Händel: Hercules
NDR Vokalensemble / FestspielOrchester Göttingen / George Petrou – Hamburg International Music Festival
Psychological profile of a fatal love
George Frideric Handel may have named his oratorio after the mythical Greek hero, but it was the psychological profile of a woman – Dejanira, the hero’s wife – he chose as the focus of the work. Dejanira is consumed with jealousy and fears of abandonment. In Handel’s version, unlike the myth it is based on, her husband remains faithful. But despite that, fate takes its course in the form of a marital war.
Handel marketed his work in London not as an oratorio, but as »A New Musical Drama«. And this new musical drama was supposed to be the highlight of the 1745 season. But then many of the soloists dropped out – one fell ill after the other as if the coronavirus had been around back then. Despite all the difficulties, the premiere went ahead. But it was something of a fiasco. Handel cancelled all subsequent performances and the work is very rarely performed to this day. Perhaps that’s because the oratorio – unusually for Handel – includes so much pain and despair?
George Petrou, the new Artistic Director of the Göttingen International Handel Festival, remembered the Baroque rarity. With the NDR Vokalensemble, the FestspielOrchester Göttingen, which is made up of top international instrumentalists, and first-class vocal soloists, Petrou now gives the sombre yet beautiful oratorio another chance.
Performers
NDR Vokalensemble
FestspielOrchester Göttingen
Andreas Wolf bass
Vivica Genaux mezzo-soprano
Anna Dennis soprano
Nick Pritchard tenor
Lena Sutor-Wernich mezzo-soprano
conductor George Petrou
Programme
Georg Friedrich Händel
Hercules / Musikalisches Drama in drei Akten HWV 60
Festival
Hamburg International Music Festival
Spotlight
Opera in Concert