Admeto

Libretto by Nicola Francesco Haym (I)

2S,A,2CT(M,A),2B; mixed chorus;
1.2.0.1-2.0.0.0-continuo-strings

Nearly forty years ago, Alan Curtis assembled for the first time since the 18th century, an orchestra of historical instruments (including archlute) similar to the one described by Fougeroux, who attended the first performances of Admeto in 1727. The 1977 performance in Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, recorded by EMI with René Jacobs singing the title role, and often re-issued, has now itself become historical. But Curtis has gone over the work and its sources again and come up with quite different conclusions. Although the opera is published complete in the Complesso Barocco Edition, Curtis suggests ways to emend, cut, or compensate for the weaknesses of the outmoded libretto and restore Admeto to the position it deserves, as musically one of the greatest of Handel's operas.

Dramatic