A
Commentary on Handel’s opera
Julius
Caesar (Giulio Cesare)
More in this blog on opera:
Though Georg Frideric Handel wove threads into the tale
that are more operatic than historic, this opera recounts one of history’s
great love stories. The libretto evolved over half a century. It’s in Italian,
and Handel did not have his production performance ready for the King’s Theater
in London until 1724. In the balance of these comments I have spelled the names
of the better-known characters as we learned them from Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra and Julius Caesar. If opera isn’t your
thing, George Bernard Shaw’s Caesar and
Cleopatra is a delightful comedy. A recent version is available on DVD,
while various people have posted the 1945 production on YouTube.
These
comments, however, are about a recent version of a Baroque opera: Handel’s Giulio Cesare.
Conceived by David McVicar, this production
of the opera was first performed at the formidably aristocratic Glyndebourne opera
house near the southern coast of the UK, close to Brighton. This modernization
of Handel’s most popular opera puts the action in the early 20th century, as
Britain was adding Egypt to its global empire. So the staging includes
typewriters and telephones, to begin with. Later on there are tanks and, by the
end, early 20th century warships off the Egyptian coast.
Although the opera setting reflects
a period long after Handel wrote this work, the Orchestra of the Age of
Enlightenment plays the music with period instruments from Handel’s time.
Who’s Who in the Zoo:
The action takes place in Egypt’s Nile Valley, to which Caesar has tracked the
defeated Pompey. The characters are Roman and Egyptian. Except for some
choruses of red-coated British soldiers, the voices are all in high registers.
Pompey only appears in the action
as a disembodied head. This is because the turncoat Achilla (played by
Christopher Maltman,) begins the play as leader of the Egyptian army. Having
turned on his own army, he puts Pompey’s head in a casket and presents it to
Caesar. To Achilla’s astonishment, Caesar is furious with this cruel and
mindless gesture. Alexander Ashworth plays Curio, a Roman official.
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| Handel |
The Egyptians are four. Cleopatra
is the Queen. Tolomeos, her brother, is the King and sings the role in falsetto.
Achilla, whom we have already met, is head of the Egyptian army and counselor
to Tolomeos. Nireno is confidante to both King and Queen.
In brief, the story is as follows. In
pursuit of his enemy Pompey, Caesar has followed him to Egypt. Pompey’s wife
Cornelia pleads with Caesar to spare her husband. He is about to grant her
plea, when the Egyptians, led by their boy king Tolomeos, bring him the head of
Pompey. Cornelia and Pompey’s son Sesto vow to avenge his death. For her part, Cleopatra
wants to depose her brother, thereby becoming the sole ruler of Egypt. She
joins Cornelia and Sesto in their plans for vengeance and asks Caesar for help.
Following her overtures, Caesar falls in
love with Cleopatra.
Not knowing that his attempt to
assassinate Caesar was unsuccessful, Tolomeos takes Cleopatra captive. Sesto
kills Tolomeos because he had raped his mother Cornelia. Caesar makes Cleopatra
Queen of Egypt and returns to Rome. To sum up, McVicar’s production of Handel’s
Caesar and Cleopatra tale is witty, sexy and tragic.
A lyric soprano, the
Australian-born Danielle de Niese is brilliant beyond imagination. Her
performance in this opera Cleopatra catapulted her to stardom. One of the
interesting features of this opera is that the main roles are sung in high
registers.
Act 1
Cornelia rejects the offer in
grief, saying that another death would not relieve her pain. Sesto, son of
Cornelia and Pompey, swears to take revenge for his father’s death. Cleopatra
decides to use her charm to seduce Caesar. Achilla brings the news to Tolomeos
that Caesar was furious over the murder of Pompey. Tolomeos swears to kill
Caesar to protect his rule of the kingdom. Cleopatra (in disguise) goes to meet
Caesar in his camp hoping that he will support her as the queen of Egypt.
Caesar is amazed by her beauty. Nireno notes that the seduction was successful.
Meanwhile, Cornelia continues to mourn the loss of her husband. Cornelia
prepares to kill Tolomeos to avenge Pompey’s death, but is stopped by Sesto,
who promises to do it instead. Caesar, Cornelia and Sesto go to the Egyptian
palace to meet Tolomeos.
Cleopatra now believes that as she
has turned Caesar, Cornelia and Sesto against Tolomeos successfully, the scales
are tipped in her favour. Caesar meets Tolomeos, who offers him a room in the
royal apartments, though Caesar tells Curio that he expects Tolomeos to betray
him. Tolomeos is fascinated by Cornelia’s beauty but has promised Achilla that
he could have her. Sesto attempts to challenge Tolomeos, but is unsuccessful.
When Cornelia rejects Achilla, he orders the soldiers to arrest Sesto.
Act 2
In Cleopatra’s palace, while in disguise as
"Lidia", she uses her charms to seduce Caesar. She sings praises of
Cupid’s darts and Caesar is delighted. Caesar is smitten with Cleopatra, and
Nireno tells Caesar that "Lidia" is waiting for him.
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| And Caesar himself |
In Tolomeos’ palace, Cornelia laments her
fate. Achilla pleads with Cornelia to accept him, but she rejects him. When he
leaves, Tolomeos also tries to win her, but is also rejected. Thinking that
there is no hope, Cornelia tries to take her own life, but is stopped by Sesto,
who is escorted by Nireno. Nireno reveals the bad news that Tolomeos has given
orders for Cornelia to be sent to his harem. However, Nireno also comes up with
a plan to sneak Sesto into the harem together with Cornelia, so Sesto can kill Tolomeos
when he is alone and unarmed. Sesto enters the garden of the palace, wishing to
fight Tolomeos for killing his father.
Meanwhile, Cleopatra waits for
Caesar to arrive in her palace. Still smitten with her, Caesar arrives in
Cleopatra’s palace. However, Curio suddenly bursts in and warns Caesar that he
has been betrayed, and enemies are approaching Caesar’s chambers and chanting
"Death to Caesar". Cleopatra reveals her identity and after hearing
the enemies heading for them, asks Caesar to flee, but he decides to fight.
Cleopatra, having fallen in love with Caesar, begs the gods to bless him.
At home in his palace, Tolomeos
prepares to enter his harem, but then tries to seduce Cornelia. Sesto rushes in
to kill Tolomeos, but is stopped by Achilla. Achilla announces that Caesar (in
the attempt to run from soldiers) has jumped from the palace window and died. Achilla
asks again for Cornelia’s hand in marriage but is turned down by Tolomeos.
Furious, Achilla leaves. Sesto feels devastated and attempts to kill himself
but is prevented from doing so by his mother; he repeats his vow to kill Tolomeos.
Act 3
Furious at Tolomeos for being ungrateful to him despite his
loyalty, Achilla plans to defect to Cleopatra’s side, but Tolomeos stabs him
before he does. As battle rings out between Tolomeos’ and Cleopatra’s armies, Tolomeos
celebrates his apparent victory against Cleopatra. Cleopatra laments losing
both the battle and Caesar. However, Caesar is not dead: he survived his leap
and is roaming the desert in search of his troops. While looking for Tolomeos,
Sesto finds the wounded, nearly dead Achilla, who hands Sesto a seal
authorizing him to command his armies. Caesar appears and demands the seal,
promising that he will either save both Cornelia and Cleopatra or die. With
Caesar alive and Achilla dead, Sesto’s spirits lift, and he vows to fight on.
Caesar continues on to the Egyptian camp, where a lamenting Cleopatra is
overjoyed to see him.
In the palace, Sesto finds Tolomeos
trying to rape Cornelia and kills him. Having successfully avenged Pompey,
Cornelia and Sesto celebrate Tolomeos’ death. The victorious Caesar and
Cleopatra enter Alexandria, and Caesar proclaims Cleopatra to be queen of Egypt
and promises his support to her and her country. They declare their love for
each other. Caesar then proclaims Egypt’s liberation from tyranny, and wishes
for the glory of Rome to spread far and wide. For the final chorus, the entire
cast (including the dead Achilla and Tolomeos) gathers on stage to celebrate
the power of love and the triumph of good over evil.
