The first opera composed for the Royal Academy of Music in London, Radamisto marked the starting point for Handel of a formidable adventure that would last fifteen years. The work also has the distinction of having had two premieres in 1720, in the spring with the soprano Margherita Durastanti in the title role, who was to become one of Handel's most loyal followers, and in December with the countertenor Senesino, which obliged Handel to completely rework the tessitura of several roles. As with many works of this Baroque period, Radamisto, a great success performed several times by Handel in the 1720s, was played as a sleeping beauty before its revival in the 20th century. The intensity of the dramatic situations and the quality of the score, both in its musical and vocal sections, now place it in the court of the great Handelian opuses.
