With the figure of the sorceress Alcina, whose story is told in the sixth and seventh cant by Ludovico Ariosto's versepos Orlando furioso , Handel joins a long chain of Alcina musical settings that began in Florence in 1625. First performed with great success at London's Covent Garden in 1735, Alcina is one of the most popular and most frequently performed operas by Georg Friedrich Handel.
Ruggiero, who fell in love with the sorceress Alcina, broke off his military career because of her and left his fiancée Bradamante. Alcinas island is his haven. However, his fiancée, who loves him and wants to win him back, and Melisso, who needs him to win the upcoming war, are on his track. Both also get into Alcina's love labyrinth and the trials and tribulations take their course. In this magical opera, Handel shows himself at the height of his creative power, in which all stages of longing and hope, flirtation and devotion, pain and hurt, lies and fear, rebellion and despair are traversed.
