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Staging a Handel Andrew V. Jones

Early Music, Volume 34, Number 2, May 2006, pp. 277-287 (Article)

Published by Oxford University Press

For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/199746

Access provided by Northwestern University Library (22 Aug 2018 23:38 GMT) v performing matters v

Andrew V. Jones Staging a Handel opera

The musical performance [...] was excellent, and had the rare aspects of the production. The musical presentation virtue of giving the complete score uncut, as performed in 1741. of Handel’s score might be historically informed in ... [ ] One was puzzled by the fact that ’s lovely matters of performance practice, but it will not about a nightingale at the end of Act I was set in the Antarctic with the heroine seated on an iceberg and apparently addressing necessarily observe the composer’s intentions at a penguin, while Ulysses was rowed around by American sailors the most fundamental level: that of musical sub- in a rubber dinghy. [...] In Act II there was a scene in which stance. Almost every performance of in everyone was under water (cue for to be a frogman), recent years, for example, has ignored Handel’s and the hunting chorus was performed in a wild-west setting 1 last-minute decision to end Act 2 not with Asteria’s among cacti (cue for someone to sit on one by accident). 2 grief-laden aria ‘Cor di padre’, which he realized he combination of a historically aware musical did not make sense in the dramatic context, but Tperformance with a production style which— with her cautiously optimistic and dramatically whether consciously or not—ignores the compo- appropriate ‘Se potessi un dı` placare’. (This practice ser’s instructions and the conventions of his day is continued even after the publication of the now such a common feature of Handel opera per- ¨ 3 Hallische Handel-Ausgabe, in which the editor, formances that it has almost become the norm. Terence Best, printed Handel’s final decision in Certainly it is seen as a selling-point, as is demon- the main text and emphasized its superiority in his 5 strated by the publicity brochure for a recent pro- comments in the Preface.) In the same opera duction of Handel’s , in which the musical some conductors find it difficult to respect the full director wrote: ‘What makes the [name of opera extent of Handel’s abbreviation of the final scene company] unique is that while we perform on by omitting Asteria’s aria ‘Padre amato’; it is indeed authentic instruments and in period style, I always a fine piece, but, together with the surrounding insist that our productions are set in a contempo- material which Handel also removed, it is anti- rary situation—not just vaguely modern, but this climactic after ’s suicide. And how many year, today. That is my way of being authentic, performances of have included at the end of because that is how things were done in Handel’s 2 4 Act the little scrap of from day.’ The vocabulary (especially ‘unique’ and that Chrysander mistakenly printed on p.107 of his ‘authentic’) raises questions that could profitably edition of Alcina? Even our knowledge of perform- be discussed, but it is more important to set them ance practice is selectively applied. The chief cri- in a broader context. No one would deny that terion by which historical awareness is assessed is updating a Handel opera produces problems: in the use of period instruments; other important the case of Flavio, for example, present-day Britain aspects are often overlooked. For example, it is not is not ruled by a governor from Lombardy, and unusual to hear the B section of a da capo aria per- men do not fight duels to satisfy slighted honour. formed at a different speed (it might be slower or But updating is only a symptom, and the underlying faster) from the A section, even though Handel attitude is liable to affect more than just the visual uses essentially the same musical material and

Early Music, Vol. XXXIV, No. 2 Ó The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. doi:10.1093/em/cal005 Advance Access Published on 10 April 2006 277 would have written a new tempo indication if he thinking (stereotypical female and male views of had wanted one. And it is common to hear a singer marriage, set in a modern kitchen), and Flavio, the modify the last phrase of a da capo repeat so that it king of medieval Lombardy, appeared as a giant ends at the upper octave, thus ignoring all evidence garden gnome who, having removed his costume, about ornamentation in the 18th century and creat- crawled into and out of a Wendy house, played ing a lop-sided effect in the melodic structure of the with little electric racing cars and sucked jelly beans. aria as a whole. Of course not all present-day per- However ludicrous they might be, these and other formances of Handel’s display shortcomings images will be Handel’s opera Flavio for those such as these. Thanks in large part to the gradual audiences. appearance of operas in the Hallische Ha¨ndel- Any musical performance is based on a com- 6 Ausgabe, the notes and the words are often correct. bination of the composer’s intentions and the Many singers, instrumentalists and conductors performers’ interpretation, and on the interaction understand Handelian performance practice and between them and a third element: the response 7 style; and a few stage directors have been bold of the audience. In the case of opera, not only the enough to put on productions whose visual ele- working-out of these elements but also the ways in ments take account of the staging, costumes and which they interact is more complicated; and acting style that would have been familiar to opera, in which field the works of Handel Handel. All too often, however, it is difficult to stand pre-eminent, represents a still more acute escape the impression that the underlying attitude, manifestation of the problem. Such interaction can especially on the part of the stage director, is based have very significant consequences: three per- not on respect for the composer and his opera, but formances of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony will be rather on a self-indulgent desire to impose an inter- far more similar than will three staged productions pretation that has little relevance to the plot, or in of Handel’s . Differences between the belief that a modern audience is incapable of performances are not bad in themselves, but when appreciating the original on its terms, and has to they are so extreme that the identity of the opera be entertained by gimmicks and cheap jokes. is undermined, one might justifiably ask: what is No doubt many of the decisions taken in prepar- a Handel opera? why are there such marked dif- ing a Handel opera for performance are prompted ferences between productions of the same work? by genuine and sincerely held convictions. But what is the attitude of the producer to Handel’s doubts creep in when one examines the inter- opera and to his audience? has there been any dis- relationship between these decisions, or compares cussion between the producer and the conductor? them with the composer’s instructions, intentions There is no doubt that in Handel’s mind the and expectations, or assesses them in the light of answer to the first question was, in the most general an audience’s actual (as opposed to imagined) terms: it is a drama that is acted out on stage by response. And anxieties arise when one remembers singers accompanied by an orchestra—that is to that, because staged performances of Handel’s say, it is a simultaneous representation of a story operas are relatively infrequent, most members of in singing and acting. Quite apart from the subject- an audience will have no point of comparison in ive evidence of the music itself, whose gestures are either their past or their future experience. Hence often so vivid that it is difficult to imagine a com- they rely for their image of the opera on a single poser not having their physical equivalents in stage director and his particular conception, which mind, there is objective evidence that, as he com- might or might not have anything to do with posed, Handel did indeed have a mental picture 8 Handel’s conception. For audiences at the pro- of what would be happening on stage. In Act 3 9 duction of Flavio referred to earlier, the first scene 5 of , for example, he inserted the of Emilia and Guido were ‘illustrated’ by video stage direction ‘sceso dal trono’ (‘having descended projections onto a huge screen that represented from the throne’) alongside Scipione’s name, at (in the producer’s opinion) what they were really the moment when Scipione releases ; it is 278 early music may 2006 present neither in Salvi’s source (1704) nor though essential items of stage furniture are always in Rolli’s adaptation for Handel. In the final mentioned (e.g. a throne or a tomb). Occasionally scene of Giulio Cesare in Egitto it seems that no location is given (e.g. , IV.i, , III.i Handel wished to make it absolutely clear that and Scipione, III.i). Scenic transformations are care- only Sesto and not his mother, Cornelia, should fully described, for example in Amadigi, 12 kneel before Cesare. The stage direction in the and Alcina. Costumes are mentioned only when libretto is ‘Cornelia e Sesto che s’inginocchia’; there is something unusual about them: Bertarido, since the verb is singular, it must refer only to the deposed King of Lombardy in ,is Sesto. But in the autograph score Handel rephrases seen returning from exile ‘dress’d in an Hungarian the stage direction as ‘Sesto e Cornelia, Sesto Habit’; and rejected fiance´es often return to their s’inginocchia’. His desire to emphasize the fact faithless lovers disguised as men—for example, that only Sesto should kneel is significant. Before Rosmira in , ‘in the Habit of an the opera began, Cesare had defeated Cornelia’s Armenian’, and Bradamante in Alcina, ‘in warlike 13 husband, Pompey; throughout the opera Cornelia’s Man’s Habit’. The more significant moves and words and music portray her as a noble and cour- gestures are given in the stage directions; most were ageous woman. It is entirely in keeping with printed in the libretto, but occasionally Handel her character that, in the final scene, she should added extra ones in the autograph score. Usually remain standing and thus retain her dignity. More (but by no means always) entrances and exits are striking still is Handel’s addition of a stage direction indicated, as are actions such as battles, fights, in Act 3 scene 4 of Rodelinda, which displays total arrests, hiding, fainting, falling asleep, taking poison emotional involvement in the drama. Rodelinda, and dying. At moments of particular dramatic having found fresh blood on the floor of Bertarido’s intensity, such as the throne-room scene of cell, assumes that her husband is dead. She Tamerlano (the latter part of Act 2), the moves, ges- addresses her son, Flavio, as ‘orfano’; at this point tures and even emotions are likely to be indicated Handel added the stage direction ‘s’inginocchia e very precisely. abbraccia il figlio’ (‘she kneels down and embraces Probably these instructions, together with 10 her son’). For Handel—a true man of the thea- decisions taken in the course of rehearsal about tre—an opera was what his audience would see as blocking and the precise placing of entrances and well as hear. exits, were adequate for Handel’s singers, who Differences between productions might be were, after all, engaged full time in the performance justified, or at least explained, by the paucity of of ; its conventions—both musical and detailed information in the source material about dramatic—must have been second nature to them. the visual aspects of the opera. To a certain extent The guidance in the sources is equally useful for 14 this is a fair point: such information is usually today’s stage directors and singers, but, in the 11 restricted to the stage setting and crucial moves. very different artistic and professional context of The lengthy and detailed descriptions of the spec- the 21st century, it requires much amplification. At tacular sets and stage effects in , Handel’s the most basic level, all entrances, exits, and moves first opera for London, are exceptional in this and positions on stage have to be arranged in such respect: they reflect Aaron Hill’s determination to a way that the drama works credibly and effect- 15 achieve a sensational success by treating his ively. The dramatic context and the emotions con- audiences to a combination of virtuoso Italian veyed by words and music will suggest the character singing and extravagant staging. (If the report by of the moves, as well as appropriate gestures and Sir Richard Steele can be taken at face value, reality facial expressions. It is at this point that a crucial might not have matched intention.) Most descrip- decision has to be made: will the style that is tions of the set are far more succinct than these, adopted for movement, gesture and expression be often being simply generic (e.g. ‘a room in the of a naturalistic, post-Stanislavski kind, or will it palace’, ‘a prison’, ‘a wood’, ‘a delightful place’), attempt to re-create that of the 18th century? earlymusic may2006 279 The reason most frequently given for not adopt- shifting Erwartungshorizont (horizon of expecta- 18 ing an 18th-century style in the visual aspects of a tion) must be treated with caution. It is certainly production is that the audience is a modern one, helpful to bury the notion of a uniform response and will be unfamiliar with—even alienated by— to a work of art which will be experienced at all such a style: a 21st-century audience will inevitably times and in all places, and in the broadest terms see the opera through 21st-century eyes, with all the different political, religious, social, cultural and that that implies in relation to knowledge, expecta- educational environment of the early 21st century tions, preferences and prejudices; the producer’s is bound to contribute to a difference in the job is therefore to present the opera in a way that response of a modern audience. But why should 16 will carry meaning for a modern audience. A scep- we replace one monolithic view of audience percep- tic might wonder whether such an argument is tion with another, slightly narrower one? An audi- disingenuous: that the producer’s motivation is ence at any period comprises individuals, with not to speak to the audience on its own terms but differing expectations and perceptions. But more rather the desire to present his Concept of the important than all such observations is the simple 17 opera’s meaning to the audience; and members fact that human beings are blessed with the power of an audience are just as likely to be insulted by of the imagination. They might enter the opera condescension, or irritated by gimmicks and theatre cursing the weather and public transport, distractions, or puzzled and alienated by an incom- but after a few minutes they will be transported to prehensible production. Putting aside such possibi- a different world, whose inhabitants, nonetheless, lities, we might accept that there is, again, some display emotions with which they can readily truth in the assertion that a present-day audience empathize. will respond differently from an 18th-century one. The job of the stage director in Handel’s day was Precisely the same point could have been made, a modest one, probably combining the blocking of however, around the mid-1960s, when historically singers’ moves with the function of stage manager informed performance of early music, hitherto and technical director; it was often undertaken by 19 largely restricted to the domain of the cognoscenti, the librettist. Today’s stage directors are accorded was starting to gain wider acceptance. In that case a far more exalted status. They are presumably commercial interests (especially those of recording chosen with an eye to the kind of production they companies) undoubtedly played a decisive role in will create; they will construct a personal interpreta- ensuring that period instruments, together with tion of the opera: its meaning, its relevance for a appropriate techniques and performing styles, modern audience, how it can be interpreted in the would, over the next couple of decades, become light of modern conditions (politics, psychology, established and accepted. Far from alienating a gender studies and so on); their conception of the modern audience, such instruments, techniques opera will constitute a major part of the publicity and styles are now seen (and marketed) as a positive surrounding the production and of the subsequent attraction; the ‘problem’ was merely one of famili- reviews. It cannot be assumed that their chief arity. The novels of Jane Austen are just as much concern will be to match the style of the musical embedded in their time as are the operas of performance, nor even, necessarily, to respect what Handel: the behaviour of the characters and the is conveyed by the librettist and the composer. social conventions that they observe are far Stage production is regarded as independent of the removed from those of the 21st century. But the music. This is symptomatic of a misapprehension receptive reader quickly becomes attuned to them, lying at the root of the problem: that the musical realizing that the universality of human experience and the visual elements of a Handel opera are transcends boundaries of time and place. Could it autonomous, and can be interpreted—and hence be that the modern audience is an excuse rather experienced by the audience—separately. As I have than a valid reason for updating a Handel opera? argued above, that was certainly not Handel’s In any case, an argument based on the notion of a conception of his operas, and it is not how an 280 early music may 2006 audience experiences them in the theatre, where Handel’s and autograph scores give only musical and visual signals reach the ear and eye limited guidance about the visual aspects that he simultaneously: if their substance and style comple- had in mind, there is a wealth of information of a ment each other, their combined impact will be the more general nature that has been accessible for greater; if they conflict, the result will be (at the very many years, largely thanks to the research (and 20 least) a sense of confusion. the teaching) of Dene Barnett. The art of gesture Perhaps, on the basis of what I have said so far, we was closely linked to the art of rhetoric, and it might consider an alternative approach, based on was natural that teachers of the 18th century the following propositions: a Handel opera, as con- (and others) should have frequent recourse to ceived by the composer and as experienced by the Quintilian, whose Institutio oratoria included basic audience, comprises both aural and visual elements, instruction in the use of gesture. There existed a bound together intimately and inextricably; if language of gesture, whose ‘vocabulary’ conveyed respect for the composer’s intentions and expecta- specific meanings that were understood by contem- tions is regarded as important in the musical repres- porary audiences. Many of these are immediately entation of the opera, perhaps the same attitude recognizable also to us today—for example, the might be extended to the visual aspects of the seated figure slumped forward over a table, the production; a historically informed style of pro- face buried in one hand, the other hanging down duction is in tune with Handel’s music, and a loosely, to express despair (see the left-hand figure modern audience is perfectly capable of under- in illus.1), or a kneeling posture, the head tilted standing its validity; Handel’s operas can most fully upwards, and outstretched hands clasped together be appreciated if presented on their own terms, not to express pleading (see the right-hand figure in through the distorting prism of the 21st (or any illus.2). other) century. Certain prevalent attitudes need An important principle that emerges from the not be taken for granted; the possibility of period- treatises, reports, pictures and other documents is style production could be more widely explored. that, while the purpose of gesture was to convey Clearly there are problems to be overcome, but the sense of the words more vividly to the audience, they are not insurmountable. While it is true that prime importance was attached to elegance,

1 Johannes Jelgerhuis, Theoretische lessen over de gesticulatie en mimiek ...(Amsterdam, 1827), plate 14

earlymusic may2006 281 2 Johannes Jelgerhuis, Theoretische lessen over de gesticulatie en mimiek ...(Amsterdam, 1827), plate 12 gracefulness and refinement; these qualities were at theorists drew charts to illustrate routes from A to B least as important as expressiveness. The concept that followed a curved path. Barnett’s book is gene- of naturalistic acting was unknown; individuals rously illustrated with reproductions from treatises and groups of actors were instead expected to pre- of the time; he also includes photographs of a mo- sent to the audience a beautiful picture. Beauty in dern actor demonstrating 18th-century postures this sense resided in the artful disposition of the and gestures. Some important treatises are available body in such a way that elements of contrast, in facsimile or modern edition: Franciscus (Franz) opposition and asymmetry created a pleasingly bal- Lang’s Dissertatio de actione scenica [...] (Munich, anced effect. To display oneself straight on to the 1727) has been reprinted in facsimile and translated audience, for example, with left and right sides of into German by Alexander Rudin (Bern and the body (principally arms, hands, legs and feet) Munich, 1975); Gilbert Austin’s Chironomia [...] forming mirror images, with the weight equally (London, 1806, but written much earlier) has been placed on both feet, and the face upright and direc- edited by Mary Robb and Lester Thonssen ted forward was not beautiful (see illus.3). Rather, (Carbondale, 1966); and Theoretische lessen over de the upper body might be turned one way and the gesticulatie en mimiek [...] (Amsterdam, 1827)by head the other; one arm might be raised while the the Dutch tragedian, teacher and painter Johannes other points downwards; weight should be trans- Jelgerhuis was translated and published as an ferred to one leg (held straight) while the other extended appendix by Alfred Siemon Golding in (bent) is relaxed (see illus.4). his book Classicistic acting: two centuries of a per- The principle of elegance extended to the indi- formance tradition at the Amsterdam Schouwburg 21 vidual parts of the body: a bent arm and wrist, and (New York, 1984). All these treatises contain a supple, varied pattern in the fingers, for example, detailed guidance, including numerous drawings were pleasing to the eye. Straight lines were ana- to illustrate acting techniques; they constitute a thema not only in relation to the body but also rich resource for the modern stage director. None with regard to an actor’s movement across the stage; of this need be regarded as narrowly prescriptive.

282 early music may 2006 4 Franciscus Lang, Dissertatione de actione scenica ... (Munich, 1727), Figure III between pp.28 and 29 3 Franciscus Lang, Dissertatione de actione scenica ... 1727 18 19 (Munich, ), Figure I between pp. and style of acting, so that it feels natural rather than imposed. Indeed, the danger of over-precise guidance was It might be thought that such emphasis on ele- recognized by one of the writers just mentioned: 22 gance and so many constraints on actors’ move- Jelgerhuis criticized Riccoboni, who instructed ments would impede or completely obstruct the actors as follows: expression of emotion, but this is far from the case. Nor does it follow that a stage director’s ima- Whenever we extend an arm, the upper part of the limb should 23 move before the lower. The hand, as the lowest part, should gination is hampered. Handel’s musical language move last, with the palm directed down until the upper arm was itself a highly stylized one: the overall structure reaches the shoulder height, at which point the palm may be of opera seria was dominated by the alternation of turned face up. secco recitative and da capo aria, and the basic shape As Jelgerhuis rightly observes, such instruction of the latter was thoroughly standardized by the risks turning an actor into a marionette. Moreover, early 18th century. Such ‘constraints’ were no a 21st-century actor, just as much as a 21st-century impediment to Handel’s creativity: the vast majority audience, needs to become attuned to a Baroque of his da capo arias follow the conventional pattern, earlymusic may2006 283 but within this his imagination and inventiveness gestures, but even these do not convey a sense of yielded a huge variety of responses to the texts. the speed of movement. It requires only a little Moreover, when the basic musical structure is so thought (and extrapolation), however, to make clear and so frequently employed, any deviation— intelligent guesses: elegance is not going to be pro- from the smallest to the most substantial— duced by abrupt, jerky movements but by gradual, produces a striking effect, as when, for example, smooth (and preferably curving) ones. 24 an aria begins without an introductory ritornello, As to the danger of hampering the stage director, or there is a change of tempo within the A I must resort to personal experience to make my 25 section, or (most radical of all) a da capo aria is point. In the course of performing (so far) 11 Handel 26 interrupted or truncated by recitative. And when operas with the Cambridge Handel Opera Group, 28 the da capo aria is abandoned altogether and none of my stage directors has ever complained replaced by an extended scena, the effect can be about feeling restricted by the adoption of a period 27 overwhelming. This highly circumscribed musical style in the production; and, more positively, form, with all the opportunities that it afforded for I have been constantly amazed by the insight and subtle nuances as well as for extreme, even violent imagination—quite apart from the professional forms of expression, had a perfect counterpart in skill—that they have brought to Handel’s operas. the 18th-century style of acting. Just as a musical It is perfectly possible to observe the conventions move or gesture outside the confines of a conven- of 18th-century acting (as well as stage design and tional da capo aria could achieve an effect far greater costumes) and to invent stage business that would than its intrinsic character or substance might seem have been recognizable to Handel, and at the same capable of, so a physical move or gesture outside the time to convey intelligible meaning to a modern domain of the elegant and refined could achieve a audience. powerful effect in the theatre. If the great majority One example must suffice. At the end of of da capo arias begin with an orchestral ritornello, Tamerlano Bajazet, rather than submit to the tyrant one that opens with a phrase for unaccompanied Tamerlano, commits suicide. In the drastically voice will have a striking impact; if most arm move- shortened ending that Handel eventually created, ments are restricted to the space between the level of Bajazet’s death is followed only by 22 bars of secco the shoulders and that of the waist, a clenched fist recitative and the final coro, ‘D’atra notte’. The held high above the head will be positively shocking. optimistic, if not quite cheerful, words of the coro The restrained gracefulness that informed 18th- are undermined by Handel’s sombre music. century acting included the relationship between Notwithstanding any efforts that might be made to characters: actual physical contact was very rare. turn it into a dance, it is a sombre piece in E minor, This convention, too, had enormous expressive dominated by plain crotchets, scale fragments potential: as long as two lovers (for example) delay peaking on the sixth degree of the minor scale, the moment of physical contact, there is tension scraps of counterpoint and occasional suspensions. and expectation in the air; the atmosphere remains There are no stage directions, and it can legitimately electrically charged right up until the moment be staged in a very simple manner, with the 29 when they finally touch. four principals declaiming their words and music If there is a difficulty in interpreting the evidence straight out to the audience. For our production provided by the theorists, it is caused by the in 2005, Richard Gregson staged the coro as a funeral obvious and inescapable fact that their pictures are corte`ge. Several bars into the music the procession motionless: while the static poses can be observed emerges slowly from the wings, stage right, led by and replicated, it is not necessarily a straight- Asteria, who carries a blazing torch; Bajazet’s body forward matter to fill in the intervening movements. is carried on a bier by Tamerlano’s guards. Asteria Theorists sometimes add dotted lines to their waits centre-stage for the procession to pass; as it pictures, or draw apparently multi-limbed actors, pauses briefly she lifts the sheet to look one last so as to indicate the beginnings and ends of time at her father. The procession leaves, stage left. 284 early music may 2006 Asteria joins the end of the corte`ge, and throws the the expected and acceptable way to stage a Handel torch onto the funeral pyre, which blazes up, off opera is to update it in one way or another, and stage. Thus Handel’s sombre ending is reinforced by to introduce extraneous elements of all sorts, the imagination of the stage director; the dramatic both conceptual and physical. Such an attitude is effect was overwhelming in its sense of desolation surprising in the light of our diametrically opposed and dignity, as a noble hero is laid to rest. assumptions regarding the performance of the A stage director is perfectly at liberty to introduce music: we expect to hear singers who understand icebergs, rubber dinghies and cacti into his pro- the conventions of the 18th century, and an ductions if he wishes to do so—though it is orchestra playing period instruments with the curious that such behaviour is likely to raise fewer appropriate technique and stylistic awareness. The eyebrows than would be the case if a musical attitude is disappointing because it deprives audi- director were to introduce saxophones and ukuleles ences of the opportunity to experience Handel’s into the orchestra. What is surprising and dis- operas as the composer conceived them: not only appointing is that so few stage directors are willing to hear the right notes sung and played stylishly, to attempt the re-creation of an 18th-century style but also to see sets, costumes, movements, gestures in their productions of Handel’s operas; indeed, and expressions that Handel would have there is almost a tacit assumption on all sides that recognized as falling within the bounds of the

5 A scene from the Cambridge Handel Opera Group’s production of Handel’s Berenice in 1993, showing Berenice (left; Ann Mackay) and Selene (right; Lynette Alca´ntara), with four Egyptian guards standing behind (Philippa Hobson, Riki Dolby, Felice Kuin and Annilese Miskimmon). (Photograph by Jonathan Wells)

earlymusic may2006 285 possible. An historically informed style is no more devices, while disruption of the conventions of an impediment to the imagination of the stage achieves a shattering effect. If the visual and the director than it is to the singers and instrumental- aural are perfectly in tune with each other, we can ists. On the contrary, it is a liberation: within a style confidently rely on Handel’s genius to speak characterized by restraint and refined elegance, clearly and powerfully across the centuries to the subtlety and nuance become powerful expressive sensibilities of a modern audience.

Andrew Jones is a University Senior Lecturer in Music at Cambridge, and Director of Studies in Music, Director of Music, and Fellow of Selwyn College. He founded the Cambridge Handel Opera Group in 1985, and has so far translated, edited and conducted 11 of Handel’s operas; the next production will take place in early May 2007. His edition of Rodelinda for the Hallische Ha¨ndel-Ausgabe has been used for performances in international opera houses throughout the world. [email protected]

1 T. Best, review of the 2002 6 Those that have appeared so far are: descriptions and stage directions from production of Handel’s Deidamia at (ed. D. Schro¨der; 1994), Rinaldo the contemporary libretto (and from , The Handel Institute newsletter, (ed. D. Kimbell; 2 vols., 1993, 1996), the autograph score, whenever Handel xiii/2 (Autumn 2002). Amadigi (ed. J. M. Knapp; 1971), provided supplementary information (ed. T. Best; two volumes, here) are woven into the synopsis of the 2 The word ‘authentic’, now generally 1997 and 2000), Flavio plot. Facsimile reproductions of all the disparaged and abandoned in scholarly (ed. J. M. Knapp; 1993), Tamerlano (ed. librettos are available in The librettos of writings, unless placed in scare quotes, T. Best; 1996), Rodelinda Handel’s operas, ed. E. Harris, 13 vols. still seems to be a convenient shorthand (ed. A. V. Jones; 2002), (New York, 1989). (ed. M. Pacholke; 2000), Lotario for marketing and publicity purposes. 12 As yet, no drawing or painting has (ed. M. Pacholke; 2003), Richard Taruskin has objected to been identified that can with certainty (ed. S. Flesch; 1969), (ed. T. Best; ‘historically informed’ because it fails be associated with the production of a 2003), (ed. D. Burrows; 2002) the ‘invidious antonym’ test; the same Handel opera in London during the and Deidamia (ed. T. Best; 2001). applies to ‘historically aware’ (no one composer’s lifetime. However, Lowell would describe themselves as 7 I use the term ‘stage director’ for Lindgren has offered the conjecture historically uninformed or unaware). preference, and ‘producer’ as a that certain operatic drawings by John Peter Walls (History, imagination and synonym. Devoto could have been associated with the performance of music (Woodbridge, , ‘The staging of Handel’s operas in 2003 10 8 Of course, Handel was not unique in ), p. ) prefers the neutrality of London’, Handel tercentenary collection, this respect: we know from their ‘period-instrument’ performance, with ed. S. Sadie and A. Hicks (London, writings that Mozart, Verdi, Richard the obvious caveat that he is not 1987), pp.93–119, esp. pp.105–12. referring exclusively to instrumental Strauss, Schoenberg and Britten, for music—but, in a discussion of operatic example, had a similarly vivid mental 13 These translations are from the performance practice, that epithet image of the staging of their operas. contemporary librettos. would sound very odd. 9 In the libretto it is scene 5;in 14 Unfortunately its usefulness does 3 See W. Dean, ‘Production style in Chrysander’s edition (lxxi, p.90)itis not necessarily mean that it will be Handel’s operas’, The Cambridge scene 6; in the autograph score followed: a sword might be replaced by companion to Handel, ed. D. Burrows (London, British Library, R.M.20.c.6)it a machine-gun, or a chariot by a (Cambridge, 1997), pp.249–61. Many is scene 2 (Handel revised Acts 2 and 3 motor-bike—to mention only two of other examples could have been cited; radically). The added stage direction is the less implausible possibilities. an internet search for reviews of any of written on f.76v, above the right-hand 15 Any stage director would the frequently performed operas will end of stave 9. yield a rich crop. legitimately expect to be allowed some 10 A few bars later he added a latitude in the way Handel’s stage 4 Southbank (July and August 2005), second stage direction: ‘si leva’ directions are incorporated into the p.22. (‘she stands up’). production, and in adding essential ones that are omitted in the sources. 11 For the operas up to Scipione, 5 Tamerlano, ed. T. Best, Hallische a convenient guide is W. Dean and 16 Other ‘arguments’ that are Ha¨ndel-Ausgabe, ii/15 (Kassel, 1996), J. M. Knapp, Handel’s operas, 1704–1726 sometimes voiced relate to the physical pp.xix, 127–30, 133–7. (Oxford, 1987; rev. 1995): set differences between the 18th- and the

286 early music may 2006 21st-century theatre: they used candles two early 19th-century treatises are and oil lamps for stage lighting; we use avowedly backward-looking—that is to electricity; their auditorium remained say, their guidance may with Forthcoming in Early Music illuminated during the performance; confidence be applied to the practice ours is darkened; they employed of the 18th century. Mark Lindley, Ibo Ortgies castrati; we employ women or 22 [Antoine] Francois¸ Riccoboni, and John O’Donnell on in their place; and so on. 1750 L’Art du The´aˆtre (Paris, ). Bach’s temperament In the present context these matters 23 seem to me both irrelevant and trivial In a more wide-ranging discussion, in comparison with questions of the notion that musicological research production styles and audience obstructs imagination and spontaneity perceptions. in performance is refuted in Walls, Anthony Rooley on History, imagination and the Sir Henry Lee, Dowland and 17 Or, in Dean’s words: ‘the producers’ performance of music; see especially Elizabeth I antics have stemmed from ignorance, chapter 8. cynicism or the lust to exploit a 24 hyperactive ego’: Dean, ‘Production style For example, Cleopatra’s aria ` Denzil Wraight in Handel’s operas’, p.257. ‘Piangero la sorte mia’ in Giulio Cesare, and Oberto’s aria ‘Barbara!’ in on Cristofori 18 See in particular the writings of Alcina. Hans-Georg Gadamer and Hans Robert 25 For example, Zenobia’s aria ‘Deggio Jauss. Michael Noone and dunque’ in Radamisto, and Berenice’s Lorenzo Candelaria on 19 On the history of operatic staging, aria ‘Chi t’intende’ in Berenice. see R. Savage, ‘The staging of opera’, music and liturgy in 26 For example, Elmira’s aria ‘Notte The Oxford illustrated history of opera, cara’ in Floridante, and Bertarido’s aria Renaissance Toledo ed. R. Parker (Oxford, 1994), ‘Chi di voi fu piu` infedele’ in Rodelinda. pp.350–420; the ‘Further reading’ section on pp.490–91 is to be 27 For example, Bajazet’s suicide scene recommended. at the end of Tamerlano, and Orlando’s 2 20 mad scene in the latter part of Act of D. Barnett, The art of gesture: the Orlando. practices and principles of 18th century 28 acting (Heidelberg, 1987); Barnett Tertia Sefton-Green in Rodelinda 1985 1987 acknowledges the assistance of ( ); Jean Chothia in Flavio ( ), Advertisers! 1989 1991 Jeanette Massy-Westropp. He had Floridante ( ) and Amadigi ( ); 1993 previously presented the fruits of his and Richard Gregson in Berenice ( ), Contact Jane Beeson 1995 1997 research in five articles in Theatre Partenope ( ), Alcina ( ), Admeto on 1999 2001 2003 research international, ii, iii, v, vi ( ), Orlando ( ), Serse ( ) and 2005 +44 (0) 1652 678230 (1977–81). Tamerlano ( ). or at 21 29 Irene, Andronico, Tamerlano and Apart from making the obvious [email protected] point that theory usually follows Leone; Asteria has followed her dying practice, it is important to note that the father off stage.

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