Acis & Galatea

Acis and Galatea was the most popular and frequently performed of all Handel’s dramatic works during his lifetime. It was probably composed in the spring of 1718 for performance at Cannons near Edgware, the palatial country home of his patron, James Brydges, Earl of Carnarvon. Variously described as a masque, serenata, and a “little opera,” Handel radically revised the work during the 1730s, but later returned to his earlier, simpler design, as most recordings do today. With just four characters and an English libretto, the plot—drawn from Ovid’s Metamorphoses—is simple to follow. The nymph Galatea and shepherd Acis are in love, but Galatea has also caught the eye of the giant Polyphemus. Undeterred by her rejection, Polyphemus jealously kills his rival, and Galatea uses her divine power to transform the lifeless Acis into an eternal fountain. Rather than the lovers, it was the monster Polyphemus who caught Handel’s imagination—his fondness for operatic villains often inspired his finest music. Through parody and exaggeration, he paints Polyphemus with a note of humor, as in the air “O ruddier than the cherry” where, rather than giving him the huge pipe he demands for his “capacious mouth,” Handel instead hands him the smallest instrument in the orchestra, a sopranino recorder. But Polyphemus remains dangerous, intruding on the lovers’ duet and turning it into a tense and menacing trio, “The flocks shall leave the mountains,” one of Handel’s most dramatic ensembles.