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Agrippina (opera)
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Agrippina (HWV 6) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel, set to a libretto by Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani. Composed for the 1709–10 Venice Carnevale season, the opera tells the story of Agrippina, the mother of Nero, as she plots the downfall of the Roman Emperor Claudius and the installation of her son as emperor. Grimani's libretto, considered one of the best that Handel ever set, was an "anti-heroic satirical comedy", full of topical political allusions.
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Agrippina (HWV 6) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel, set to a libretto by Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani. Composed for the 1709–10 Venice Carnevale season, the opera tells the story of Agrippina, the mother of Nero, as she plots the downfall of the Roman Emperor Claudius and the installation of her son as emperor. Grimani's libretto, considered one of the best that Handel ever set, was an "anti-heroic satirical comedy", full of topical political allusions. Some analysts consider that it may have reflected the rivalry of Grimani, an experienced diplomat, with Pope Clement XI.
Handel composed Agrippina at the end of a three-year visit to Italy, when he was 24 years of age. It was premiered in Venice at the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo on or around 26 December 1709, and was an immediate success. From its opening night it was given a run of 27 consecutive performances, and it received much critical acclaim. Observers were full of praise for the quality of the music—much of which, in keeping with the contemporary custom, had been borrowed and adapted from other works, including some from other composers. Despite the evident public enthusiasm for the work, Handel did not promote further stagings. There were occasional productions in the years following its premiere but, when Handel's operas fell out of fashion in the mid 18th century, it and his other dramatic works were generally forgotten.
In the 20th century, Handelian opera began a revival which, after productions in Germany, saw Agrippina premiered in Britain and in America. In recent years performances of the work have become more common, with innovative stagings at the New York State Theater and the London Coliseum in 2007. Modern critical opinion is that Agrippina is Handel's first operatic masterpiece, full of freshness and musical invention which have made it one of the most popular operas of the continuing Handel revival. Having achieved maturity with this early work, Handel's operatic style changed little during the next 30 years.
Roles
Synopsis
The following synopsis is based on Gloria Staffieri's summary, translated by George Hall for the 1997 John Eliot Gardiner recording with the English Baroque Soloists.
Act 1
The Emperor's wife, Agrippina, receives news that her husband, Claudius, has died at sea. Immediately her mind turns to the problem of securing the throne for Nero, her son by a previous marriage. She tells him to give grain to the people so as to buy popular support. After he leaves to carry out her instructions, she then summons in turn her two freemen, Pallas and Narcissus, aware that both of them love her, though neither is aware of the other's affections. She promises each in turn her love if Nero becomes Emperor, and they leave for the Capitol to acclaim Nero as the new ruler. Agrippina summons the Senate to inform them of Claudius's death and asks them to choose a new Emperor. Pallas and Narcissus immediately cry out Nero's name.
Agrippina and Nero ascend the throne, but Claudius's servant Lesbus arrives to announce that his master is not dead after all but was saved from death at sea by Otho, the commander of the army. Otho himself then arrives to declare that, out of gratitude, Claudius has promised him the throne. The conspirators are dismayed, but Otho confides to Agrippina that he loves the Roman beauty Poppaea far more than the throne. Agrippina knows that Claudius also loves Poppaea, and realises that her schemes have not been entirely defeated.
Agrippina goes to see Poppaea, and, after confirming that she does truly love Otho, tells her that Otho has struck a bargain with Claudius: he can have the throne only if he yields Poppaea to the current Emperor. Agrippina suggests that Poppaea should get her revenge by telling Claudius that Otho has ordered Poppaea to refuse Claudius's attentions. Agrippina claims that this will make Claudius so angry he will strip Otho of his claim to the throne. Poppaea is deceived, and when Claudius duly arrives, all proceeds exactly as Agrippina has planned.
Act 2
Pallas and Narcissus discover that Agrippina has tricked them both, and band together to escape the treacheries in which they are embroiled. Otho arrives, nervous about his forthcoming coronation, followed by Claudius riding on a triumphal chariot. Britain has just been conquered, and his subjects all acclaim his glory. However, when Otho goes up to him to claim his promised reward, Claudius brutally repulses him, calling him a traitor. Otho is dumbfounded, and in turn appeals to Agrippina, Poppaea, and Nero for support, but they all scorn him, plunging him into despair.
However, seeing her beloved's genuine grief, Poppaea wonders whether he might not be innocent after all, and lies down in her garden as if in sleep, recounting in "sleep" what Agrippina has told her earlier as Otho approaches. Seeing her then "wake", Otho cannot restrain himself and furiously protests his innocence. Poppaea realises how Agrippina has tricked her and swears revenge. Meanwhile, Agrippina has ordered Pallas to kill first Narcissus and then Otho, and Narcissus to kill Pallas and Otho, plotting the scheme in her scena "Pensieri, voi mi tormentate". This time the freemen are not fooled. Agrippina is more successful when it comes to Claudius, telling him that Otho is still plotting to take the throne. She advises him that to stifle his ambitions Claudius should abdicate in favour of Nero. Claudius agrees, eager to be with Poppaea again.
Act 3
Poppaea devises a plan. She instructs Otho to hide behind a curtain in her bedroom and to remain silent no matter what he hears. Nero arrives: he also loves Poppaea, but she tells him that his mother is coming and persuades him to hide as well. Claudius enters, but Poppaea complains that he does not really love her. Claudius reminds her that he punished Otho for her sake, but Poppaea suddenly announces that he misheard her: it was not Otho but Nero who insulted her. To prove it, she calls Nero out of hiding, but Claudius interrupts his ardent wooing and contemptuously sends him packing. Poppaea then gets rid of Claudius by telling him that he cannot give him her love while Agrippina holds such anger towards her. She brings Otho out of hiding, and the two swear everlasting love to each other, Otho in his aria "Pur ch'io ti stringa" and Poppaea with "Bel piacere".
The opera moves to its climax as Nero tells his mother of his sudden fall from grace and asks her to protect him. He renounces love in favour of political ambition in the virtuosic aria "Come nubbe che fugge dal vento". Simultaneously, Pallas and Narcissus have told Claudius of the original plot to gain the throne for Nero, so when Agrippina urges Claudius to give up the throne, he accuses her of attempting to rob him of it. She admits she sought the throne for Nero but claims that this was only to prevent intrigues among the people and Senate and that therefore she was safeguarding the throne for Claudius. Claudius is convinced, and Agrippina further tells him to abandon Poppaea as she is Otho's lover, but Claudius contradicts her, informing her that it was, in fact, Nero. When Poppaea, Otho, and Nero arrive, Claudius accuses Nero of having hidden himself in Poppaea's apartment, which Nero cannot deny. Suddenly, the Emperor announces that Otho shall have the throne after all, and that Nero shall marry Poppaea. But this solution pleases nobody, so Claudius gives Poppaea to Otho, and his throne to Nero. Finally he summons the goddess Juno to bless the empire and the betrothed.
Context and analysis
Background
Handel's earliest opera compositions, in the German style, date from his Hamburg years, 1704–06, where he was influenced by Johann Mattheson. In 1706 he travelled to Italy where he remained for three years, learning the Italian style of music, and mastering it to such an extent that, after returning home, he gained the patronage of the Elector of Hanover, the future King George I of England. Initially he stayed in Florence where he was introduced to Allesandro and Domenico Scarlatti, and where his first "Italian" opera was composed and performed. This was Rodrigo (original title Vincer se stresso ê la maggior vittoria), in which the Hamburg and Mattheson influences remained prominent. This work was not particularly successful, but was part of Handel's process of learning to compose opera in the Italian style, and to set Italian words to music.
After Florence, Handel spent time in Rome, where the performance of opera was forbidden by Papal decree, and in Naples. He was able to apply himself to the composition of cantata and oratorio; at that time there was little difference, apart from increasing length, between cantata, oratorio, and opera, all being based on the alternation of secco recitative and aria da capo. Works from this period include his well-known Dixit Dominus, and the dramatic cantata Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, written in Naples. Towards the end of his Italian sojourn Handel travelled to Venice, where he was engaged by the Teatro San Giovanni Gristostomo to write Agrippina for the Venice 1709–10 Carnevale season. This was Handel's second Italian opera, and probably his last composition in Italy. The theatre had been founded by the family of Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani, a distinguished diplomat who wrote libretti in his spare time, and also acted as an unofficial theatrical agent for the royal court. Grimani agreed to produce an original libretto for the young composer, using a story that had been the subject of Monteverdi's 1642 opera L'incoronazione di Poppea, but centring on Agrippina, a character who does not appear in Monteverdi's reputedly much darker version.
Composition
In the composition of Agrippina Handel borrowed extensively from his earlier oratorios and cantatas. The overture (a French-style two part work with a "thrilling" allegro) and all but five of some 45 vocal numbers—arias, choruses, and trios—are based on material composed earlier in his career, though they were thoroughly reworked.
Lucifer's aria from La Resurrezione, "O voi dell'Erebo", itself borrowed from Reinhard Keiser's Octavia, returns in Agrippina as Pallas's "Col raggio placido". Agrippina's "Non ho che cor amarti" was taken, almost entirely unadapted, from Hero's aria "Se la morte non vorrà" in Handel's earlier dramatic cantata Qual ti reveggio, oh Dio. Narcissus's "Spererò" is an adaptation of the aria "Sai perchè" from the composer's cantata Clori, Tirsi e Fileno. This adapting and borrowing was common practice at the time, but its extent in Agrippina is greater than in almost all the composer's other major dramatic works. Handel did not only borrow musical ideas from his own works: some of the arias derive from composers such as Arcangelo Corelli and Jean-Baptiste Lully. In a departure from the prevailing tradition, 31 of the forty-odd arias were given full orchestral accompaniment.
Parts of Agrippina were reused in Handel's London works: "Bel piacere" and "Basta che sol" appear in Rinaldo, "Ho un non sò che" (itself a borrowing from La Resurrezione) was revived in Il pastor fido, and "E un foco quel d'amore" appears in the 1732 version of Acis and Galatea, in each case with little or no change. The A section of Nero's Act 3 aria "Come nubbe che fugge dal vento" is borrowed from Piacere's "Come nube che fugge col vento" in Handel's earlier oratorio, Il trionfo del tempo. The overture and other arias appeared in various pasticcios performed in London between 1710 and 1714, with additional music provided by other composers. Echoes of "Ti vo' giusta" (one of the very few arias composed specifically for Agrippina) can be found in the air "He was despised", from Handel's Messiah.
Two of the main male roles, Nero and Narcissus, were given to castrati, the "superstars of their day" in Italian opera. The opera was revised significantly before and possibly during its run. For example, in Act III Handel originally had Otho and Agrippina sing a duet, "No, no, ch'io non apprezzo", but he was dissatisfied with the music and replaced the duet with two solo arias before the first performance. Again, during the run Poppaea's aria "Ingannata" was replaced with an another of extreme virtuosity, either to emphasise Poppaea's new-found resolution at this juncture of the opera or, as is thought more likely, to flatter Scarabelli by giving her further opportunity to show off her vocal abilities. This was something of an innovation; according to contemporary musicologists Winton Dean and James L. Knapp the general practice of showcasing vocal skills by singing in extreme ranges developed well after the Baroque period.
Libretto
Grimani's libretto was written specifically for the opera, and avoided the moralizing tone of later opera seria libretti by Metastasio and Zeno. The favourable reception given to the opera may, according to critic Donald Jay Grout, owe much to Grimani's work in which "irony, deception and intrigue pervade the humorous escapades of its well-defined characters." All the main characters, with the sole exception of Claudius's servant Lesbus, are historical, and the broad outline of the libretto draws heavily upon Tacitus's Annals and Suetonius' Life of Claudius. It has been suggested that the comical, amatory character of the Emperor Claudius is a caricature of Pope Clement XI, to whom Grimani was politically opposed. Certain aspects of this conflict are also reflected in the plot: the rivalry between Nero and Otho has been seen as reflecting aspects of the debate over the Spanish War of Succession, in which Grimani supported the Habsburgs, and Pope Clement XI France and Spain.
Reception and performance history
The date of Agrippinas first performance, at Venice's Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo is uncertain. It is usually given as 26 December 1709, and was certainly during December 1709 or January 1710. The cast consisted of some of Northern Italy's leading singers of the day, including Antonio Carli in the lead bass role; Margherita Durastanti, who had recently sung the role of Mary Magdalene in Handel's La resurrezione; and Diamante Scarabelli, whose great success at Bologna in the 1697 pasticcio Perseo inspired the publication of a volume of eulogistic verse entitled La miniera del Diamante.
Agrippina proved extremely popular, and established Handel's international reputation. Its original run was for 27 performances, extraordinarily long for that time. John Mainwaring, Handel's first biographer, wrote of the first performance: "The theatre at almost every pause resounded with shouts of Viva il caro Sassone! ('Long live the beloved Saxon!') They were thunderstruck with the grandeur and sublimity of his style, for they had never known till then all the powers of harmony and modulation so closely arranged and forcibly combined." Many others recorded overwhelmingly positive responses to the work. Between 1713 and 1719 there were productions of Agrippina in Naples, Hamburg, and Vienna, although Handel himself never revived the opera after its initial run.
In the late 18th and throughout the 19th century, Handel's operas fell into obscurity, and none were staged anywhere between 1754 and 1920. However, when interest in Handel's operas awakened in the 20th century, Agrippina received several revivals, beginning with a 1943 production at Handel's birthplace, Halle, under the conductor, Richard Kraus. In this performance the alto role of Otho, composed for a woman, was changed into a bass with English horns accompanying, "with calamitous effects on the delicate balance and texture of the score". A 1959 performance in Leipzig preceded the British première of the opera at Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1963. Its first fully staged performance in the United States took place in Fort Worth, Texas in 1985, after a concert performance that same year in the Alice Tully Hall, New York, when the opera was still considered a "genuine rarity". The so-called "Early Music Movement", which supports historically accurate performances of Baroque and early works, promoted two major productions of Agrippina in 1985 and 1991 respectively. The first was in Schwetzingen (Germany), the other at the Göttingen International Handel Festival.
There have been numerous productions since, including a 2002 "ultramodern" staging by director Lilian Gloag at the New York State Theater. This production, revived in 2007, was described by the New York Times critic as "odd...presented as broad satire, a Springtime for Hitler version of I, Claudius", although the musical performances were generally praised. In Britain, English National Opera (ENO) staged an English language version in February 2007, directed by David McVicar, which received a mixed critical response, with critic Fiona Maddocks identifying features of the production that diminished the work: "Music so witty, inventive and humane requires no extra gilding". It is modern practice to use counter-tenors in the castrato roles, as for example in the 1995 Gardiner recordings, and the 2002 New York State Theatre productions.
Music
By 1709 Handel had become an accomplished writer of aria da capo, and in Agrippina was able to use this form not just as a means of demonstrating singers' vocal prowess but to illustrate character in the context of the opera. The first four arias of the work exemplify this: Nero's "Con raggio", in a minor key and with a descending figure on the key phrase "il trono ascendero" ("I will ascend the throne") characterises him as weak and irresolute. Pallas's first aria "La mia sorte forunata", with its "wide-leaping melodic phrasing" introduces him as a bold, heroic figure, contrasting with his rival Narcissus whose introspective nature is displayed in his delicate aria "Volo pronto" which immediately follows. Agrippina's introductory aria "L'alma mia" has a mock-military form which reflects her outward power, while subtle musical phrasing establishes her real emotional state. At other points the orchestra is used to provide emotional colour, such as the mournful oboe that accompanies Otho's lament "Voi che udite". Ebenezer Prout singles out Agrippina's "Non hò che per armarti" for special praise, pointing out various instruments used for special effects, and writing that "an examination of the score of this air would probably astonish some who think Handel's orchestration is wanting in variety." Arias were often composed or adapted with individual singers in mind; Dean and Knapp write that Handel was "so sensitive to the feel of an individual voice that we can sometimes identify the singer for whom a detached aria was composed."
Grimani's libretto is full of irony, which Handel reflects in the music. His settings sometimes illustrate both what is on the surface as characters attempt to deceive each other, and the hidden truth. For instance, in "Non hò che per armarti" Agrippina promises Poppaea that deceit will never mar their new friendship, while tricking her into ruining Otho's chances for the throne. Handel's music illuminates her deceit in the melody and minor modal key while a simple, emphasised rhythmic accompaniment hints at clarity and openness. Nero's announcement that his desire for passion is ended and that he will no longer bound by it (in "Come nubbe che fugge dal vento") is set to bitter-sweet music which suggests that he is deceiving himself. In Otho's "Coronato il crin" the agitated nature of the music is the opposite of what the "euphoric" tone of the libretto suggests. Contrasts between the force of the libretto and the emotional colour of the actual music would develop into a constant feature of Handel's later London operas.
Stylistically, Agrippina follows the standard pattern of the era by alternating recitative and da capo arias. The plot is mainly carried forward in the recitatives while the main musical interest and exploration of character takes place in the arias—although on occasion Handel breaks the mould of 18th-century opera by using arias to advance the action. With one exception the recitative sections are secco ("dry"), where a simple vocal line is accompanied only by harpsichord and violoncello. By this time in operatic history, recitative accompanied by the orchestra (recitativo stromentato) was being used occasionally in opera seria to highlight dramatic points in the narrative: Agrippina has one such passage, Otho's "Otton, qual portentoso fulmine", where he finds himself robbed of the throne and deserted by his beloved Poppaea. However, in 1709 musical ornamentation was still generally thought to belong to the aria; the embellishment of recitative was considered inappropriate, except for occasional appoggiatura.
In a number of ways Agrippina looks back to the typical features of 17th-century opera. For the most part, the arias themselves are brief; about a third are accompanied only by the continuo. There are only two short ensembles, in addition to a quartet and trio in which the voices are never heard together. All of these are characteristic of the older operatic tradition. However, Handel's basic style when he wrote Agrippina had matured, and would change very little in the next 30 years; reviews of the Tully Hall performance in 1985 refer to a "string of melodious aria and ensembles, any of which could be mistaken for the work of his mature London years". Agrippina is considered Handel's first operatic masterpiece; according to Winton Dean it has few rivals for its "sheer freshness of musical invention". Grimani's libretto has also come in for much praise: The New Penguin Opera Guide describes it as one of the best Handel ever set, and praises the "light touch" with which the characters are vividly portrayed. Agrippina as a whole is, in the view of scholar John E. Sawyer, "among the most convincing of all the composer's dramatic works".
Arias
The list is taken from the Kalnus Classic Edition of the Agrippina musical score.
Act I
1. "Con saggio tuo consiglio" (Nero)
2. "La mia sorte fortunata" (Pallas)
3. "Volo presto e listo il core" (Narcissus)
4. "L'alma mia frà le tempeste" (Agrippina)
5. "Qual piacer a un cor pietoso" (Nero)
6. "Il tuo figlio/La tua prole" (Quartet)
7. "Alegrazza! Claudio giunge" (Lesbus)
8. "Tu ben degno sei dell'aller" (Agrippina)
9. "Lusinghiera mia speranza" (Otho)
10. "Vaghe parle, eletti fiori" (Poppaea)
11. "E un foco quel d'amore" (Poppaea)
12. "Ho un non sò che nel cor" (Agrippina)
13. "Fà quanto vuoi, li scherni tuoi" (Poppaea)
14. "Pur ritorno a rimirarvi" (Claudius)
15. "Vieni, oh cara" (Claudius)
16. "E quando mai" (Trio)
17. "Non hò che per armarti" (Agrippina)
18. "Se giunge un dispetto" (Poppaea)
Act II
19. "Coronato il crim d'allore" (Otho)
20. "Di timpani e trombe" (Chorus)
21. "Cade il mondo soggiogato" (Claudius)
22. "Nulla sperar da me" (Agrippina)
23. "Tuo ben è'l io non" (Poppaea)
24. "Sotto il lauro che hai sul crine" (Nero)
(Recit.) Otton, qual portentoso fulmine è questo?
25. "Voi che udite il mio lamento" (Otho)
26. "Bella pur nel mio diletto" (Poppaea)
27. "Vaghe fonti, che mormorando" (Otho)
28. "Ti vo' giusta e non pietosa" (Otho)
29. "Ingannata una sol volta" (Poppaea)
30. "Col peso del tuo amor" (Poppaea)
31. "Quando invita la donna l'amante" (Nero)
32. "Pensieri, voi mi tormentate" (Agrippina)
33. "Col raggio placido della speranza" (Pallas)
34. "Spererò, poichè mel dice" (Narcissus)
35. "Basta che sol tu chieda" (Claudius)
36. "Ogni vesto ch'al porto la spinga" (Agrippina)
Act III
37. "Tacerò pur che fedele" (Otho)
38. "Coll' ardor del tuo bel core" (Nero)
39. "Io di Roma il Giove sono" (Claudius)
40. "Pur ch'io ti stringa al sen" (Otho)
41. "Bel piacere e godere fido amor" (Poppaea)
42. "Come nube che fugge dal vento" (Nero)
43. "Se vuoi pace" (Agrippina)
44. "Lieto il Tebro increspi l'onda" (Chorus)
45. "V'accendano le tede i raggi delle stelle" (Juno)
Selected recordings
| Year | CastClaudius, Agrippina,
Nero, Poppea, Otho | Conductor,
Opera House and Orchestra | Label |
|---|
| 1983 | Gunther Von Kannen,
Margarita Zimmerman,
Martine Dupey,
Carmen Balthrop
Bernadette Manca di Nissa | Christopher Hogwood,
Orchestra Giovanile del Veneto "Pedrollo" di Vicenza | 3 CDs: Mondo Musica MFOH 10810 | | 1992 | Lisa Saffer,
Capella Savaria,
Sally Bradshaw,
Wendy Hill,
Drew Minter | Nicholas McGegan,
Capella Savaria | 3 CDs: Harmonia Mundi 907063/5 | | 1997 | Alastair Miles,
Della Jones,
Derek Lee Ragin,
Donna Brown,
Michael Chance | John Eliot Gardiner,
English Baroque Soloists | 3 CDs: Philips 438 009-2 | | 2004 | Nigel Smith,
Veronique Gens,
Philippe Jaroussky,
Ingrid Perruche,
Thierry Gregoire | Jean-Claude Malgoire,
Le Grande Ecurie et la Chambre du Roy | 3 CDs: Dynamic Italy CDS431 |
See also
Further reading
The librettos of Handel's operas (13 vols.) Garland Publishing, Inc. (1989) ISBN 0-8240-3863-0Meynell, Hugo. The Art of Handel's Operas The Edwin Mellen Press (1986) ISBN 0-889-46425-1
External links
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