Acis and Galatea (Handel)

File:Cannons middlesex2.jpg

Handel composed the first version of Acis and Galatea while he was living at Cannons (the seat of James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos) during 1717–1718.{{cite web|title=Acis and Galatea|url=https://handelhendrix.org/learn/about-handel/opera-synopses/acis-and-galatea/|website=handelhendrix.org|access-date=28 December 2016|archive-date=29 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161229105905/https://handelhendrix.org/learn/about-handel/opera-synopses/acis-and-galatea/|url-status=dead}} It was Handel's first dramatic work in the English language and was clearly influenced by the English pastoral operas of Johann Ernst Galliard and Johann Christoph Pepusch, of whom the latter worked with Handel at Cannons.{{cite book|last1=Burrows|first1=Donald|title=Handel (Master Musicians)|date=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0199737369|page=100}} The work is set to a libretto by John Gay which is based on Ovid's Metamorphoses, xiii (see Acis and Galatea (mythology)), and there is some uncertainty as to whether he was the only author of the text. The structure of the writing indicates that the original work by Gay was intended for only three characters and that the text for more characters was added later, possibly by John Hughes or Alexander Pope whose writings were added to the work's text. The libretto also borrowed freely from John Dryden's English translation of Ovid published in 1717, The Story of Acis, Polyphemus and Galatea.

Acis and Galatea was first performed in the summer of 1718 at Cannons with local tradition holding that the work was performed outside on the terraces overlooking the garden. This is the period in which the gardens at Cannons were being extensively 'improved' with water features that included an impressive jet d'eau,See the Wikipedia article John Theophilus Desaguliers for details of this and so the choice of Acis and Galatea at this time, given that the conclusion requires a fountain, seems particularly apt.

It is not clear whether the original performance was staged, semi-staged, or performed as a concert work. The Cannons version included only five singers – a soprano, three tenors and a bass – who not only sang the principal roles but also served as the "chorus". This version contained the character of Coridon who was subsequently deleted from later versions. Aside from the aria "As when the dove", which is a reworking of "Amo Tirsi" from Handel's cantata Clori, Tirsi e Fileno, all of the music was original to this production. Perhaps the best-known arias from this piece are the bass solo: "I rage, I melt, I burn" and the tenor aria "Love in her eyes sits playing". The instrumental music for this first version was orchestrated for a minimum of seven players (basso continuo, strings, and oboes doubling recorders, however it is possible that the violins were doubled to add a fuller sound, and some early copies may indicate the use of a bassoon).{{cite web|last1=Butt|first1=John|title=Acis and Galatea (Original Cannons Performing Version 1718)|url=http://www.linnrecords.com/recording-Acis-and-Galatea-Original-Cannons-Performing-Version-1718.aspx|website=Linnrecords.com|access-date=18 June 2014}}

The opera was first published in 1722, and enjoyed a number of amateur performances in England from as early as 1719.

The work was not revived again professionally until 1731, when one performance was given in London without Handel's involvement. The following year, a staged production of the work was put on by Thomas Arne and John Frederick Lampe at the Little Theatre in the Haymarket. The production starred Thomas Mountier as Acis and Susannah Maria Cibber as Galatea. Arne advertised the work as "with all the Grand Chorus's, Scenes, Machines, and other Decorations; being the first Time it ever was performed in a Theatrical Way'."

The Little Theatre's production was highly successful and Handel, somewhat annoyed by the way Arne had promoted the production, retaliated by adapting the work substantially into a three-act serenata. This revised version incorporated music from his cantata Aci, Galatea e Polifemo (1708), as well as from other Italian cantatas and his Italian operas. The arias "Un sospiretto" and "Come la rondinella" were adapted from his cantata Clori, Tirsi e Fileno. The revised version was performed in a concert format in 1732 by the Italian opera in London and, according to Handel, included "a great Number of the best Voices and Instruments". The work was advertised on posters saying the following, "There will be no Action on the Stage, but the Scene will represent, in a Picturesque Manner, a rural Prospect, with Rocks, Groves, Fountains and Grotto's; amongst which will be disposed a Chorus of Nymphs and Shepherds, Habits, and every other Decoration suited to the Subject." Although successful, the three-act version was not as well received as Arne's production, as the mix of style and languages made the work oddly devised. Handel continued to make alterations to his 1732 version for successive performances up through 1741. He also gave performances of the original English work, adapting it into its two-act form in 1739.

Handel's two-act English version is the basis for the form of the work that is most often performed today, although modern productions typically use a different arrangement from the one that he himself actually devised. The work became Handel's most widely performed dramatic work during his lifetime, and has had a number of revivals in various forms, enjoying frequent performances throughout the 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. Notably in 1788, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart rescored the work for his then-patron Baron Gottfried van Swieten.{{cite web|title=Acis and Galatea|url=http://www.acisandgalatea.org/#!mozart-arrangement/c22lt|website=Acisandgalatea.org|access-date=18 June 2014}}

File:Zanetti senesino.jpg

The cast of the 1718 version is unknown.

Since Acis and Galatea has been adapted many times, it is impossible to provide a single synopsis that accurately reflects every presentation of the work. The following is a synopsis for the typical two-act presentation of the work that is most often used for modern performances.

Shepherds and nymphs enjoy "the pleasure of the plains". Galatea, a semi-divine nymph, is in love with the shepherd Acis, and tries to hush the birds that ignite her passion for him (Recit."Ye verdant plains" & Aria "Hush, ye pretty warbling quire!") Acis's close friend, the shepherd Damon, provides counsel to the lovers as they pursue each other. Acis sings a beautiful siciliana-style serenade, "Love in her eyes sits playing", upon their first meeting. The act closes with a duet by the young lovers, "Happy we", which is echoed by a chorus (not in the Cannons original).

File:Polyphemus Van Cleve Louvre MR2106.jpg

The opera shifts from its pastoral and sensual mood into an elegiac quality as the chorus warns Acis and Galatea about the arrival of a monstrous giant, Polyphemus, singing "no joy shall last". The fugal minor-key of the chorus's music along with the percussive lines in the lower instruments, indicating the heavy footsteps of the giant, provides an effective dramatic transition into the more serious nature of the second act. Polyphemus enters singing of his jealous love for Galatea, "I rage, I melt, I burn", which is in a part-comic furioso accompanied recitative. This is followed by his aria "O ruddier than the cherry" which is written in counterpoint to a sopranino recorder. Polyphemus threatens force but is somewhat soothed by the impartial shepherd, Coridon ("Would you gain the tender creature"). Meanwhile, Acis ignores Damon's warning of the fleeting existence of love's delight ("Consider, fond shepherd") and responds with hostility and the determination to resist ("Love sounds th' alarm"). Acis and Galatea promise eternal fidelity to each other in what begins as a duet ("The flocks shall leave the mountains") but ultimately turns into a trio when Polyphemus intrudes and in a rage murders Acis. Galatea, along with the chorus, mourns the loss of her love ("Must I my Acis still bemoan"). The chorus reminds her of her divinity and that with her powers she can transform Acis's body into a beautiful fountain. The work closes with Galatea's larghetto air, "Heart, the seat of soft delight", in which she exerts her powers to enact the transformation, ending with the chorus celebrating Acis's immortalisation.{{cite web|title=Synopsis of Acis and Galatea|url=http://www.naxos.com/mainsite/NewDesign/fintro.files/bintro.files/operas/Acis_and_Galatea.htm|website=Naxos.com|access-date=18 June 2014|archive-date=27 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160327064930/http://www.naxos.com/mainsite/NewDesign/fintro.files/bintro.files/operas/Acis_and_Galatea.htm|url-status=dead}}

Source: [http://www.operadis-opera-discography.org.uk/CLHAACIS.HTM#17 Recordings of Acis and Galatea on operadis-opera-discography.org.uk]

;Notes

{{Reflist}}

;Sources

• Stanley Sadie. "Acis and Galatea", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (retrieved 1 April 2006), [http://www.grovemusic.com/ grovemusic.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516041031/http://www.grovemusic.com/ |date=16 May 2008 }} (subscription access).
• Winton Dean. "Handel's Dramatic Oratorios and Masques". Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1959.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20170217020246/http://www.musicassociatesofamerica.com/news/acis.html Music Associates of America: Acis and Galatea]

• [http://opera.stanford.edu/iu/libretti/acis.htm Libretto of 1718 version]
• {{IMSLP2|work=Acis and Galatea%2C_HWV_49_(Handel%2C_George_Frideric)|cname=Acis and Galatea (Handel)}}
• [http://dme.mozarteum.at/DME/nma/nmapub_srch.php?l=2 NMA] at the Mozarteum ( Score of Mozart's revision, KV 566, is in the supplement, series X group 28:1)

{{George Frideric Handel |state=collapsed}}

{{John Gay}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Acis And Galatea (Handel)}}

Category:Operas by George Frideric Handel

Category:Works by John Gay

Category:English-language operas

Category:Pastoral operas

Category:1718 operas

Category:1732 operas

Category:Operas

Category:Operas based on Metamorphoses

Category:Polyphemus