Handel’s “Acis & Galatea”
Assembly Hall, Melbourne /
Ballarat Central Uniting Church
Featuring an English text by John Gay, George Frideric Handel’s “Acis & Galatea” has been variously described as a serenata, a masque, a pastoral, pastoral opera or even an oratorio. It was by far Handel’s most popular dramatic work during his lifetime, and is his only stage work never to have left the opera repertory, enjoying frequent performances throughout the 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. The opera is based on the characters Acis and Galatea from Greek mythology, later associated together in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The story tells of the love between the mortal Acis and the sea-nymph Galatea; when the jealous cyclops Polyphemus kills Acis, the sea-nymph Galatea transforms her lover into an immortal river spirit.
Handel’s “Acis & Galatea” was the pinnacle of pastoral opera in England. Indeed, several writers, such as musicologist Stanley Sadie, consider it the greatest pastoral opera ever composed. Originally written as a courtly entertainment about the simplicity of rural life, the music contains significant quantities of wit and self-parody. The secondary characters, Polyphemus and Damon, provide humour without diminishing the pathos of the tragedy of the primary characters, Acis and Galatea. The music of the first act is both elegant and sensual, while the final act takes on a more melancholy and plaintive tone, and provides the listener with some of Handel’s most beautiful music.
Conductor Andrew Wailes directs an exciting cast of outstanding soloists in these three performances, with the RMP Choir and Orchestra in the intimate venues of the Assembly Hall in Melbourne and the Ballarat Central Uniting Church.
Andrew Wailes (Conductor)
Lily Flynn (Galatea) soprano
Timothy Reynolds (Acis) tenor
Alastair Cooper-Golec (Damon) tenor
Nicholas Dinopoulos (Polyphemus) bass-baritone
Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Choir
Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Orchestra
Stefan Cassomenos (Harpsichord)
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