Alcina

Alcina is an opera composed by George Frideric Handel for his first season at the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden. It premiered on April 16, 1735.

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The libretto's author is unknown, but the plot is taken (like those of the Handel operas Orlando and Ariodante) from Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando furioso, an epic poem set in the time of Charlemagne's wars against Islam.

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The plot of Alcina concerns the sixth and seventh cantos of Orlando furioso, which tell of a knight, Ruggiero, enslaved by the sorceress Alcina. Bradamante, Ruggiero's fianc?e, and her companion Melisso rescues Ruggiero by breaking Alcina's enchantments, in the process freeing her former lovers whom she had turned into beasts, rocks, waves, and sand.

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Like Handel's other works in the opera seria genre, Alcina fell into obscurity; after a revival in Brunswick in 1738 it was not performed again until a production in Leipzig in 1928.

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The Australian soprano Joan Sutherland sang the role in a production by Franco Zeffirelli in which she made her debut at La Fenice in February 1960 and at the Dallas Opera in November of that year.

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George Frideric Handel: George Frideric Handel (German Georg Friedrich H?ndel), (February 23, 1685 – April 14, 1759) was a German Baroque music composer who lived much of his life in England, a leading composer of concerti grossi, operas and oratorios. His best-known works are Water Music, Music for the Royal Firewor...

Royal Opera House: The Royal Opera House is a performing arts venue in London. It is also sometimes referred to as "Covent Garden" after the London neighborhood in which it is located. The building serves as the home of the Royal Opera and of the Royal Ballet....

Covent Garden: Covent Garden is a shopping and entertainment complex in central London. The flower, fruit and vegetable market, previously associated with Covent Garden, has moved to Nine Elms and is known as New Covent Garden Market. The area also contains an entrance to the Royal Opera House. 'Covent Garden' is...