Dean and Knapp noted
drily of Handel’s Tamerlano that it
was ‘the most recent in date of Handel’s “historical” operas, which of course
have little connection with history’ (D&K, 1987, 531). But the libretti of
these operas have at least their original sources in real history and geography,
though their plots, events and anecdotes sometimes belong to what we might call
‘popular history’ or the creative re-writing of history. Many of the episodes related have entered
European culture through other works of art (literature, painting, sculpture
and other operas). This guide, Part I of a series, offers a broad context for
the settings of Handel’s operas.
Scipione, or Publio Cornelio Scipione (opera 1726; set 209 BC)
Scipione
begins with the Roman triumph after the Battle of Cartagena (New Carthage) in
209 BC, one of the great victories of Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (236 –
183 BC), later conqueror of Hannibal in the Second Punic War.
Giulio
Cesare in Egitto
(Opera 1725; set 47 BC)
Giulio
Cesare features Julius Caesar’s meeting, in 47 BC, with
Cleopatra (Cleopatra VII, the last pharaoh of Ancient Egypt). Caesar had
followed Pompey to Alexandria after his victory at the Battle of Pharsalus.
Radamisto (opera 1720; set c.51 AD)
Radamisto,
set near Mount Ararat, west of the Caspian Sea, draws on the history of
conflict in first century Asia Minor. Some of the opera’s main characters were
real historical persons: Zenobia; Tiridates (Tiridate); Pharasmanes (Farasmane,
King of Thrace) and Radamistus (Radamisto). The incident whereby Zenobia,
fearing to lose Radamisto, asks him to kill her and, only wounded, casts
herself into the River Araxes gives a nominal date of 51 AD.
Rodrigo or Vincer
de stesso รจ la maggior vittoria (opera 1707; set c.710 AD)
Rodrigo
is set in Seville in the early 700s. Rodrigo (or Roderick), in this opera
identified as the King of Castile (who has, as the opera begins, conquered the
Kingdom of Aragon) was the last King of the Visigoths, usurping the throne in
710. He was drowned in 711 during a battle with the Moors. His defeat led to
the Moorish occupation of Spain.
Ottone, re di Germania (opera, 1723; set c.972 AD)
Ottone
is set in Rome, probably in the 970’s (one of the subjects is the marriage of
Otho [or Otto] II, Holy Roman Emperor to the Byzantine princess Theophano (here
Teofane), which took place in 972). The libretto actually conflates events
relating to Otho the Great (Otho I) and his son Otho II, though the ostensible
subject is Otho II. The conflation is understandable, as Otho I was also Otho
II of Saxony, and Otho II was made co-regent King of Germany and Italy in 961
(twelve years before his father’s death), and co-regent of the Holy Roman
Empire in 967 (six years before his father’s death). Otho I founded the Holy
Roman Empire in 962.
Tamerlano (opera
1724; set 1403)
Tamerlano deals with the outcome of the struggle between the
Timurid (Turko-Mongol) and Ottoman empires. The opera begins after the Battle
of Ankara in 1402, where Tamerlano (Timur, Tamerlane, Tamburlane, or
Tamburlaine) has taken the Ottoman Emperor Bajazet (Bayezid I) captive.
