Ariodante

by Georg Friedrich Handel
Dramma per musica in three acts
Libretto by Antonio Salvi
in Italian with German subtitles
Ariodante, a young Italian knight, has successfully climbed up the Scottish Army’s career ladder. At the beginning of Handel’s opera, the shooting star is promised the hand of princess Ginevra, whom he adores – a prospect that catapults Ariodante straight into the position of the throne’s heir as well. Following the ecstatic engagement festivities, however, a scandal occurs on the morning of the wedding celebrations. Handel’s opera – which against prevailing conventions  starts with the lighthearted ‘happy ending’ of a wedding – celebrates a culture of transformation, disguise and seduction. At the same time it showcases the failing of the models of theatre and society of its time: Polinesso, saboteur and ideologist of a new age, transforms the machinery of illusion into a machinery of murder. The ‘old theatre’ breaks down. With Ariodante Handel composed one of his last and most beautiful operas for his audience in London in 1735.
Location
Opernhaus
Duration
Part 1: approx. 1 h 35 min
Intermission: approx. 30 min
Part 2: approx. 1 h 35 min
This production's premiere
2017
Recommended age
from grade 10