kimerajamm
Joined: 28 Nov 2010
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 Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 2:02 pm Post subject: The music f |
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Rinaldo (HWV 7) is an opera by George Frideric Handel composed in 1711, and was the first Italian language opera written specifically for the London stage. The libretto was prepared by Giacomo Rossi from a scenario provided by Aaron Hill, and the work was first performed at the Queen's Theatre in London's Haymarket on 24 February 1711. The story of love, battle and redemption set at the time of the First Crusade is loosely based on Torquato Tasso's epic poem Gerusalemme liberata ("Jerusalem Delivered"), and its staging involved many original and vivid effects. It was a great success with the public, despite negative reactions from literary critics hostile to the contemporary trend towards Italian entertainment in English theatres.
Handel went on to dominate opera in England for several decades. Rinaldo was revived in London regularly up to 1717, and a revised version was presented in 1731. The opera was also shown in several European cities; of all Handel's musical dramas, Rinaldo was the most frequently performed during his lifetime. However, after 1731 the opera was not staged for more than 200 years, until a renewed interest in baroque opera during the 20th century led to the first professional modern production in Handel's birthplace, Halle, Germany, in 1954. The opera was mounted sporadically over the following thirty years, but after a successful run at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1984, performances and recordings of the work have become more frequent worldwide.
The music for Rinaldo was composed very quickly. Much of it is made up of borrowings and adaptations from the operas and other works that Handel had composed during his long stay in Italy in 1706–10. In the years following the premiere, Handel frequently introduced new numbers, discarded others, and transposed parts to different voice ranges. Despite the lack of a standard edition, with its spectacular vocal and orchestral passages Rinaldo has been cited as one of Handel's greatest operas. Of its individual numbers the soprano aria "Lascia ch'io pianga" has become a particular favourite and is a popular concert piece.Hip-Hop mixtapes
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