Giulio Cesare

Opera seria
(Giulio Cesare in Egitto — Julius Caesar)
Handel
The one where Pompey’s widow is sent to gather flowers in the garden of a harem, where
Cleopatra is imprisoned by her brother and Caesar takes a dip in a harbour.
CAST  
Romans:
Caesar (Guilio Cesare), First Emperor of Rome Alto (castrato)
Curius (Curio), his steward and a Roman Tribune Bass
Cornelia, Pompey’s wife Contralto
Sextus, Pompey’s son Soprano
Egyptians:  
Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt Soprano
Ptolemy (Tolomeo), King of Egypt Alto (castrato)
Achillas (Achilla), an Egyptian courtier Bass
Nirenus (Nireno), an Egyptian courtier Alto (castrato)
Roman soldiers, Egyptians  
   
3 acts: running time 3 hrs 45 mins

STORY

Act I Sc 1  Egypt. A bridge over a branch of the Nile near

Alexandria

We are in the Nile Delta in September 48 BC and Julius Caesar is chasing his old rival Pompey
and getting a big Hello from the Egyptians. Pompey’s wife Cornelia and son Sextus jump out
and say our man is ready to call it quits. Good show says Caesar I am ready for a bit of pax
myself. And what’s under the dishcover those Gyppos are carting in? A sight to gladden your
heart sir Emperor says the Egyptian General Achillas it’s Pompey’s head (whips off the cover).
A present from Ptolemy. Cornelia faints. How disgusting says Caesar and against the Geneva
Convention too. Please inform your king I won’t tolerate this.
Cornelia comes to and tries to commit suicide. Stop that says Curius and why not marry me
instead? Faugh! says Cornelia: one of Caesar’s men? No thank you. O dash it says Curius. Exits.
We’re in a nasty fix Mum says Sextus: in the middle of Caesar’s army and Dad decapitated. You
must avenge him son says Cornelia.

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Act I Sc 2  A room in Cleopatra’s palace

Bad news Ma’m says Nirenus your brother Ptolemy topped Pompey and sent his head to Caesar
trying to suck up to him. I’ll go to Caesar and see if my sexiness doesn’t work better than
sending dead heads says Cleopatra: I’ll get even with that scheming rat my brother. I’ll get to
be the one and only monarch you wait and see. Oh yes says Ptolemy stepping out from behind
a screen. Indeed. You get back to raffia work and leave the ruling bit to me. And you get back
into your massage parlours and leave it to me says she. Exits. So how did Caesar like my little
joke? asks Ptolemy. A frost says Achillas. A flop. He didn’t like it at all. Listen. Why don’t you
murder him too? I’ll do it in exchange for guaranteed sex with Pompey’s widow Cornelia. OK
not a bad idea says Ptolemy. Is Cornelia really as sexy as all that?

Act I Sc 3  Caesar’s camp. The ashes of Pompey’s head in an urn

Caesar is brooding over Pompey’s minimal remains when Cleopatra arrives with Nirenus
disguised calling herself Lydia. Whew! what a stunner thinks Caesar, Pompey forgotten.
Whew! thinks Curius: if I can’t get Cornelia then this one will do pretty well. A favour please sir
Emperor she says. Lovely hair says Caesar. Nice boobs says Curius coarsely. Sure I’ll help you
lady says Caesar but I’m busy just now. Exits. He’s got hot pants for you Cleo says Nirenus you
got him fixed.
Enter Cornelia and Sextus. Cleopatra and Nirenus duck behind a screen. We can pick up a
sword here to kill Ptolemy they say but how can we find him? I’ll help you says Cleopatra I’m
Lydia and I work at his place. He’s been a dirty dog to me and I shall be very happy to see him
murdered — Nirenus: kindly show these persons to the palace.

Act I Sc 4  An antechamber in Ptolemy’s palace

Ptolemy and Caesar meet. Hail Caesar you’re doing pretty good says Ptolemy. Not doing so
badly yourself says Caesar but that Pompey’s head was a nasty trick. Thanks a lot says Ptolemy
these guys will see you into another room. Does he think I’m stoopid thinks Caesar. Exits with
his own posse. Enter Cornelia and Sextus. You cut off my Dad’s head you weasel you I challenge
you to a duel shouts the silly Sextus. Lock him up lads says Ptolemy and put the woman on to
cleaning the harem loos. Exits. The frightful Achillas says to Cornelia if you will give me a nice
time I’ll let you both escape. Faugh! says Cornelia. Goodbye Sextus I’m off to the loos.

Act II Sc 1  A grove of cedars with Mount Parnassus in the distance

Caesar coming? Cleopatra asks Nirenus. Yes says he. All stage effects ready and working? Yes
says he. OK says she after the pantomime take him to my apartment and say Lydia is coming
to see him with some big news. Exits. Caesar arrives sweating (Parnassus a long hike from
Alexandria). Where’s that girl? he asks. Coming shortly says Nirenus. A heavenly orchestra
plays. The clouds open revealing Cleopatra sitting on a throne dressed as Queen Victoria.
My God what a beauty shouts Caesar: she looks like Lydia. He starts clambering up Mount
Parnassus. The vision vanishes. Like to go to Lydia’s place Caesar? says Nirenus nudge nudge.
You bet says Caesar.

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Act II Sc 2  The garden of the harem

God how I hate this job says Cornelia. You only have to say the word says lecherous Achillas
and I’ll let you go free. Faugh! says Cornelia and runs for it but Ptolemy interposes. Lemme
go shrieks Cornelia. Did you make it with her Achillas old boy? asks Ptolemy. No but I’ve got
everything fixed for Caesar’s exit says Achillas behind his hand to Ptolemy and exits. If you
don’t fancy Achillas says Ptolemy to Cornelia how about me? I’m a king. And I’m a Roman
woman says Cornelia, faugh! and exits. Pity she won’t go quietly. I shall have to rape her what
a nuisance says Ptolemy. Exits.
Cornelia re-enters. Am I fed up with these sex-mad Egyptians she says I think I’ll end it all.
She prepares to jump into a conveniently adjacent cageful of lions. Stop stop shouts Sextus
running on: I’ve come to rescue you Mummy. Enter Nirenus. Ptolemy wants you in his bedroom
line-up with the other girls on duty tonight says he but don’t worry we’ll all three go along there
and wait until Ptolemy has his trousers down then Sextus here can stab him to death and no
sweat. Good idea says Cornelia. I’ll make a good stab at it says Sextus.

Act II Sc 3  Cleopatra’s garden

I guess I’ll pretend to be asleep when Caesar comes says Cleopatra. He comes. There’s Lydia
asleep he says: I’d like her to be my wife one day. Accepted says Cleopatra promptly waking up.
Thanks. Steady: Cleopatra might not like it says Caesar. Curius runs in: you’ve been betrayed
again Caesar Ptolemy’s on your trail. Don’t go Caesar says Cleopatra. By the way I am not Lydia
I’m Cleopatra. Gracious me says Caesar. I’ll see off any traitors that come after you she says
strolling to the wings. I’m Queen you know. Oh no! My God! There are millions of Ptolemy’s
men. Run Caesar! Run! I’ll stand my ground says Caesar and runs off. Sounds of mayhem. I
hope he’s OK says Cleopatra.

Act II Sc 4  A room in the harem

Ptolemy is lining up the girls for the night shift including Cornelia. You’ve drawn the short
straw Cornelia he says: you open the batting. No she don’t! shouts Sextus jumping in. But
Achillas jumps on Sextus and takes his sword. I got news for you boss he says: Caesar gave
us the slip but he jumped off the pier and drowned. Also Curius. Cleopatra’s now mustering
Caesar’s troops to march against us. Now can I have a nice time with Cornelia please? No you
can’t you randy dog says Ptolemy. I’m off to defeat Cleopatra. Will be back shortly. Well I made
a fair bugger of that says Sextus, I think I’ll kill myself. No don’t says Cornelia: follow after
Ptolemy and strike him down. Go on. All right I bloody well will says Sextus.

Act III Sc 1  A harbour near Alexandria

Achillas comes on with men at his back. I’m on Cleopatra’s side now and we’ll fix that bastard
Ptolemy well and good he says. Exits. A musical battle rages offstage. Enter Ptolemy. I’ve won
he says: those first violins did a splendid job and you’re my prisoner now young Cleopatra so
there. Things sure are pretty bad says Cleopatra, Caesar dead, me a prisoner, Cornelia and
Sextus a busted flush, but even when I am dead I’ll still go after that terrible Ptolemy and haunt
the wits out of him. Exits under armed guard.

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Caesar comes on. God that water was cold he says I wonder where that Cleopatra might be?
Lot of corpses round here he adds. Nasty smell. Very depressing. Sextus enters on the opposite
side of the stage still looking for Ptolemy in his wimpish way. He finds Achillas with a nasty
wound. Take these secret operation orders to Dugout 99 says Achillas: there is a platoon of SS
guards there who know the secret passage into Ptolemy’s study, rescue Cornelia kill Ptolemy
and good luck because I think I’m slipping away. (Dies.) Caesar crosses the stage: Gimme that
seal he says. Good Lord it’s the boss says Sextus: we thought you were dead. I was an Olympic
standard swimmer you know says Caesar. Come on to the palace men and save the lovely ladies
Cleopatra and Cornelia. Exits. Things are looking up says Sextus. He follows Caesar.

Act III Sc 2  Cleopatra’s apartments

Cleopatra is really down. But hark! it’s Caesar at the door. My God it’s a ghost! says Cleopatra
but it’s no ghost and some pressing to the breast takes place. Meet you at the port says he. OK
don’t fall off the pier again she replies.

Act III Sc 3  Ptolemy’s throne room

Enough of this fooling around Cornelia says Ptolemy: get your toga off. Leave me alone says
Cornelia: you can’t rape me: I’m a Roman woman and I happen to have this dagger. She makes
to strike: Sextus appears and interposes. Oh let me do it please Mum he says I’m a man you see.
He has a swordfight with Ptolemy and kills him. Look! I avenged my Dad Mum says Sextus. You
sure have done avenged him says Cornelia good lad.

Act III Sc 4  The harbour at Alexandria

Now we’ve won I can tell you that you all done well says Caesar. My boy Sextus done exceptional
says Cornelia killed Ptolemy in the act of raping. Let’s all be friends now. Here Caesar take
Pompey’s crown and share certificates. Thanks says Caesar: Cleopatra can have the crown.
Now Cleopatra let’s sing a love duet and get the opera off to a really nice finish. They sing
accompanied by a chorus of war-weary Egyptians who say that everything is now just absolutely
perfect.

LOOK OUT FOR

Act I Sc 1
MINUTES FROM THE START
0
5: Presti omai l’egizia terra*
11: Empio, dirò, tu sei**
16: Priva son d’ogni conforto*
23: Svegliatevi nel core*
The overture. In the style of the day it has a stiff and0 slow first section (repeated), a fast
middle then, when you expect a return to the slow it runs straight into the opera. The fast
section is exceptionally merry and bright.

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    After a respectful but not very enthusiastic welcome from the assembled Egyptians we have
a short, fast and firm opening aria5 from Caesar. Let’s see what you fellows can do, says he, in
the matter of honouring a conquering hero like me.
    Caesar is outraged by the sight of Pompey’s head served up on a plate. This is a ‘rage’ aria11
with the fiddles flashing with anger. Indeed for much of the time it is a two-part piece — violins
and voice. A good tune and some breathtaking runs.
    Cornelia, calm in her sorrow, has a quietly beautiful aria.16 Seven minutes of Handel in his
Largo gear, but this number, good though it is, will never make the top ten.
    Sextus in fiery mood is determined to get his own back on the horrible Egyptians. A fast and
furious revenge aria23 with a slow middle bit when the ghost of his father tells him he really
must get in there and do some good avenging.

Act I Sc 2
MINUTES FROM THE START
30: Non disperar, chi sa?*
35: L’empio, sleale, indegno*
Cleopatra rather cheekily wishes Ptolemy as much good luck as king as he has had with
women. Apparently he has a tremendous sexual reputation. A flighty piece,30 fast, fleeting and
agreeable with a more lyrical middle bit which has longer and smoother phrases.
    Ptolemy sings a petulant little war song.35 He’s out to get Caesar, no doubt about that, but
Handel makes him sound like a puppy barking at a Great Dane. TUM-TI goes the very firm
rhythm and TI-TUM-TI again.

Act I Sc 3
MINUTES FROM THE START
40: Alma del gran Pompeo*
45: Non è sì vago*
50: Tutto può donna vezzosa*
61: Car a speme, questo core*
68: Tu la rnia Stella set
Caesar recalls Pompey’s greatness as he gazes at the ashes of his head in a noble
accompagnato.40 Impressive.
    Caesar is struck all of a heap by Cleopatra’s beauty45 (in disguise as Lydia). She is more
beautiful than the flowers of the field. A free-ranging melody over a steady walking bass. This is
no passionate outburst, indeed Caesar’s reaction to this knockout beauty is a bit staid.
    Naughty Cleopatra instantly sees a chance of using her sexual powers to get Caesar to do
down brother Ptolemy. A pert and confident aria50 backed by the violins swinging up and down
an arpeggio figure like crazy.
    After a bout of arioso gloom from Cornelia as she gazes at Pompey’s tombstone, Sextus tells
us he is determined to avenge his father Pompey. This is an odd number.61 A solo cello gives
out what sounds like the subject for a fugue, Sextus enters and we have what is almost a canon.
The two of them swarm along together, one always a step or two behind the other. As a piece it
works well but it does not sound as if Sextus had much stomach for revenge.

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    Another perky aria68 from the unquenchably optimistic Cleopatra. She hopes her lucky
star will assist her in all the mayhem and skulduggery she so cheerfully plans to inflict on her
brother Ptolemy. This number is a cut above the general run, its spirits are so high.

Act I Sc 4
MINUTES FROM THE START
77: Va tacito e nascosto*
83: Tu set il cor*
88: Son nata a lagrimar**
So now we have the tramp tramp of a march rhythm and a horn, first with the tune and then
floating around with scoops and scallops.77 Caesar thinks Ptolemy is a tricky fellow. A whiff of
Onward Christian Soldiers in the air.
    A stern love song from Achillas.83 Blackmail really. Marry me or else be condemned to pick
flowers in the garden of the harem for ever. A muscular tune, vigorous, with vicious little stings
from the violins. Does not endear Achillas to the listener one bit.
    Cornelia and Sextus have to part and this gives rise to this lovely duet.88 The opening
symphony sets the tone of yearning sadness. The way the two female voices (Sextus is still very
young) echo each other’s phrases and then come together is wonderfully effective. So nice to
hear two voices in an aria and it is really a shame that owing to the conventions of opera seria
we have no ensembles: Handel could have served them up a treat.

Act II Sc 1
MINUTES FROM THE START
5: V’adoro, pupille**
11: Se infiorito ameno prato*
As Caesar waits for Lydia (Cleopatra of course) he hears ‘harmonious sounds from the
spheres’. But not so very harmonious to our ears, the Parnassian onstage combo is sonorous
but thickish. Then Cleopatra/Lydia/Goddess of Virtue takes up the refrain and turns it into a
ravishing aria,5 clear, simple and direct. Caesar interjects an ‘O My!’. Cleopatra continues. The
middle bit of her piece is particularly fetching.
    It’s not often that an Emperor has a duet with a bird,11 but that is what we have here. The
bird is represented by a solo violin — Caesar plays himself — and both tell us that Lydia can
brighten the scene by being a sort of bluebird of happiness. The bird can sing in both the major
and minor modes and has some nice little cadenzas. A curio.

Act II Sc 2
MINUTES FROM THE START
19: Deh piangete, O mesti lumi*
24: Se a me non sei crudele*
28: Sì spietata, il tuo rigore**
33: Cessa omai di sospirare!*
37: L’angue offeso mai riposa*
Cornelia is very sad amongst the flowers in the harem. Her short but touching lament19 is
one of those tunes that lives on in the ear.

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    Achillas tells Cornelia if you let me love you everything will be OK but if not — look out! A
brisk and tuneful number24 with a precise accompaniment which has a mind of its own: it
starts in unison and runs throughout like clockwork.
    Ptolemy is really upset at being spurned by Cornelia. In one of the most tuneful and forceful
arias28 of the opera he gets thoroughly spiteful with venomous little twirls to tell us what a
nasty man he is.
    Cornelia faces the prospect of Ptolemy being murdered with some satisfaction.33 A curiously
halting and indeterminate piece for such a strong resolve.
    Sextus shows his determination to slay Ptolemy. This number37 has a firm walking bass
which marches on relentlessly beneath the fine phrases of Sextus’s vocal line.

Act II Sc 3
MINUTES FROM THE START
43: Venere bella*
51: Al lampo dell’armi**
54: Che sento? Oh Dio!**
56: Se pietà di me non senti***
A prayer to Venus.43 Cleopatra wishes to look exceptionally seductive. The middle section
has some adventurous passages which contrast happily with the formality of the opening strain,
which is repeated quite often enough for comfort.
    Well, not quite a patter song,51 but rapid fire indeed from Caesar as he hypes himself up for
the encounter with the conspirators. Speed, bustle and a bass that races rather than walks. An
oddball and a winner. Ends with shouts from the conspirators in the wings.
    And now the opera moves on to a higher plane. Cleopatra’s accompagnato54 is suddenly
dramatic and full of real feeling, especially when she so sweetly begs the gods to protect her
lovely Caesar. Then, as soon as we hear the symphony before her aria, we know we are to have
one of those serene and beautiful arias56 which were Handel’s greatest gift to opera. Partly
because the style of the accompaniment falls more gratefully upon our ears today than the
frenzied figuration of the faster numbers, partly because of the sheer magic of the melodic
line, this aria strikes home with all its power, just as no doubt it did in Drury Lane two and a
half centuries ago. Look out especially for one high note which is not at all the one you expect.

Act II Sc 4
MINUTES FROM THE START
64: Belle dee di questo core*
70: L’aura che spira*
A fidgety little figure introduces a sort of accompagnato from Ptolemy64 who is once again
making a pass at Cornelia. It fidgets on as Ptolemy climbs into something approaching aria and
then relapses into secco as he gets serious about sex with Cornelia. But enter Sextus!
    A bold and fierce aria70 from Sextus who is once again hyping himself up to kill Ptolemy. The
middle section, as is often the case, has some agreeable free-ranging ideas, for the rest the aria
is satisfactory enough within the strait jacket of its precise measures, but scarcely big enough
to end an act.

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Act III Sc 1
MINUTES FROM THE START
2: Dal fulgor di questa spada*
5
6: Domerò la tua fierezza*
Another hype-up to mayhem, this time by Achillas. Good vigorous standard stuff2 with a strong
finishing burst.
    The battle! A stirring symphony full of fight and5 fury. Ptolemy does not care for his sister
and proposes to humiliate her in another vicious little aria6 with sprigs of malice thrown out by
the violins in abundance. Another good standard piece.

Act III Sc 2
MINUTES FROM THE START
11: Piangerò***
19: Aure, deh, per pietà*
29: Quel torrente che cade*
Another great aria from the desolate Cleopatra.11 First the sad and slow ‘Piangerò’ — I shall
weep — she is desolate and tells us so in the most lovely sorrowful phrases. Then her spirit
flares up and she swears her ghost will give Ptolemy a hard time after she is dead. Fast and
furious. So back to the sad ‘Piangerò’ and a dying fall.
    Caesar, having swum the harbour, is not well placed. He has no troops and spends the next
few minutes bemoaning the fact, first in an accompagnato then in a long and rather dismal
but effective aria.19 It has a slightly more sparky middle section when his thoughts turn to
Cleopatra.
    A much more cheerful Caesar thinks he is going to win every battle. The opening symphony
tells us he has got his bottle back and he carols away29 with a clear tune and some real breath-
testers towards the end. A good number.

Act III Sc 3
MINUTES FROM THE START
34: La giustizia ha già sull’arco*
41: Da tempeste il legno infranto**
50: Nort ha puì che temere*
Another upbeat item,34 this time from Sextus who is out to get Ptolemy. This strain of warlike
hype (of which we have had quite a lot) is generally based on quick tempo, a firm vocal line
and a lot of running around by the violins, which here are exceptionally active. Again a good
standard piece.
    After some dramatic accompagnato as Cleopatra’s sad thoughts accompanied by a solo oboe
are interrupted by the sound of battle (fizzing strings), Caesar appears. Rescued! She sings a
really happy little number41 with chortling trills and bubbling runs. Hooray! And quite a long
Hooray! it is.
    Cornelia immensely cheered up by the death of Ptolemy sings a sweet and swinging number50
to celebrate her release. It has the usual clear top and bottom lines with the violins doubling the
voice part more than usual (except in the middle bit): this gives it a strong forward impetus.

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Act III Sc 4
MINUTES FROM THE START
53*
59: Caro, Bella**
64: Ritorni omai*
The celebratory symphony.53 A noisy affair with the pairs of trumpets and horns extremely
active. Interesting rather than beautiful and as explosive as a fireworks display.
    The Love Duet.59 Opening with each lover enunciating, very slowly, the words ‘Caro’ and
‘Bella’, they both run on into a rumpty-tumpty tune, which stretches into a more measured and
loverly middle section. Then we go back to a longer and dreamier ‘Caro’ and ‘Bella’ — a great
stroke. Followed by rumpty with some lovely decoration.
    Finale.64 The grossly underworked chorus have a suitably celebratory salute to the lovers
and then we swing into a concertante section, Cleopatra and Caesar singing in duet. After the
formality of the choral writing, this is a delight and ends the opera with a fresh, light touch.
Everybody happy.

NOTES
Giulio Cesare     Handel’s seventeenth opera and fifth full-length opera for the
Royal Academy of Music
First night King’s Theatre, London, 20 February 1724
Reception A hit
Libretto Haym based on Bussani
Source Roman history hyped up and reconstructed for the opera stage
by a succession of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century scribes

NEWS AND GOSSIP

The Royal Academy of Music was founded in 1719 to put on Italian opera in London and so in
many ways was the forerunner of the Royal Opera House. All well brought up young aristos
in those days did the Grand Tour and had therefore seen Italian opera on its home ground
in Naples, Venice, etc. So the Academy was set up as a joint stock company by the gentry for
their pleasure. To their subscriptions the monarch added an annual grant of £1000 (rather
nicely called a ‘bounty’) and it would be interesting to know how this compares with the level
of subsidy granted to the Royal Opera House today in real terms (which by the time they have
been pushed around by statistics are nearly always pretty unreal terms anyway).
Handel was one of the composers on the Academy’s books, as was his big rival Bononcini.
But in those days composers were not thought of as creative artists whose work was holy and
immutable. They had to do what best suited the really important people, the singers, who then,
as now, brought in the money at the box office. Giulio Cesare was a big success for the Academy
and ran for thirteen performances, apparently well above average. It had a few performances
in Germany in the next ten years or so and after that it lay on the shelf for pretty well two
hundred years until revived in (of all places) Gottingen in 1922. Early operas with their primitive
scoring offer a huge temptation to arrangers to arrange them to such a degree that there is not

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much left of the original piece except the tune (an extreme case — the Beggar’s Opera, roughly
contemporary with Giulio Cesare, and see what Frederic Austin did with it on the one hand
and Benjamin Britten on the other). So poor old Giulio was mauled about considerably during
the early years of the Handel revival and only when we all had to be frightfully authentic did it
return to something nearer to the form in which Handel wrote it. This happened fairly recently
with a production in Birmingham in 1977 and was reinforced by the ENO production of 1980.
This was an enormous hit, and at the time of writing still runs.

COMMENT
Giulio Cesare is not an opera to set the pulse racing. Indeed, the word opera today as commonly
used only just stretches back to cover the staid spectacle and disciplined sound of opera seria.
There are no Valkyries, Bohemians, Pavarottis, and not a single trombone. And yet, and yet,
within its smaller scale passions do rage, tears are shed and lovers do swear undying love. Not
much of this emotion comes through to us from Giulio’s highly formalized music. The rage
arias don’t affect us personally as does the rage of the Count in Figaro. What we hear is a nice
lively aria in the convention of rage music. The battle music is remote and a little ludicrous,
rather like the battles on the Bayeux tapestry, where angular cardboard men strive to kill each
other with toy swords. All rejoicing, especially choral rejoicing, sounds much the same. But
there are emotions that can still strike true through the conventions of the day and they are
mainly the emotions of courage, joy and sorrow. Sorrow, always one of Handel’s strongest
suits, is an easy winner in Giulio.
Cleopatra has the best music throughout but her two great arias of sorrow, ‘Se pietà di me
non senti’ and ‘Piangerò’, reach out through the centuries and can affect us afresh with the
nobility of her grief. Her perky numbers have verve and excitement, her seductive music is less
persuasive. But quite aside from the music as a conduit for emotion, there is another pleasure
in Giulio and that is in the music itself, as ‘absolute’ music. Many of the three dozen or so
numbers in Giulio could be changed around and no one would notice much [and no doubt
many were: Ed.]. Nearly all have a strong bass line and a strong top line with not a lot between.
Many share the same mood; the decorations are different, the tunes are different, but to a
normally musical person on the Clapham omnibus they are pretty well indistinguishable. Yet
if you hear them over and over they begin to grow on you. Soon you will give in to the subtlety
and charm of Handel’s art and may, unless you are careful, become a Handel addict, and from
there it is a short run to becoming a Handel bore.
Although the numbers are by no means all similar, their quality is pretty even. Once you
have taken out the three or four greatest hits nearly every other item gets one star. The
accompagnatos are effective in raising the dramatic temperature and giving a springboard for
the oncoming aria and the secco recitatif is a joy throughout. Handel took greater pains over
his secco passages than did most eighteenth-century composers, including Mozart, who was
happy to leave the secco recitatif to his assistant. Many of the big dramatic moments — the
presentation of Pompey’s head, Cornelia’s several suicide attempts, Lydia’s revelation that she
is Cleopatra — are covered by secco and Handel doesn’t try to make a big deal out of them.
But the secco is always written close to the sense of the text with melody and speech rhythm
working together in a pretty miraculous way. All of this can be ruined if the underlying cello
line is taken too seriously. Cellists tend to go mad if given a chance and will add their own
twiddly bits at the drop of a hat. If there is any cello at all it should be gossamer light in tone.

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The orchestration of the numbers themselves is usually described as sumptuous, though after
an earful of Wagner it sounds scrawny and honestly it is hard to brew up much enthusiasm
for the sonority of Giulio’s score, which with its four horns, oboes and bassoons, may have
been a wonder in its day but has sort of been overtaken by Mahler. The Symphony of Various
Instruments performed on stage is an interesting oddity, having a part in it written for the
theorbo, a sort of long-necked lute.
Giulio Cesare, of all of Handel’s operas, is the most performed today. Of the libretto there is
little to say since it is one of those stock constructions loosely based on history which has no
credible story and no real dramatic interest. It has four or five of his very best numbers, it is
melodious, and musically always very satisfactory, it is amongst all opera seria perhaps the
least remote before Gluck began to transform the old thing into something more human. Beta.

Girl of the Golden West, The see Fanciulla del West, La

Godunov, Boris see Boris Godunov
Gotterdammerung see under Ring, The

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