Jerusalem Lyric Opera

28th Mar 2025

G.F.Handel Rinaldo

Handel (1685-1759) arrived in London in 1710 already well-known as a composer of Italian operas, a reputation he had acquired during his stay in Italy. His first opera for the London stage was a three-act opera Rinaldo, written fairly quickly, since Handel recycled music from previous works. On February 24, 1711, the opera was performed for the first time at the Haymarket Theatre. It was an immediate success, following which Handel dominated the London opera scene for the following thirty years or so. The story of the opera is based on episodes from the epic poem Jerusalem Delivered, a fictional account of the first Crusade in 1099 by the Italian poet Torquato Tasso (1544-1595). Historical figures appear in the epic, and subsequently in the opera (for example, Godfrey of Bouillon – Goffredo in the opera, and Tancred), while other characters are Tasso’s invention as is the fantastical part of the story with magicians and sorceresses. The Crusaders are besieging Argante’s forces in Jerusalem, and Rinaldo has been promised that if they are victorious he will marry Goffredo’s daughter Almirena. Armida, a sorceress and queen of Damascus, tells Argante, the Saracen king of Jerusalem, that the only way to achieve victory is to persuade Rinaldo to change sides, and that she has a plan to achieve that. Almirena and Rinaldo love one another, but she is spirited away by Armida. A spirit then lures Rinaldo into a boat on the pretext that Almirena wants him. Now follows a complicated series of events in an enchanted fortress and magic garden with sorcerers, witches, spirits, fantastic machinery, ending in Rinaldo’s rescue. He rejoins his army, and ensures victory in battle. Armida and Argante, reconciled in defeat, renounce magic powers and convert to Christianity. Though the story of the opera is convoluting, and inconceivable to modern audiences, it is the music – Handel’s music -- that dominates, and is remembered till today. It is considered one of the best of Handel’s 40 operas, and after his operas had not been performed for over 200 years Rinaldo has been successfully revived in the 20th and 21st centuries, for example at the Metropolitan in New York in 1984 and at Glyndebourne in 2011. The Lyric Opera of Jerusalem will be performing the opera on July 21, 2025 at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Sderot Sha`ul Ha Melech 27, Tel Aviv-Yafo and and on July 22, 2025, at the Gerard Becher Hall, 11 Bezalel St., Jerusalem. Denis Kurson