Rodrigo (opera)

title page of the libretto
Titlepage of La Crónica del rey don Rodrigo (The Chronicle of the Lord King Roderic) published by Juan Ferrer (1549), recounting the legendary deeds of Rodrigo

Rodrigo (HWV 5) is an opera in three acts composed by George Frideric Handel. Its original title was Vincer se stesso è la maggior vittoria ("To overcome oneself is the greater victory"). The opera is based on the historical figure of Rodrigo, the last Visigothic king of Spain. The libretto was based on Francesco Silvani's II duello d'Amore e di Vendetta ("The conflict between love and revenge").[1] Dating from 1707, it was Handel's first opera written for performance in Italy, and the first performance took place in Florence late in 1707.[2]

The opera was revived in 1984, in Innsbruck. A lost fragment from Act III had been found in 1983, and a more complete production was given by the Handel Opera Society under Charles Farncombe at Sadler's Wells Theatre in London in 1985.[3] Among other performances, Rodrigo was staged in Karlsruhe in 1987,[1] by the Handel Festival, Halle in 2002[4] and by the International Festival of Baroque and Romantic Opera, Beaune, France, in 2018.[5]

  1. ^ a b Graeme, Roland (2000). "Vincer se stesso é la maggior vittoria (Rodrigo). George Frideric Handel". The Opera Quarterly. 16 (2): 299–301. doi:10.1093/oq/16.2.299.
  2. ^ Knapp, J. Merrill, "Handel's First Italian Opera: Vincer se stesso è la maggior vittoria or Rodrigo (1707)" (January 1981). Music & Letters, 62 (1): pp. 12-29.
  3. ^ Sadie, Stanley, ed. (1992). The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, vol. 3, p.1369. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-522186-2.
  4. ^ "Halle's Händel-Festival with Budget Problems". Dw.de. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  5. ^ Lattarico, Jean-François. "Compte rendu critique, opéra. BEAUNE, le 20 juillet 2018. Georg Friedrich HAENDEL, Rodrigo, Ensemble Les Accents, Thibault Noally.| Classique News". www.classiquenews.com. Retrieved 27 November 2018.