Rinaldo

by George Frideric Handel

libretto by Giacomo Rossi from Aaron Hill after Tasso

seen semi-staged at the Barbican Centre Hall on 13 March 2018

Harry Bicket conducted the English Consort from the harpsichord with Iestyn Davies as Rinaldo, Jane Archibald as Armina, Sasha Cooke as Goffredo, Joélle Harvey as Almirena nd the Siren, Luca Pisaroni as Argante, Jakub Józef Orliński as Eustazio and Owen Willetts singing three minor parts.

Torquato Tasso's epic poem Gerusalemme liberata is a fanciful account of the final campaign of the First Crusade. Aaron Hill, managing the theatre at which the opera was first performed, prepared a synopsis and Giacomo Rossi rendered it in Italian. Handel, having arrived in London in 1710, wored quickly to compose this first sung-through Italian opera specifically for the London stage, and it was first performed in February 1711 to great acclaim.

The libretto takes liberties with Tasso who in turn had taken liberties with historical events. Thus there is a love-interest for the titular hero Rinaldo in the form of Almirena, the daughter of Goffredo the leader of the Christian army - but the historical Godfrey of Bouillon was unmarried and had no children. The point is not to criticise the libretto but rather to remark on how far from historical events the opera has strayed in order to satisfy the dramatic and theatrical conventions of early eighteenth century London.

The vagaries of the plot recede into the background in a semi-staged performance, where there are no sets, costumes or dazzling effects. In the Barbican Concert Hall, the singers moved gracefully on and off the stage, or perhaps retired to seats if their presence on stage was pertinent, and one concentrates on the brilliance of the music and the beauty of the singing. And here, there was much to admire, with a wonderful cast and a dazzling baroque orchestra. It was a sheer delight to hear such high quality singing, supported by the English Consort, not least the brilliant harpsichordist Tom Foster who played the extended cadenza which Handel himself would first have played at the end of the second act.

Many were present to hear Iestyn Davies, who was on top form, but the young Polish countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński was also extremely impressive, and the rest of the cast matched them.