Lyric Opera 2018-2019 Issue 11 Ariodante

O P E R A N O T E S | L Y R I C O P E R A O F C H I C A G O 28 | March 2 - 17, 2019 off Polinesso’s unwanted attentions in her next aria, “Orrida agli occhi miei” (“Horrid to my eyes”), Ginevra exudes defiance, while her show- piece, “Volate amori” (“Fly hither, cupids” – one of the gems in a score bursting with them) is, in its florid extravagance, an almost dizzying celebration of the joys of her love for Ariodante. en, as Polinesso’s machinations cause Ginevra’s well-ordered world to collapse around her in Act Two, the character matures and we find her melancholy side. In Act ree, singing “Io ti bacio” (“I kiss you”) – as Ginevra kisses the hand of her noble father, whom she loves despite the injustice done her – there are three minutes of music reaching new depths of starkly intimate expressiveness. It goes almost without saying that a particularly close musical and vocal rapport must unite the artists portraying Ginevra and Ariodante. ey have (unusually for Handel) three duets – two early in Act One, and the third close to the end of the opera. e sweetness of the first duet, the delectable high spirits of the second, and the triumph of the third can achieve a bewitching effect when the two singers truly connect , in terms of both vocal color and stylistic awareness. One distinction of the Ariodante premiere was Handel’s decision to cast the villainous Polinesso as a female contralto. Looking at an artist’s depiction of Maria Caterina Negri, this singer – resident “seconda donna” of Handel’s company – seems quite lovely and gracefully femi- nine; it seems surprising that the majority of the six roles Handel created for her were either trouser roles or women disguised as men. In the case of Polinesso, the range is decidedly alto rather than mezzo-soprano, therefore entirely accessible to the countertenor voice. (Only, however, when a counter- tenor timbre offers the color and carrying power that an artist like Lyric’s Iestyn Davies possesses, combined with the neces- sary vivid stage presence, does a countertenor seem the obvious preference in casting.) Whatever voice type sings the role, the challenge is to give villainous under- tones to the character’s four arias, which on the surface seem comparatively light in tone and mood. As Winton Dean explains, “[Polinesso] is no big bass blusterer,” and Handel “emphasized the slyness and slipperiness of the character, consumed by ambition and lust for power.” e anonymous librettist’s text can reveal “a profoundly cynical outlook and a contempt for those who live by conventional values.” As frequently happens in Handel’s operas, we have two sopranos, with Dalinda generally cast lighter than Ginevra (the English soprano Cecilia Young, who created Dalinda for Handel at age 23, was his “go-to girl” for this kind of role). Dalinda receives more attention than most of Handel’s secondary soprano characters. She’s vital to the drama, given that her misguided attraction to Polinesso and her willingness to go along with his machinations set in motion the disaster that soon befalls Ariodante and Ginevra. Dalinda’s music requires optimum delicacy and charm (especially in her irresistible Act-One aria “Il primo ardor” (“ e first flame”), where she admits that it’s another’s love, not that of the devoted Lurcanio, that she craves). Although a light soprano, she has a terrific opportunity to emote: “Neghittosi, or voi che fate?” (“Lazy heavens, now what will you do?”) in Act ree, where, having been appallingly treated by Polinesso, she rages at heaven to “thunder now on the head of this faithless man.” It is in Handel’s oratorios, rather than the operas, that tenors and basses truly came to the fore. Still, Lurcanio does have three arias (he also gets to dispatch the villain). Astoundingly, the role was created by a 17-year-old, John Beard, who developed into England’s greatest male singer of the 18th century. e assets needed for Lurcanio mirror Dalinda’s charm, sweetness, but in his Act-Two aria – when the character is attempting to keep his brother Ariodante from suicide – the ability to tear through a hair-raising barrage of coloratura fireworks. Handel was lucky in finding his company’s resident bass in, of all people, his German cook! Gustavus Waltz, who created Ariodante ’s King of Scotland and three other Handel roles, must have possessed splendid vocal flexibility to be worthy of “Voli colla sua tromba”/“Let fame fly with her trumpet” (proclaiming the great news of his daughter’s betroth- al to Ariodante) as well as velvety tone and exquisite legato control for “Invidia sorte avara”/“Envious, miserly fate” (the King’s lament upon receiving the report of Ariodante’s death). Only orchestrated numbers are cited above. It must be said, how- ever, that the action actually unfolds through recitatives, not the arias. Giovanni Carestini, the vocally stupendous castrato whose collaboration with Handel in London was highlighted by the Ariodante premiere in which Carestini sang the title role. George Frideric Handel in the prime of his career as the greatest opera composer of the early 18th century.