Georg Friedrich Händel
Born Halle, 23 February 1685.
Died London, 14 April 1759.
German, naturalised British, composer.
If one event has occurred in the past half-century which has transformed the repertoire of major opera companies the world over, it is the rediscovery of Handel's Italian operas, and the long overdue recognition that he must be ranked among the greatest of composers in the medium. In addition, several of his English oratorios have been discovered to work well on stage. We do intend to list performances of these eventually, though we are reluctant to embark on any kind of comprehensive performance history of Messiah, which would be a massive exercise, containing thousands of records. Scotland in general, and the Edinburgh Festival and Scottish Opera in particular, was slow to get off the mark in the modern exploration, and there is a lot of ground to make up in performance.
Operas and oratorios performed in Scotland are shown in bold, with links to the details of each work and performance histories listed alphabetically at the bottom:-
01 Almira (Hamburg 1705) (Feustking)
02 Nero (Hamburg 1705) (Feustking)
03 Florindo (Hamburg 1708) (Hinsch)
04 Daphne (Hamburg 1708) (Hinsch)
05 Vincer se stesso e la maggior vittoria, ovvero Rodrigo (Florence 1708) (anon)
06 Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (Rome 1707, rev London 1737) (Pamfili)
07 Oratorio per la Resurrezione di Nostro Signor Gesu Cristo (Rome 1708) (Capece)
08 Aci, Galatea e Polifemo (Naples 1708, rev London 1732) (anon)
09 Agrippina (Venice 1709) (Grimani)
10 Rinaldo (London 1711, rev 1731) (Rossi)
11 Il pastor fido (London 1712, rev 1734) (Rossi)
12 Teseo (London 1713) (Haym)
13 Amadigi di Gaula (London 1715) (Heidegger)
14 Acis and Galatea (Canons 1718, rev London 1731) (Gay)
15 Radamisto (London 1720) (Haym, after Lalli)
16 Esther (comp Cannons 1720, rev London 1732) (Pope & Arbuthnot, rev Humphreys)
17 Floridante (London 1721) (Rolli)
18 Ottone (London 1723) (Haym)
19 Flavio (London 1723) (Haym)
20 Giulio Cesare in Egitto (London 1724) (Haym)
21 Tamerlano (London 1724) (Piovene, rev. Haym)
22 Rodelinda, regina de’ Longobardi (London 1725) (Salvi, rev Haym)
23 Scipione (London 1726) (Rolli)
24 Alessandro (London 1726) (Rolli)
25 Admeto, re di Tessaglia (London 1727) (anon, rev Haym or Rolli)
26 Riccardo primo, re d’Inghilterra (London 1727) (Rolli)
27 Siroe, re di Persia (London 1728) (Metastasio, rev Haym)
28 Tolomeo, re d’Egitto (London 1728) (Haym)
29 Lotario (London 1729) (Rossi, after Salvi)
30 Partenope (London 1730) (Stampiglia)
31 Poro, re dell’Indie (London 1731) (anon, after Metastasio)
32 Ezio (London 1732) (Metastasio)
33 Fernando, re di Castiglia (unperf; rev as “Sosarme, re di Media”) (attrib Rolli, after Salvi)
34 Sosarme, re di Media (London 1732) (Noris, rev Humphreys)
35 Orlando (London 1733) (anon, after Capeci)
36 Deborah (London 1733) (Humphreys)
37 Athalia (Oxford 1733) (Humphreys)
38 Arianna in Creta (London 1733) (Colman)
39 Parnasso in festa (London 1734) (Anon; tr Oldmixon)
40 Ariodante (London 1735) (anon, after Salvi)
41 Alcina (London 1735) (Marchi)
42 Alexander's Feast (London 1736) (Dryden)
43 Atalanta (London 1736) (Valeriana)
44 Arminio (London 1737) (Salvi)
45 Giustino (London 1737) (Beregan)
46 Berenice, regina d’Egitto (London 1737) (Salvi)
47 Faramondo (London 1738) (Zeno)
48 Serse (London 1738) (Minato, rev Stampiglia)
49 Saul (London 1739) (Jennens)
50 Israel in Egypt (London 1739) (A V Bible)
51 L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato (London 1740) (Harris & Jennens, after Milton)
52 Imeneo (London 1740) (cpsr, after Stampiglia)
53 Deidamia (London 1741) (Rolli)
54 Messiah (Dublin 1742) (Jennens)
55 Samson (London 1743) (Hamilton)
56 Semele (London 1744) (Congreve)
57 Joseph and his Brethren (London 1744) (Miller)
58 Hercules (London 1745) (Broughton)
59 Belshazzar (London 1745) (Jennens)
60 The Occasional Oratorio (London 1746) (Morell)
61 Judas Maccabaeus (London 1747) (Morell)
62 Joshua (London 1748) (Morell)
63 Alexander Balus (London 1748) (Morell)
64 Susanna (London 1749) (anon)
65 Solomon (London 1749) (Anon, attrib Morell)
66 Theodora (London 1750) (Morell)
67 The Choice of Hercules (London 1751) (Morell)
68 Jephtha (London 1752) (Morell)
69 The Triumph of Time and Truth (London 1757) (Morell)
70 Rebecca (arr Smith) (London 1764) ()
71 Nabal (arr Smith) (London 1764) (Morell)
72 Tobit (arr Smith) (London c1764) (Morell)
73 Gideon (arr Smith) (London 1769) (Morell)
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