Handel: Alcina, opera, HWV 34

Handel premiered the opera Alcina on April 26, 1735. Like Orlando, this magic opera is based on cantos from Ariosto's Orlando Furioso and has a fairy-tale aspect about it. Handel turned the character of Alcina, a siren who disposes of her ex-lovers by turning them into all kinds of objects, into a powerful but evil sorceress, a vulnerable woman, and finally a defeated, despairing queen. Her six arias cast her in many moods as the plot progresses and she faces her own downfall. In "Ah! mio Cor" and "Ombre pallide," she is the rejected woman, desolate and despairing, then angry and vengeful. "Ma quando tornerai" is a resolution aria in which she gathers her strength together and vows revenge against the lover who deserted her. Not only does Ruggiero desert her, but at the end of Act Two her magic powers also fail her. In a dramatically accompanied
ecitative, she invokes the evil spirits to aid her but ends up calling to the empty skies in angular intervals that are answered by silence.
The other characters are well developed and complex as well. The hero Ruggiero begins the opera under Alcina's spell, completely unmanly and petty. However, as the drama progresses, he grows into his heroic stature and breaks the spells that bind Alcina's victims. In Act III, Ruggiero has a
esolution aria as well, in which he compares himself to a tigress. The brilliant vocal writing is accompanied by horns and shows him finally in a truly heroic light.
Alcina was heavily influenced by French trends at the time. It shows Handel's knowledge of Rameau, his ability to write a allet spectacle and make use of the chorus in the French manner, to hold large scenes together and integrate it into the drama. The second scene of the first act sets the stage for the drama with typically French glitter, as the pleasure's of Alcina's enchanted court are displayed in a spectacle of dance and chorus. The finale is also a allet, as Alcina's spells are broken and her former lovers regain their human forms.
All of the contrasting elements of Alcina are interwoven to create the drama. Any omission would damage the whole. And although the ending is a happy one for the lovers Bradamante and Ruggiero, and for the victims of Alcina, hers is the central figure. Her powerful character draws us into the tragedy that is revealed through her loss of power. ~ Rita Laurance, All Music Guide