Handel's Lotario (1729) is an opera with several dubious distinctions: it bombed when it was first performed, it bombed when it was revived in the 1950s, and it remained, until 2004, the only Handel opera that had never been recorded. The reasons for these failures aren't hard to find. Even the liner note writer for this release, mystery novelist Donna Leon, concedes that in the opera's story "certain events occur without adequate motivation or, at times, without any motivation whatsoever." Furthermore, it's the kind of ...
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Handel's Lotario (1729) is an opera with several dubious distinctions: it bombed when it was first performed, it bombed when it was revived in the 1950s, and it remained, until 2004, the only Handel opera that had never been recorded. The reasons for these failures aren't hard to find. Even the liner note writer for this release, mystery novelist Donna Leon, concedes that in the opera's story "certain events occur without adequate motivation or, at times, without any motivation whatsoever." Furthermore, it's the kind of work that takes over an hour before things start to get cooking, and audiences by and large have never tolerated that. The lead soprano, Adelaide, doesn't come on-stage for a while and even after that has to wait before stretching her vocal cords -- not in itself terribly unusual, but in place of vocal fireworks from the star the audience gets a sequence of threatening, brooding arias that lay the ground for bloody conflict and murmur about the consuming fire of ambition. This plainly...
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Add this copy of Händel: Lotario to cart. $44.21, new condition, Sold by newtownvideo rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from huntingdon valley, PA, UNITED STATES, published 2004 by Sony Classical.
Add this copy of Lotario (Curtis, Il Complesso Barocco) [Sacd/Cd Hybrid] to cart. $57.19, new condition, Sold by Revaluation Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Exeter, DEVON, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2004 by Dhm.
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