Organization

Singer

Countertenor

Guy Cutting

Acis

Bogdan Volkov

Soprano

Francesca Aspromonte

Galatea

Bass

Morgan Pearse

Polyphemus

Tenor

Hugo Hymas

First Damon

Conductor

Paul Gudwin

Others

Intrada Vocal Ensemble

Orchestra

Pratum Integrum

Zaryadye Hall

Acis and Galatea

Moscow

Russia

Acis and Galatea Händel

Public

Approved

"Acis and Galatea" is called a pastoral, and an opera, and a mask, and a secular oratorio. This in itself says that the composition is different from all the mentioned genres. The libretto was written by John Gay, the future co-author of the composer Pepush on the notorious Beggar's Opera. The plot is borrowed from Ovid's Metamorphoses: a sea nymph is in love with the shepherd Acis, they are taken by surprise by the jealous Cyclops Polyphemus. Acis dies, but Galatea, with her magic, turns his blood into a river stream. The departure from the conditionally idyllic pastoral seems abrupt and unexpected: a comical monster in love commits a murder, a simple girl becomes a tragic heroine endowed with magical powers.  

Handel wrote Acis and Galatea in 1718, before he became a great Handel and national pride to the English, and even before he first took the post of director of the Royal Academy of Music. He was 33 years old, he was in the service of James Bridges, the future Duke of Chendos, and composed music for his house orchestra. It was not the first and not the last time Handel turned to the story of Acis and Galatea, but it was the 1718 edition, with some later changes, that became especially popular. A choir foreshadowing trouble, a trio in which two happy lovers do not hear the cries of Polyphemus, a wondrous aria of weeping Galatea - neither later operas nor oratorios overshadowed the beauty of this music. Abroad, this version of "Atsis" does not leave the scene, in Russia it still sounds relatively rare.

English

Acis and Galatea by Händel, From (2021/2021), Conductor Paul Gudwin, Zaryadye Hall, Moscow, Russia

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