Mark Windisch
Telemann adapted three operas for the Hamburg theatre from those originally composed by Handel: Ottone, Poro and Riccardo Primo. The last of these, Handel’s version of which was performed on 11 November 1727 in The King’s Theatre, was performed in its adapted format by Telemann in Hamburg and Braunschweig in 1729. It is this version that was performed in the 2018 Telemann Festival in Magdeburg.
Handel’s libretto was written by Paolo Rolli from a text by Briani, and was used by German poet Gottlieb Wend for Telemann, to create a somewhat altered story for a very different audience and without the expensive stars that Handel was able to engage.
In Handel’s version, Richard (sung by Senesino, an alto castrato) had travelled to Cyprus on the way to join the third Crusade and to meet his prospective bride Costanza (soprano Francesca Cuzzoni). Shipwrecked in Cyprus, Richard had come up against the Cyprus Governor Isacio (bass Giuseppe Maria Boschi) and his daughter Pulcheria (soprano Faustina Bordoni). Two other characters featured: Oronte, prince of Syria (alto castrato Antonio Baldi) and Berardo (bass Giovanni Battista Palmerini).
In Telemann’s version as sung in Magdeburg in 2018, Richard was sung by a bass (the top castrati were unaffordable and might not have been culturally acceptable), changing the dynamic balance somewhat. Some of the other characters’ names were restored to the original ones in Briani, so that Costanza was listed as Berengera of Navarre, and a new character Philippus was introduced as her companion. Pulcheria, daughter of Isacio, came out as Formosa. The main change in characters was the introduction of two comic figures, Gelasius and Murmilla, both cross-dressers spending considerable time playing for laughs and scoring points off one another in spoken dialogue.
As to the music, Telemann largely used Handel’s arias sung in Italian; though in some cases, especially in arias for Richard himself, he composed new arias in German. All recitatives were in German (macaronic compositions were common in Hamburg – cf. Handel’s Almira composed during his earlier time there). The Isacio character, a tall imposing bearded figure in Magdeburg, was given some very florid arias which he found quite challenging. The interruptions to the flow of the story with the comic additions detracted somewhat from the performance. Other than that, I thought it hung together as a performance, with Telemann’s invention matching Handel’s well.
The story in Telemann’s version remained basically the same as in Handel’s. Richard and Berengera are madly in love despite never having met. Isacio tries to pass his daughter off as Berengera. This is so that he can marry the real Berengera and get Richard to marry his daughter for dynastic reasons. Oronte declares his love for Berengera but is overheard by Formosa, which leads to a lover’s tiff. Richard and Isacio face it off and for a while Isacio gets the upper hand, until Oronte rescues Richard and redeems himself. Good triumphs in the end: Richard and Pulcheria get married; Isacio is forgiven; Oronte and Formosa will rule Cyprus; and the cross-dressers are carted off in a wheelbarrow.