Georg Friedrich Handel (1685 - 1759)
Dramma per musica in three acts
Libretto: Unknown, based on the epic »Orlando furioso« (1516) by Ludovico Ariosto
First performed: 1735 in London
In Italian with German surtitles.
Alcina, who has only ever played with men, falls madly in love with Ruggiero and binds him to herself with a spell that makes him forget his fiancée Bradamante. But the latter sets out to find him, disguised as her own brother. Too late, Alcina realizes that Ruggiero has managed to break free of her spell, and goes down with her magic kingdom.
Alcina is a sorceress who must realize that she has lost those powers that made her extraordinary. In his 1735 dramma per musica, Handel gave the audience the expected, magnificently overwhelming and startling theatrical effects and transformations - but always in reverse: the enchantress's lush, enchanted island is revealed to be an illusion. Alcina's effect of befuddling the men's senses wears off, the illusions she creates to manipulate those stranded on her island go up in smoke. Left behind is a lonely woman singing out her rage - no doubt in some of the most beautiful arias Handel ever wrote for his London audience.
Source and further information: http://www.staatstheater-wiesbaden.en/program/schedule/alcina/4542/
