Imeneo (HWV 41) (Full Score, hardback)

Handel Imeneo (HWV 41) (Full Score, hardback)
Opera in three parts

In the brief half-year period from August 14, 1736, to January 27, 1737, Georg Friedrich Handel achieved an unprecedented level of productivity in his opera compositions, creating three operas.  Additionally, in March 1737, he also composed a largely new oratorio titled “Il trionfo del Tempo e della Verità” (“The Triumph of Time and Truth”) HWV 46b.  The libretto of this oratorio closely corresponds to that of the oratorio “La Bellezza ravveduta nel trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno” (“Beauty Reconciled in the Triumph of Time and Enlightenment”) HWV 46a written in 1707.  With “La Bellezza ravveduta”, Handel composed an allegorical and particularly dramatic oratorio right at the beginning of his oratorio compositions.  In this work, there is no chorus inclined towards reflection.  Not only do the four allegorical figures, Bellezza (Beauty), Piacere (Pleasure), Tempo (Time), and Disinganno (Enlightenment), listen to each other and react to the ideas presented by the others, but this prevailing dramatic principle of dispute is also found in the recitatives.

Imeneo was premièred at Lincoln ’s Inn Field in London on 22 November 1740 and given a second performance on 13 December of the same year.  Unlike the varied events and convoluted action otherwise typical of opera seria , it has an uncomplicated plot line with a clear dramatic structure and excellent music.  The arranger of the libretto is unknown.

Handel wrote this opera for his final season in London , but he also revived it in Dublin on 24 and 31 March 1742 as a “ serenata ”.  For this revival, presumably a concert performance, he altered the 1740 score.  The alterations are listed in the appendix to the vocal score.

- Format 33,0 x 26,1 cm

- Halle Handel Edition (HHA) Series II/40

- Performance material available for hire (BA4072-72)