Atalanta is an opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 in three acts by George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...

 composed in 1736. It is based upon the mythological

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

 female athlete, Atalanta

Atalanta

Atalanta is a character in Greek mythology.-Legend:Atalanta was the daughter of Iasus , a Boeotian or an Arcadian princess . She is often described as a goddess. Apollodorus is the only one who gives an account of Atalanta’s birth and upbringing...

, the libretto (which is in Italian) being derived from the book La Caccia in Etolia by Belisario Valeriani. The identity of the librettist

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 is not known.

Handel composed it for the London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 celebrations of the marriage in 1736 of Frederick, Prince of Wales

Frederick, Prince of Wales

Frederick, Prince of Wales was a member of the House of Hanover and therefore of the Hanoverian and later British Royal Family, the eldest son of George II and father of George III, as well as the great-grandfather of Queen Victoria...

, eldest son of King George II

George II of Great Britain

George II was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Archtreasurer and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death.George was the last British monarch born outside Great Britain. He was born and brought up in Northern Germany...

. The first performance took place on 12th May 1736 in the Covent Garden Theatre. It closed with a spectacular display of fireworks, which was highly popular with the Prince of Wales and the London audience, and the opera and fireworks display were revived a number of times in the year of its first performance.

The opera is rarely recorded or performed nowadays (before a production in 1970 the critic Winton Dean

Winton Dean

Winton Dean is an English musicologist of the 20th century, most famous for his research concerning the life and works—in particular the operas and oratorios—of Handel, as detailed in his book Handel’s Dramatic Oratorios and Masques .Dean was born in Birkenhead...

 claimed that it had never been revived since 1736). However, one arioso

Arioso

In classical music, arioso is a style of solo opera singing between recitative and aria. Literally, arioso means airy. The term arose in the 16th century along with the aforementioned styles and monody. It is commonly confused with recitativo accompagnato....

 from it, Care Selve, Ombre Beate, has acquired popularity as a recital piece. In the original score it is sung by Meleagro - despite being a male character, a soprano

Soprano

A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...

 part, nowadays taken as a breeches role

Breeches role

A breeches role is a role in which an actress appears in male clothing .In opera it also refers to any male character that is sung and acted by a female singer...

 though in the original production it was taken by the castrato

Castrato

A castrato is a man with a singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto voice produced either by castration of the singer before puberty or one who, because of an endocrinological condition, never reaches sexual maturity.Castration before puberty prevents a boy's...

 Gioacchino Conti

Gioacchino Conti

Gioacchino Conti , best known as Gizziello, was an Italian soprano castrato opera singer.-Biography:Conti was born in Arpino...

.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, 12 May 1736 (Conductor: - )
Atalanta	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Anna Maria Strada del Po Anna Maria Strada Anna Maria Strada was an Italian soprano of the 18th century. She is best remembered for her association with the composer George Frideric Handel, in whose operas Strada sang.-Career:...
Meleager	soprano	Gioacchino Conti Gioacchino Conti Gioacchino Conti , best known as Gizziello, was an Italian soprano castrato opera singer.-Biography:Conti was born in Arpino...
Irene	contralto Contralto Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...	Maria Caterina Negri
Aminta	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	John Beard John Beard (tenor) John Beard was an English tenor of the 18th century. He is best remembered for creating an extensive number of roles in the operas and oratorios of George Frideric Handel....
Nicandro	bass	Gustavus Waltz Gustavus Waltz Gustavus Waltz was a bass opera singer who collaborated with Handel.Like Handel himself, Waltz was a naturalized Englishman, originally German, and is said to have worked for Handel as a cook. Their collaboration began in 1732. Waltz was a choral singer as well as a soloist.Waltz created roles in...
Mercurio (Mercury Mercury (mythology) Mercury was a messenger who wore winged sandals, and a god of trade, the son of Maia Maiestas and Jupiter in Roman mythology. His name is related to the Latin word merx , mercari , and merces... ), the messenger of god	bass	Henry Theodore Reinhold

Synopsis

The plot is generally described as thin, with some critics rating it thin in the extreme. It takes place in legendary times in Greece, circa 13th century BC. The hero is Meleager

Meleager

In Greek mythology, Meleager was a hero venerated in his temenos at Calydon in Aetolia. He was already famed as the host of the Calydonian boar hunt in the epic tradition that was reworked by Homer....

, the young King of Etolia. He is courting the eponymous Atalanta, who runs away to the woods of Etolia where she lives under the name of Amaryllis among the nymphs and shepherds. Meleager follows her there and disguises himself as a shepherd, taking the name of Thyrsis. There their loves become confused with those of a couple of young shepherds, Irene and Amyntas (Aminta); Irene's father, Nicandro is the only person who knows Meleager's true identity. In the end, however, Atalanta falls in love with Meleager in his disguised form, and they are revealed to each other by Nicandro; Irene and Amyntas are reconciled, and all ends happily.

Arias

The complete list of arias is as follows:

Lascia ch'io parta solo; Meleager

S'è tuo piacer, chio mora; Aminta

Impara, ingrata; Nicandro

Come alla tortorella langue; Irene

Riportai gloriosa palma; Atalanta

Non sarà poco; Meleager

Lassa! ch'io t'ho perduta; Atalanta

Sì, mel raccordero; Meleager

Soffri in pace il tuo dolore; Irene

Dì ad Irene, tiranna; Aminta

M'allontano, stegnose pupille; Meleager

Se nasce un rivoletto; Atalanta

Bench'io non sappia ancor; Atalanta

Diedi il core ad altra Ninfa; Aminta

Ben'io sento l'ingrata; Irene

Or trionfar ti fanno; Nicandro

Sol prova contenti; Mercurio

There are two duets in the opera sung by Meleager and Atalanta. They are Amarilli? - Oh Dei, che vuoi and Caro/Cara.

E-book

Score of Atalanta (ed. Friedrich Chrysander

Friedrich Chrysander

Karl Franz Friedrich Chrysander was a German music historian and critic, whose edition of the works of George Frideric Handel and authoritative writings on many other composers established him as a pioneer of 19th-century musicology.Born at Lübtheen, in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Chrysander was the son...

, Leipzig 1882)

External links

• Complete libretto of the opera as recorded at a live performance by the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in Berkeley, California
  Berkeley, California
  Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
  
   in 2005
• Link to an audio recording by the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
• Link to audio clip of Care Selve sung by Linda Maguire
  Linda Maguire
  Linda Maguire is an American opera and classical singer, recording artist and researcher in music and sensory therapies. She is best known for her performance as Ermione in the 1995, BBC filmed Glyndebourne Festival production of Rossini's opera Ermione.-Biography:Maguire was born in Newport News,...