Georg Friedrich Händel - Berenice

"The premiere of Handel's 'Berenice' in London on May 18, 1737 came at a low point in the composer's life. From 1710 - the year he first set foot on English soil - until the night of the premiere, Handel had been at the center of London's music life. Starting in 1719, he had been largely responsible for bringing Italian opera - and virtuosic Italian singers - to the London stage. But by 1737, the year 'Berenice' premiered - and then disappeared after only four performances (the fewest of any of Handel's operas) - Italian opera and, it seemed, Handel himself, had fallen from fravor with both the general public and the high-born Englishmen who had underwritten London's operatic activities. The road to ruin was as long and tangled as a Handelian plot.

"When Handel arrived in England in 1710, he found a country more accustomed to music as an accompaniment to spoken drama than as a vehicle for drama. Resistance to a foreign form which presented a story in song never completely disappeared and, in the end, was one factor leading to the eclipse of Italian opera in London. But not before it enjoyed a brief - and brilliant - run on the capital's stages, largely under George Frideric Handel's direction.

"Handel, already an established composer when he came to London from Italy, quickly ingratiated himself with English nobility and royalty; by 171 he was being described as 'His Majesty's principal Court Composer'. His first three operas in London - 'Rinaldo' (premiered 1711), 'Il Pastor Fido' and 'Teseo' (both 1712) enjoyed some success. But it wasn't until 1719, when some of Handel's high born friend saw the possibility of reaping financial profit from opera, that Italian opera really took hold in the English capital.

"That year, a group of noblemen joined together to erect 'an academy at the Haymarket...' The investors, who dubbed their venture the Royal Academy of Music, named Handel 'master of the Orchestra with a sallary', and on May 14, 1719, Handel headed to Italy to recruit singers for the new company.

"These singers, as much as the operas written by Handel and other composers, most notably Bononcini and Attilio (Ariosti), contributed both to the wild popularity and ultimate failure of opera in 18th-century London. English audiences, once described as having 'vile tastes' by Mrs. Pendarves, a friend of Handel, may not have understood or appreciated the convoluted plots and foreign tongue of Italian opera, but they could grasp a good rivalry, and the Italian singers provided a steady supply of fireworks. The best-known duel was between the divas Cuzzoni and Faustina.

"But the display of singer's ego that was to cause Handel the greatest grief came from the alto 'castrato' Senesino, who, in 1733 had a hand in the formation of a rival company to Handel's known at the time various as 'Senesino's Opera' or 'The Opera at Lincoln's-Inn Fields' and later as 'Opera of the Nobility', because of its support by many of Handel's former patrons.

"The formation of Senesino's company came five years after the financially troubled Royal Academy had been dissolved and control turned over to Handel and John Jacob Heidegger, an impressario and the Academy's manager. After assuming control, the two had to rebuild from the ground up, as many of the Academy's singers had already returned to the continent, among them Senesino, a star of the Royal Academy for the eight years of its existence. His absence was sorely felt and the first season of Handel's reorganized company was essentially a failure. Lured by a hugely inflated salary, the 'castrato' did return for the following season and his reappearance in 1730 reportedly 'charm'd much'.

"Despire the continuation of a Handel-run company and the premieres of several of his new operas duiring the close of the twenties and the first years of the thirties ('Siroe' and 'Tolomeo' in 1728, 'Poro' in 1731, and 'Sosarme' in 1732) there were strong indications that Italian opera, never on firm footing in England, was slipping further out of favor with English audiences. The most dramatic evidence Handel could have had for their apparent desire for simpler plots, presented in a familiar language, was the great success of his first English-language oratorio, 'Esther', premiered in 1732. But despite direct suggestions from friends to write English operas for native audiences and despite the growing success of a budding English opera; the wild popularity of John Gay's burlesuqe, 'A Beggar's Opera'; and even the success of his own 'Esther', Handel clung stubbornly to Italian opera, a form he knew intimately and of which he was a supreme master.

"It would appear that on top of their boredom with Italian opera and with the endless feuds among Handel's singers, the nobility that provided a substantial portion of the company's funding were fed up with Handel himself. Their displeasure with his 'imperious and extravagant Will', as one press account put it, eventually led to the formation of the rival opera company with a cast headed by Senesino and comprising the remainder of Handel's singers, who - with the exception of the loyal soprano Anna Maria Studo - had decamped 'en masse' to join the upstart ensemble.

"In 1734, Handel's longtime partner, Heidegger, added insult to injury by leading the Haymarket theater to Senesino's new company. Reports in 1735 to indicate Handel's productions playing to nearly empty houses at his new digs in Covent Garden, while his rivals were drawing enthusiastic crowds with their newest imported star, the castrato Farinelli. 

"Handel still enjoyed the support of the royal cort and even received funding from the Prince of Wales, a major backer of Senesino's company. But London, which could barely support one opera company, could certainly not sustain two. The competing enterprises survived for another four seasons and then both collapsed, but not before 'Berenice' - one of Handel's last operas - saw the light of day.

"Years of seeing his singers and patrons desert him and decades of championing an art from that was misunderstood by audience and overly expensive to produce in a climate wracked by rivalries among the artists and patrons had taken its toll on Handel. In April of 1737, just a month before the 'Berenice' premiere, the maestro suffered a minor, but debilitating stroke, which prevented him from being present at the premiere of his latest creation.

"What appeared at that time as a tragic end to a glorious career was, in fact, a turning point, for after Handel's return from taking the cure on the continent, the composer was to spend the next few years gradually shifting his attentions from his beloved opera to oratorio, the form that would bring him renewed acclaim from the audiences of that day.

"Handel composed his three-act Italian drama 'Berenice' in the last weeks of 1736 and finished it in January of 1737. The librettist Antonio Salvai - his collaborator on 'Rodelinda' (1725) - supplied 'Berenice, regina d'Egitto', a subject which had previously been set to music by Jacopo Perti and ironically by Nicola Porpora, who was later to direct Senesino's Opera. Handel's choice of 'Berenice' could not have been coincidence; it was to be his final thrust against a competitor for the affections of London audiences.

"Salvai's story, set in ancient Egypt, was subtitled 'The Contests of Love and Politics', and was filled with the customary amorous intrigues, deceit, ambition, and fidelity - the stuff of some of Handel's most inspired and glorious musical settings.

"Though Handel could not be present at the premiere, it was attended by the King and Queen and several of their children. Anna Strada sang the title role, Gioachino Conti sang Alessandro, and Signora Bertolli who had decamped from the now-defunct rival troupe to join Handel's company, took the mezzo role of Princess Selene. The bravura part of Demetrio went to Domenico Annibali, Prince Arsace to Negri and the two lower male roles to John Beard and Thomas Rheinhold.

"No contemporary accounts of 'Berenice's launch have survived, although Charles Burney, the 18th-century music historian, described the minuet as 'happy and pleasing to an uncommon degree'. The score of the opera was published by John Walsh in June 1737. Several airs from the score were borrowed by the composer for one of his many 'pasticcio' operas in February 1738. Aside from a single revival of 'Berenice', supposedly offered in Brunswick in 1743 in a production not overseen by the composer, the work has remained unknown for centuries except for its overture and one popular aria. Ironically, the latter, 'Si, tra pi ceppi' - now a standard of vocal anthologies - was not part of Handel's main score, but rather an 'ossia' for Demetrio, which we present on this premier recording because of its superior musical inventiveness as well as its obvious and enduring appeal.

"Aside from those two well-known selections, this work offers the modern listener many other pleasures. Handel himself must have been pleased with the work, as he borrowed from it later in his career, reworking Berenice's Act Two aria 'Sempre dolci' into Clomiri's aria 'V'è un infelice' in 'Imeneo' (1740), and reusing themes from the third-act Sinfonia in his 1749 'Music for the Royal Fireworks'.

"The virtuosic vocal writing, occasioned by the egoistic demands of his singers, is well-represented in 'Berenice'. Each of the seven principals enjoys the knd of challenging solo writing that thrills the modern listener as much as it did 18th-century London audiences.

"Knowing what we do now about the shaky state of of opera's economics in Handel's London - particularly after the formation of Senesino's Opera - one wonders if 'Berenice's simply, yet effective scoring for strings, oboes, and continuo was as much a financial as an artistic decision. There are many occasions - among them the heroic Berenice-Demetrio duet of love and vengeance ending Act I ('Se il mio amor fu il tuo delitto'), as well as the ceremonial orchestral movements - that lend themselves to scoring for trumpets, horns and timpani. Was it budgetary considerations or Handel's rush to present a new work to match his rivals' offerings? We can't know for sure. But we do know that there was no shortage of large forces later in his career, when Handel, fully recovered from his illness, proceeded to pen some of his most glorious and enduring music, including several new operas and numerous richly scored oratorios. (From the liner notes.)

Performers: Brewer Chamber Orchestra, Rudolph Palmer, Edward Brewer, Julianne Baird, Drew Minter, D'Anna Fortunato, Jennifer Lane, Jan Opalach, Andrea Matthews, John McMaster

1.1. Ouverture: Maestoso

1.2. Ouverture: Allegro

1.3. Ouverture: Minuet

1.4. Ouverture: Gigue

1.5. Atto I: 'Aristobolo, A Noi Venga Il Romano'

1.6. Atto I: 'No, No, Che Servire Altrui'

1.7. Atto I: 'Fabio, Vedesti Mai Più Bell'orgoglio?'

1.8. Atto I: 'Vedi, L'ape Ch'ingegnosa Su Quei Fior'

1.9. Atto I: 'Io, Di Selene?'

1.10. Atto I: 'Che Sarà Quando Amante Accarezza?'

1.11. Atto I: 'Cara, Non Sospirar'

1.12. Atto I: 'No, Soffrir Non Può Il Mio Amore'

1.13. Atto I: 'Selene, Oh Dei!'/'Gelo, Avvampo, Considero E Sento'

1.14. Atto I: 'Alla Quiete D'Egitto'

1.15. Atto I: 'Con Gli Strali D'amor'

1.16. Atto I: 'Ascolta, E All'alma Quiete Comparti'

1.17. Atto I: 'Dice, Amor, Quel Bel Vermiglio'

1.18. Atto I: 'Principessa, Ed È Ver'

1.19. Atto I: 'Senza Nudrisce Alcuna'

1.20. Atto I: 'Alessandro, Che Pensi?'

1.21. Atto I: 'Quell'oggetto Ch'è Caro'

1.22. Atto I: 'Che Valor!'

1.23. Atto I: 'Se Il Mio Amor'

2.1. Atto II: 'Se Non Ho L'idol Mio'

2.2. Atto II: 'Già Che Per Tuo Consorte'

2.3. Atto II: 'Guerra E Pace'

2.4. Atto II: 'Molto Afflitto, Demetrio'

2.5. Atto II: 'Sempre Dolci Ed Amorose'

2.6. Atto II: 'Selene, Infida'

2.7. Atto II: 'Su, Megera, Tisifone, Aletto!'

2.8. Atto II: 'Mio Bel Sol'

2.9. Atto II: 'O Dei!'

2.10. Atto II: 'La Bella Mano'

2.11. Atto II: 'Aristobolo, Oh Dei!'

2.12. Atto II: 'Amore Contro Amor'

2.13. Atto II: 'Tiranne Degli Affetti!'

2.14. Atto II: 'Senza Te Sarebbe Il Mondo'

2.15. Atto II: 'E Qual Furor Geloso'

2.16. Atto II: 'Traditore, Traditore'

2.17. Atto II: 'Principessa, T'arresta'

2.18. Atto II: 'Si, Tra I Ceppi'

2.19. Atto II: 'È Questo L'amor Tuo?'

2.20. Atto II: 'Sì Poco E Forte'

3.1. Atto III: Sinfonia

3.2. Atto III: 'Olà! Tra Lacci Suoi'

3.3. Atto III: 'Per Si Bella'

3.4. Atto III: 'Regina, Addio!'

3.5. Atto III: 'Chi T'intende?'

3.6. Atto III: 'Tortorella Che Rimira Presso'

3.7. Atto III: 'Qui Dove Il Mio Tesoro'

3.8. Atto III: 'Questa Qual Sia Beltà'

3.9. Atto III: 'Qual Arduo Impegno, O Arsace!'

3.10. Atto III: 'Le Dirai... Dirò Che Amore'

3.11. Atto III: 'Prence, D'Iside Al Tempio'

3.12. Atto III: 'In Quella Sola'

3.13. Atto III: 'De' Satrapi E Adunata'

3.14. Atto III: 'Avvertite, Mie Pupille'

3.15. Atto III: Sinfonia

3.16. Atto III: 'Gran Nume Tutelar Di Questo Regno'

3.17. Atto III: 'Quella Fede, Quel Volto'

3.18. Atto III: 'Se Di Mia Libertà Prezzo'

3.19. Atto III: 'Con Verace Dolce Pace'

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