Handel - Deidamia / Kermes, Bonitatibus, Labelle, Panzarella, Zanasi, Abete, Il Complesso Barocco, Curtis

Handel - Deidamia / Kermes, Bonitatibus, Labelle, Panzarella, Zanasi, Abete, Il Complesso Barocco, Curtis

Handel - Deidamia / Kermes, Bonitatibus, Labelle, Panzarella, Zanasi, Abete, Il Complesso Barocco, Curtis
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CD Details

Composer: George Frideric Handel
Conductor: Alan Curtis
Orchestra: Il Complesso Barocco
Performer: Simone Kermes
Performer: Anna Bonitatibus
Performer: Dominique Labelle
Performer: Anna Maria Panzarella
Performer: Furio Zanasi
Performer: Antonio Abete
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2004-07-13
Music Label: Virgin Classics
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
  1. Ouverture
  2. Marche
  3. Recitativo: Per Vendicar De Menelao L'offesa
  4. Aria: Grecia Tu Offendi
  5. Recitativo: Falsa E La Voce
  6. Aria: Al Tardar Della Vendetta
  7. Recitativo: O D'amicizia Sante Leggi
  8. Aria: Nelle Nubi Intorno Al Fato
  9. Arioso E Recitativo: Due Bell'alme
  10. Aria: Die Lusinghe
  11. Recitativo: Ecco Il Mio Ben
  12. Arioso: Due Bell'alme
  13. Aria: Seguir Di Selva In Selva
  14. Recitativo: E Sempre Fisse Vi Ritrovo
  15. Aria: Quando Accenderan Quel Petto
  16. Recitativo: Alla Delizia Del Cor Mio
  17. Aria: Se Pensi, Amor, Tu Solo
  18. Recitativo: L'uno E Fenice D'Argo
  19. Aria: Si Che Desio
  20. Recitativo: Invano, O Principessa
  21. Aria: Perdere Il Bene Amato
  22. Recitativo: Da Questi Scaltri Ospiti Greci
  23. Aria: Nasconde L'usignol
Music CD 2
  1. Sinfonia
  2. Recitativo: Deidamia Qui Veggo
  3. Aria: Un Guardo Solo
  4. Recitativo: Oh, Che Importuni Affetti!
  5. Cavatina: Lasciami
  6. Recitativo: Se L'ira Del Mio Bene
  7. Aria: D'amor Ne' Primi Istanti
  8. Recitativo: Lusinghe Allettatrici
  9. Aria: Se 'L Timore
  10. Recitativo: Della Caccia I Diporti
  11. Aria: Nel Riposo E Nel Contento
  12. Coro: Della Guerra La Caccia Ha Sembianza
  13. Recitativo: Inseguito Da' Veltri
  14. Aria: Non Ti Credo
  15. Recitativo: Ninfa Da Noi Non Vista Ancor
  16. Aria: Presso Ad Occhi Esperti Gia
  17. Recitativo: Pochi Momenti A Me
  18. Aria: No, Quella Belta Non Amo
  19. Recitativo: Questa E La Caccia
  20. Aria: Va', Perfido
  21. Recitativo: Placar Tosto Sapro
  22. Aria: Si M'appaga
  23. Recitativo: No, Che Ninfa Non E
  24. Coro: L'alto Giove Al Travaglio Penoso
Music CD 3
  1. Sinfonia
  2. Recitativo: Assai Gioco Di Me
  3. Arietta: Degno Piu Di Tua Belta
  4. Recitativo: Molto Dagli Altri Amanti
  5. Aria: Quanto Ingannata E Quella
  6. Recitativo: Tutto E Gia Pronto
  7. Aria: Ai Greci Questa Spada
  8. Recitativo: Che Piu Giova Celarlo?
  9. Aria: M'hai Resa Infelice
  10. Recitativo: Verso Il Gran Fine
  11. Aria: Come All'urto Aggressor
  12. Recitativo: Dal Destino Dipendono Gli Eventi
  13. Aria: Or Pensate, Amanti Cori
  14. Recitativo: Sprone Ad Affetti
  15. Aria: Consolami, Se Brami
  16. Recitativo: Scoperte Son Le Mire
  17. Aria: Non Vuo Perdere
  18. Recitativo: Itaco Prence, Testimon Sarai
  19. Duetto: Ama: Nell'armi E Nell'amar
  20. Coro: Non Trascurate, Amanti

Music reviews of Handel - Deidamia / Kermes, Bonitatibus, Labelle, Panzarella, Zanasi, Abete, Il Complesso Barocco, Curtis

Music Review: Achilles in Petticoats
Rating: 5 Stars

Set at the beginning of the Trojan War, Handel's last Italian opera is replete with stirring marches amd martial flourishes. The boy Achille has been sent in hiding to the realm of his father's friend, King Licomede, on the island of Skyros, in order to elude a prophecy that his fate is to die at the walls of Troy. Achille has been disguised in girl's clothing, but his nature reveals itself in a love of hunting. Licomede's daughter, Deidamia, has penetrated the disguise; she and Achille are secret lovers, though her loyal friend Nerea, also a princess, is in on the secret. Grecian ambassadors - Fenice and Ulisse, feigning the identity of Antiloco the son of Nestor - come to Skyros to request armed support from Licomede and to locate Achille. Licomede strives to deceive them while also asserting his Grecian patriotism. The wily Ulisse feigns to profess love for Deidamia. His ruse succeeds, Achille is discovered and proves ardent for combat even at the risk of death. Meanwhile, Fenice has fallen sincerely in love with Nerea. Deidamia is distraught that her boy-toy Achille plans to desert her for manly glory, but Ulisse persuades her that `one night of bliss', combined with immortal fame, isn't such a bad deal. Her father agrees, the lovers have their farewell fling, and the opera ends with the awareness that the Greeks will sail with the morning tide. Oh, and there's a `moral' to the story, sung by the whole cast in chorus:

Lovers, use this hour, this day;
what's to come may prove all pain;
pleasures hasten swift away,
yet return not back again.

Does the fair one prove unkind,
if she leave thee,
never grieve thee,
shift about, and change thy mind.

That English doggerel comes from a translation program of 1741! Frankly, the tortured Italian libretto isn't any better. This is not one of the literary masterworks of the Baroque opera, and Handel may have recognized as much, since most of the recitativos are musically run-of-the-mill, with only bare continuo and none of the lovely instrumental accompaniment of the opera Arminio and others.

Deidamia was not a success for Handel. It was staged only twice and probably lost money. The usual explanation is that the public of London had become more puritanical, jaded with the imported virtuosity of Handel's Italian castrati, and/or uncomfortable with the decadence of the whole opera business. Handel's business future lay with the English-language oratorios on Biblical themes. The truth may be a little less neat. England was in the prolonged throes of a revulsion against the homoerotic tolerance of the early 18th C. Male brothels had been closed, prominent `Arcadians' had been persecuted, and Handel may have been ducking for cover. I wonder, perhaps, whether even the epicene patrons of Handel's earlier operas were prepared to appreciate the casting of the mighty Achilles and the doughty Ulysses as twittering sopranos of either gender. In the second staging of Deidamia, by the way, Achille was sung by a 14-year-old girl.
There's good reason for naming this opera after its heroine. Most of the most memorable arias are assigned to Deidamia, sung superlatively on this recording by soprano Simone Kermes. This is a case where my five-star rating pertains more to the performance than to the distinction of the music. Alan Curtis and his Complesso Barocco instrumentalists coax musical excitement out of a score that is well composed, of course, but mostly predictable. Soprano Dominique Labelle has splendid moments as Nerea, and mezzo Anna Bonitatibus is implausibly lovely as Ulisse. The duet between Kermes and Bonitatibus, just before the final chorus, is the most original and delightful musical moment of the whole opera. Baritones Furio Zanasi and Antonio Abete sing their roles as Fenice and Licomede with total artistry, but their arias are musically routine. Still, even `routine' Handel is hot stuff, and I suspect that this opera, on stage, could be quite a spectacle. Alan Curtis plainly believes in it, and his intense appreciation of Handel's operas has been instrumental in the rediscovery thereof.

This recording has been re-released by Virgin Classics in a box of six operas, all performed beautifully by Il Complesso Barocco. The six operas in the box are:
RODRIGO - 2 CDs recorded in 1999, with Gloria Banditelli, Sandrine Piau, Roberta Invernizzi
RADAMISTO - 3 CDs 2005, with Zachary Stains, Dominique Labelle, Joyce DiDonato
ADMETO - 3 CDs 1978, with René Jacobs, James Bowman, Max von Egmond
FERNANDO - 2 CDs 2007, with Lawrence Zazzo, Max Cencic, Antonio Abete
ARMINIO - 2 CDs 2001, with Vivica Genoux, Dominique Labelle, Riccardo Ristori
DEIDAMIA - 3 CDs 2003, with Simone Kermes, Anna Bonitatibus, Furio Zanassi

Librettos in Italian and English, synopses, and ample notes are included on a CD-rom.
More Handel - Deidamia / Kermes, Bonitatibus, Labelle, Panzarella, Zanasi, Abete, Il Complesso Barocco, Curtis free music reviews:
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