Ottone, Giulio Cesare-have proved more appealing than his oratorios. German Handelians have already dusted off and scheduled eight operas, including an unexpectedly witty production of Deidamia, a featherweight tale of Achilles in girls' clothing. "He is the great melodist of all times," glowed Conductor Sir Arthur Bliss in London last week. "Greater even than Mozart. This festival will give some idea of his grandeur...
...each spring an event which commends itself to the most conservative. Smith has given the U. S. premieres of six classical operas, three by Claudio Monteverdi, three by George Frederick Handel. Last week still further to Smith's credit was the U. S. premiere of Handel's Rodelinda...
...machinations by which Rodelinda, the Lombard Queen, rid herself of imposters and became reunited with Bertaric, the rightful king, were by no means the most important aspect of the performance. Handel's plot is blatantly conventional, works its way out leisurely. The imported soloists, headed by Soprano Mabel Garrison, and the choristers from Smith and nearby Amherst wore conventional wigs and furbelows. It was Handel's clear, direct music and the finish with which it was given that won Rodelinda highest praise yet for a Smith premiere from the metropolitan critics. The orchestra, composed mostly of Smith girls...
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