Alessandro Severo

Alessandro Severo
Opera by George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel, portrayed by Balthasar Denner, 1729
LibrettistApostolo Zeno?
LanguageItalian
Premiere
25 February 1738 (1738-02-25)
King's Theatre, Haymarket, London

Alessandro Severo (Alexander Severus, HWV A13) is an opera by George Frideric Handel composed in 1738. It is one of Handel's three pasticcio works,[1] made up of the music and arias of his previous operas Giustino, Berenice and Arminio. Only the overture and recitatives (as well as the words) were new. The impresario Johann Jacob Heidegger probably selected the 1717 libretto by Apostolo Zeno, originally written for Antonio Lotti and re-used by many composers thereafter.[2]

  1. ^ Hicks, Anthony, "Handel With Care" (November 1993). The Musical Times, 134 (1809): pp. 639-642.
  2. ^ Essays on Handel and Italian Opera ed Reinhard Strohm p.76