George Frideric Handel, Rodelinda

Derek Alsop (University of Chester)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Dates

First circulation or publication Feb 1725

Places

England (Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Music (any)
- Classical Music
  - Opera

Resources

No work in Handel’s remarkable and extensive opera-writing career is better placed than Rodelinda to give a sense of the excitement and success of a composer writing at the height of his powers, for the best singers in the world, at a time when London was the opera capital of the world.

Handel was in one of his several periods of particular creative genius, completing his third masterpiece in just over a year. Rodelinda, which followed Giulio Cesare and Tamerlano, was one of the best received of all Handel’s operas for the Royal Academy, running for fourteen performances and revived at the end of the year for a second season.

Charles Burney (the eighteenth-century music historian, father of t…

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1634 words

Citation: Alsop, Derek . "Rodelinda". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 July 2012 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=34237, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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