Hercules (Handel)
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Hercules (HWV 60) is a Musical Drama in three acts by George Frideric Handel, composed in July and August 1744. The English-language libretto was by the Revd. Thomas Broughton after The Trachiniae of Sophocles, incorporating features from the narrative in the Metamorphoses of Ovid.
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[edit] Performance history
Hercules was first given at the King's Theatre in London on 5 January 1745 in concert style. There were only two performances in the original run.[1] The role of Lichas was originally a small one for tenor, but was rewritten at great length, with six airs, for Susanna Cibber. She, however, was too ill to sing on the first night, and the music was either omitted or redistributed on that occasion. She sang in the second performance, but the music for the chorus "Wanton God" and the air "Cease, ruler of the day" was never given in this opera: the latter was adapted for the final chorus of Theodora. The work was a total failure and caused Handel to suspend his season. Hercules obtained three further hearings, two in 1749 and one in 1752, for which the role of Lichas was entirely eliminated, and much of the other music was also cut.[2]
Hercules was originally performed in the theatre but concerted, like an oratorio without stage action. It is argued that this contributed to its later neglect as it did not make the transition into the church and the concert hall successfully. Its revival therefore occurred through reappraisal in the context of stage presentation, when it was acclaimed by Romain Rolland, Henry Prunières, Paul Henry Lang and others as one of the supreme masterpieces of its age.[3] The first modern performance was in Münster in 1925.
[edit] Roles
| Premiere 1745 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Hercules | bass | Thomas Reinhold |
| Dejanira, wife of Hercules | mezzo-soprano | Miss Robinson |
| Iole, daughter of the King of Oechalia | soprano | Elisabeth Duparc, called "La Francesina" |
| Hyllus, son of Hercules | tenor | John Beard |
| Lichas, a herald | alto | Susanna Maria Cibber |
[edit] Plot
Hercules has completed the Twelve Labours, and is returning from fighting. His wife Dejanira waits, neglected, in the palace at Trachis. She is tormented by her thoughts: she has heard that Hercules has captured Iole, daughter of the King of Oechalia, and plans to keep her as a slave and concubine. Hercules has seduced her, and has sacked Oechalia and killed her father in order to win her. Dejanira, accustomed to her husband's infidelities, resents the prospect of the young rival. She remembers that the centaur Nessus, when he was mortally wounded by Hercules, gave her a garment which he assured her would restore her husband's love for her when he put it on. She sends it to him, but the robe is poisoned, and Hercules dies. In dying he orders his son Hyllus to marry Iole. Realizing what she has done, Dejanira goes mad with grief.
[edit] Recordings
- 1968: Brian Priestman (conductor), with Vienna Radio Orchestra: Louis Quilico (Hercules), Maureen Forrester (Dejanira), Teresa Stich-Randall (Iole), Alexander Young (Hyllus), Norma Lerer (Lichas), Baruch Grabowski (Priest), Gerhard Eder (Trachinian), Martin Isepp (harpsichord). (RCA LP SER 5569-71)
- 2002: Marc Minkowski (conductor), with Anne Sofie von Otter and Gidon Saks.
[edit] E-book
Score of Hercules (ed. Friedrich Chrysander, Leipzig 1859) (in English and German)
[edit] Notes
[edit] Sources
Hercules by Stanley Sadie, in 'The New Grove Dictionary of Opera', ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) ISBN 0-333-73432-7
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