"Not local beauties": Handel's bilingual oratorio performances, 1732-1744

The extent of Italian material used ranged from the insertion of a few Italian arias into largely English works (Alexander's Feast [1736], Israel in Egypt [1739]), to an entire character's role being translated/reworked in Italian (Athalia [1735], Saul [1741] and Semele [1744]), to the creation of bilingual hybrids in which the two languages are more or less balanced and in which the modifications are of such an extent that they must be considered distinct works in themselves rather than merely adaptations (Acis and Galatea [1732]). <br><br>Hitherto dismissed by critics as inept or hasty compromises, the increasing attention given by recent scholarship to Handel’s performing life in the 1730s calls for a reappraisal of these works.

This study traces the rather complicated performance history of ten of Handel's bilingual oratorios, reconstructing performances where necessary, and determining, with differing degrees of certainty, the singers and librettists involved. Furthermore, an examination of the political and social contexts of their creation, as well as of the interplay between English and Italian texts, reveals that Handel's bilingual oratorio revivals of the 1730s represent an important, if ultimately failed, attempt by the composer to negotiate the competing demands of his Italian singers and his London audiences while still creating effective music drama.<br><br>