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George Frideric Handel's operas comprise 42 musical dramas that were written between 1705 and 1741 in various genres. He began composing operas in Germany and then for a brief time in Italy to modest success. It wasn't until he came to England that he truly found great success in the genre. His first opera in England, ''Rinaldo'' (1711), was met with enthusiasm, and several more Italian operas soon followed. However, Handel's place as the central figure of opera in England during the eighteenth century was not solidified until, under the influence of Thomas Arne, he began composing large-scale works with English language texts. Though almost all of his English language works are technically oratorios and not operas, several of them, such as ''Semele'' (1743), have become an important part of the opera repertoire. Handel's first opera (opera seria- serious Italian opera) was Almira. During the 36 years in which Italian opera was his principal concern, Handel adhered closely to the typical form of the era, determined by the precedence given to solo singing and to stage presentation in which set changes were made in front of the audience and the curtain not lowered until the work's conclusion. Recitatives preceded solo arias, usually in da capo form (though frequently with an abridged return to the chief section), dominate the operas, and scenes are normally devised to start with several characters on stage, each of whom sings an aria and then exits. The last scene typically concludes with a coro sung by the soloists; ensembles are otherwise atypical and mainly limited to scenes of communal celebration; only "Dall’orror" in Act 3 of ''Alcina'' (1735) reaches the depth of the choruses in the English choral works. Handel’s operas therefore seem to be highly similar to those of his contemporaries; what makes them unique is the brilliance of the music which skillfully conveys with instant fervor the emotional states of the characters within the context of the drama. ==Overview== Handel's earlier operas tended to be of a lighter nature, although there are intermittent moments, such as the prison scene from ''Almira'' (1705), which are highly dramatic. Handel's music for his first operas in England was often derived from musical ideas and idioms found in his cantatas and other works written during his time spent in Italy (1706–09). For example, the characteristic harmonic structure of ''Agrippina'' (1709) is obviously a retention of material from this Italian period. In general, the orchestrations of Handel's earlier operas tended to be richer and smoother than in his later works, utilizing additional instruments like bassoons to achieve different tone colours. The music for ''Rinaldo'' (1711) notably utilizes four trumpets, an instrumental choice that Handel never repeated elsewhere. Beginning with ''Ottone'' (1722), Handel composed numerous operas for the Royal Academy of Music during the 1720s. With the exception of ''Flavio'' (1723), the operas from this period are more serious in tone and the musical expression is more astutely aligned to the opera's drama than in his earlier operas. Of particular importance from this period is ''Giulio Cesare'' (1724), which contains one of Handel's most expansive and emotively powerful scores. The sumptuous music and deft characterizations found in this work has made it one of the more frequently revived Handel operas during the 20th and 21st centuries. Also of note are ''Tamerlano'' (1724) and ''Rodelinda'' (1725) which have particularly striking leading tenor roles that Handel wrote specifically for Francesco Borosini. The later operas that Handel wrote for the Academy were not as successful as his earlier ones. The two major sopranos at the Academy, Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni, were intensely competitive, and Handel had to cater to them both equally in these latter Academy operas. With the exception of ''Admeto'' (1727), the attempt at balancing two leading soprano roles within an individual opera proved to hinder the work both musically and dramatically. During the 1730s, Handel returned to writing operas of a comic and fantastic or heroic nature, largely because he no longer had to cater to the tastes of the Academy when choosing librettos. These works, such as ''Partenope'' (1730), ''Orlando'' (1733) and ''Alcina'' (1735), were influenced by the operas of Leonardo Vinci and Leonardo Leo and are written in a pre-classical manner. During this period, Handel began to more frequently utilize the ''scena'' in his works, and by the mid-1730s he was writing some of his most dramatically moving arias, such as the mad scene of ''Orlando'' and the end of Act 2 of ''Alcina''. The size of the orchestras for these works was also larger, with Handel typically employing 12 violins, 8 violas, 6 cellos, 4 double basses, and two harpsichords in addition to four bassoons and a number of other wind instruments. In operas like ''Oreste'' (1734), Handel attempted to synthesize Italian opera with French opera in the sequences of dances and choruses, but made no further experimentation in this area outside of the operas of 1734 and 1735. Two of the operas from this period, ''Ariodante'' (1735) and ''Atalanta'' (1736), were a departure from the traditionally heroic librettos used by Handel, adopting a more realistic romantic intimacy. By the late 1730s, Handel's attention was increasingly diverted away from composing operas and was much more focused on the English oratorio. A number of his operas from 1737 on lack the brilliance of his earlier works, most likely due to this shift in focus. Nevertheless, his operas ''Giustino'' (1737) and ''Serse'' (1738) contain some very fine music. ''Serse'' is also notable for successfully mixing comedy and poignant tragedy into a masterfully crafted plot, a development repeated less successfully in ''Imeneo'' (1740). Handel's last Italian opera, ''Deidamia'', was produced in 1741 and was not received very well as England's taste for Italian opera had waned. Handel returned one more time to theatre music for the semi-opera ''Alceste'' in 1750. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「List of operas by Handel」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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