La Lira di Orfeo

La Lira di Orfeo – Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, HWV 72 (Reconstr. R. Pe & F. Longo) (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:23:11 minutes | 1,49 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Glossa

For a production at the King’s Theatre, Handel had created a mixed version of his Italian serenata Aci, Galatea e Polifemo HWV 72 and the English masque Acis and Galatea HWV 49a, which was performed semi-staged several times in 1732 with a star cast (including Senesino) to great acclaim. For today’s ears, the musically attractive version HWV 49b suffers not least from the mixture of English and Italian text. In keeping with Handel’s intentions, a purely Italian version was created here with additions from Italian works by the composer. The result is as convincing musically as it is scenically and would have deserved its own number in the catalogue of works.

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La Lira di Orfeo – Porpora: L’Angelica (Live) (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:19:57 minutes | 2,60 GB | Genre: Classical, Opera
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Dynamic

Nicola Porpora was a composer who helped to turn Italian opera into the most successful and spectacular genre in Europe. One of the few luminaries of the ‘Neapolitan School’ to actually be born in Naples, Porpora wrote L’Angelica, a serenade for six voices and instruments, to a libretto by the young Pietro Metastasio in 1720. The work was composed for the birthday of Empress Elizabeth Christine, wife of Charles VI, and its plot is comedic, focusing on the travails of a couple in love. The opera’s success was immediate, resulting in the commissioning of further works that would lead to ever more glamorous successes for Porpora in Venice, London, Dresden and Vienna.

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