The Life of Handel (continued)

Handel in Italy

It is said that Handel was invited to Italy by Gian’ Gastone de’ Medici, brother of Grand Duke Cosimo III, but that he declined, determined finance his own journey, allowing him to make his own choice of patrons.

In 1706, Handel travelled to Italy. His exact itinerary is unknown but he is thought to have travelled first to Florence and then to Venice. He arrived in Rome in late 1706 or early 1707. There Handel enjoyed the patronage of a number of Catholic cardinals, despite being a Lutheran. In May Cardinal Benedetto Pamphili provided Handel with the libretto for his first oratorio, Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno. His Dixit Dominus was produced in July 1707, probably for Cardinal Colonna. Nisi Dominus and Laudate Pueri followed in July.

Handel joined the household of Francesco Maria Ruspoli in May 1707 and it was for him that Handel’s first Italian opera, Rodrigo, was performed in October.

Handel seems to have returned to Hamburg in the winter of 1707/8 to produce Florindo and Daphne, returning to Rome in time to direct his oratorio, La Resurrezione for performance at the Bonelli Palace on Easter Sunday 1708.

Continuing his prodigious output, Handel wrote the dramatic cantata, Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, on a visit to Naples in June, and it was fiirst performed on 19 July. It was probably a commission from Donna Aurora Sanseverino, Duchess of Laurenzano.

In December 1709, Handel’s second Italian opera, Agrippina, to a libretto by Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani, was performed to great applause and the cry ‘Long live the dear Saxon!’, at the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo in Venice. Mainwaring says that Handel introduced the French horn to Italy in Agrippina. With this work (despite a certain amount of self-plagiarism), Handel, still only 24, secured an international reputation.

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