Handel’s shocking Semele strikes Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen
One does not always think of Georg Friedrich Handel as a paragon of musical experimentation. On Sunday afternoon, the English Concert, (which is in the middle of presenting an annual cycle of Handel masterpieces at Carnegie Hall) struck down that thesis. This year’s entry is Semele, a hybridization of opera and oratorio. Unusual in that it uses the oratorio formula and an English text (by the poet William Congreve) to tell a mythological tale, Semele flopped in 1744. Today, this work is regarded as one of the composer’s boldest and most impressive achievements.
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| Lightning rod: Brenda Rae as Semele at Carnegie Hall Photo by Steve J. Sherman for Carnegie Hall. |
