Georg Friedrich Händel

Giustino HWV 37

In the fourth volume of his “General History of Music”, Charles Burney's verdict on Handel's “Giustino” was as enthusiastic as it was prophetic: “Upon the whole, this opera, so seldom acted and so little known, seems to me one of the most agreeable of Handel's dramatic productions”. In it, wondrous things happen: a peasant's son falls asleep while ploughing and is called upon in a dream by the goddess of fate to leave his ancestral clod and follow his true heroic destiny. No sooner has he set off than a princess appears, pursued by a bear. Giustino (the young man's name) kills the beast and rescues Princess Leocasta, who immediately falls in love with him and invites him to her palace. There, the Byzantine Emperor Anastasio is preparing to fight the rebellious troops of Vitaliano; his wife Arianna follows him into battle and is captured. Now it is up to Giustino to defeat the usurper and save the empress from a sea monster that is threatening to devour her, chained to a rock by Vitaliano's henchmen. Giustino also passes this test, and we have now only reached the beginning of the second act of a fairytale-like, fantastic and effective stage plot, at the end of which the peasant's son turns out to be a noble prince, and an evil schemer named Amanzio – a kind of Iago of the Baroque opera – finds his just punishment.

The world premiere of this opera took place on February 16, 1737 at the Covent Garden Theatre. Handel's music, which he wrote for the dramma per musica “Giustino”, is as colourful, rich and opulent as the plot. He not only mobilized a wealth of stage effects, but also brought to the music large ensembles – trumpets, horns, oboes, recorders – and choral movements, with accompagnati, echo effects and incidental music. In doing so, he created musical complexes that spanned multiple scenes, the likes of which are only really known from operas of the second half of the century: the fourth to seventh scenes of the first act are presented in a continuous alternation of accompagnati, arias, choruses, sinfonias and simple recitatives – a musical-dramatic masterpiece.

The historical-critical edition of the opera in the Halle Handel Edition is intended to help bring this “most agreeable” work closer to a contemporary audience. The main part of this volume reproduces the version of the premiere in its entirety for the first time and offers the opportunity to become acquainted with the first version in an appendix. It is somewhat more concise and compact, but above all dramaturgically more stringent than the version that was then heard on the London stage. For today's performers, both versions offer rich material for exciting productions, which may help this great heroic legend – aptly characterized by Anthony Hicks as a “theatrical extravaganza” – to become increasingly popular.