Handel: Muzio

Of all the strange background stories in baroque opera, this one is about the wackiest--Handel agreed to take part in a sort of collegiate competition: three composers on the London scene would each write an act of a Rolli libretto, for the public to judge. Just what the reward was, the notes for this Newport Classic do not specify. That Handel--already the toast of English/Italian opera--would participate in this says much about his sense of sport and whimsy.
Anyhow, thanks to the excellent American team who have recorded all of Handel's third act and give us a taste of the others, just to make it clear who the "winner" is. Julianne Baird and Jennifer Lane continue to show here why they are tops in their art as does bass/producer John Ostendorf and the wonderful young conductor Rudolph Palmer. A curio to be sure, but fun and worth it.

the Italian Paolo Rolli wrote the libretto for Muzio Scevola for the opera.
For reasons of the time-saver three composers presumably wrote at the opera at the same time. The first act which apparently is no longer available today wrote Filippo Amadei, the first cellist of the opera. The second part was written by Giovanni Bononcini who triumphed over the two others with no trouble at all, Georg Friedrich Händel composed the third part, so the courtier De Fabrice. A part of the second act and the third part composed by Händel is documented on the production of new port Classic being here. The CD was published in 1992 and it was a world debut at that time on CD.
The opera became played for the first time 1721 in London. The initial Enthusiasm fell off fast, however, relatively. The music is converted by Rudolph Palmer (conductor) and John Ostendorf (producer) in a masterly manner. The Brewer Chamber orchestra and the singer guild Fortunato, Lane, Urrey, Ostendorf, Mills, Baird and Matthews sing and play instruments on high Neveau.

What to make of this strange Baroque mutant? It began as a promotional stunt, an attempt to draw fan interest by having an operatic composer "competition" with three composers each taking one act of a three-act libretto. We can relate to this, I suppose, through the current public addiction to competitive reality shows like American Idol or DWTS. The 1721 competition under examination here was really between Handel and Giovanni Boninicini, his main London rival (the third competitor, Amadei, was insignificant). A libretto, "Muzio Scevola", by Paolo Rossi, was selected, and the various noted castrati and sopranos available at the time were rounded up to participate. The London consensus after the April 11 premiere was that while the Bonincini act was competent enough, the Handel act was the obvious winner. (Bononicini didn't slink off in shame; some of his operas later in the same season scored big hits against Handel.)

Here Handel proceeds with his usual practice of borrowing some of the music from his (and others!) works, though plenty of originality does exist here; later, "Muzio" itself became a mine for tunes for other Handel operas. This recording is the first attempt to reconstruct "Muzio". What we have here is part of the Bonincini act, and all of Handel's. While Handel's music is up to his usual genius standard, the shortened structure here may make for a bit less of a satisfying listening experience for some. The plot is the usual Baroque antique semi-sense: valiant Roman soldiers falling in love with the beautiful daughters of mean old kings, with comments by various minions, etc.

Over the years the Newport-Palmer-Ostendorf-Baird-Fortunato team has tackled several of the more obscure Handel operas (Tolomeo, Ezio, Faramondo), and "Muzio" has got to be the most obscure of all. There's been a critical tendency among some to look down their noses at this American group, not granting it equality of talent to more noted European productions. In the present context I'm getting tired of this snobbishness. Julianne Baird and D'Anna Fortunato can stand up with any European baroque singer, and the secondary performers here are more than adequate. Perhaps the consistent slight weakness of the Newport Handel productions is in the bands: these groups (here, the Brewer Baroque Chamber Orchestra) aren't as technically skilled and authentic as bands such as Les Talens Lyriques, Les Musciens de Louvre, or Il Complesso Barocco. For that reason, if I could, I'd award this recording 4.5 stars. But I'm going ahead and giving it 5 in recognition of Newport's willingness to take on the premiere recording of this unusual Handel project.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 5 reviews  4.8 out of 5 stars