Cappella Mediteranea

Haendel, Acis and Galatea

Conceived as a miniature opera to be performed for private entertainment, Handel’s Acis and Galatea was adored by the composer’s contemporaries, then reworked and re-orchestrated several times, giving the opera new life. Acis the shepherd and Galatea the nymph fall in love, but Galatea is also being pursued by the cyclops Polyphemus. When the latter finds out about the two lovers, he kills the young Acis in a rage, but Acis is then transformed into a river, becoming eternal thanks to the power of love.

On le sait, Leonardo García-Alarcón n’est jamais à court d’idées, d’enthousiasme et de dynamisme. Jouant sur les couleurs de la Capella Mediterrranea, il donne ainsi aux cordes de ce premier chœur une sonorité de vielle à roue. Ici il joue sur les silences, là, il affute les attaques des violons ou travaille l’opulence des cordes graves. Toujours avec un sens du rebond qui amène une vie frémissante et fait parfois swinguer Haendel. Au cœur de ces mélodies simples, partout se révèle une frémissante diversité de l’écriture, dans les couleurs, dans les rythmes et les accents.

Marc Dumont – Première Loge, février 2025

La réunion pour cet Acis et Galatée […] de vingt-cinq musiciens avait valeur de test pour Leonardo García-Alarcón. […] Un test particulièrement concluant tant par l’homogénéité du résultat, que la souplesse et l’intelligence avec laquelle la formation ainsi constituée prête ses couleurs à Alarcón, peintre inspiré des sentiments humains.

Alain Cochard – Concert Classic novembre 2023

A-t-on encore besoin de souligner à quel point la direction de Leonardo García-Alarcón est une réussite de bout en bout ? L’intelligence et l’émotion avec lesquelles il ne cesse de révéler chaque note de la partition se traduisent en un rendu qui ne souffre d’aucun défaut, qui porte et se laisse porter.

Elodie Martinez – Opera Online, novembre 2023

Handel through one of his greatest works

When he arrived in Rome in 1707, the young Handel dazzled the elites of the holy city with his exceptional talent. He became the “fashionable” composer, and his fame grew so quickly that he was soon called to Naples, where he premiered his pastoral opera Aci, Galatea e Polifemo in July 1708 at the Court Theater in the Ducal Palace of Piedimonte Matese for a lavish wedding.
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A small opera originally intended for private performances, Acis and Galatea was Handel’s most frequently performed work during his lifetime. This masterpiece—a miniature drama, pastoral, or masque, it is difficult to define—underwent numerous revisions. It offers a brilliant synthesis of English and Italian styles, with da capo arias and significant contributions from the chorus. The plot comes from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, which had already inspired Lully to write an opera (1686), and boldly blends comedy and tragedy. He gradually erases the transparent lightness of the Arcadian landscapes, where the love between the shepherd Acis and the nymph Galatea blossoms, in favor of a darker atmosphere: the young Acis is savagely killed by the cyclops Polyphemus, jealous of his love for Galatea. The mourning nymph, however, surrenders to peace and elevates her lost lover to the rank of god in the form of a spring that flows through the grove.

Leonardo García-Alarcón leads Cappella Mediterranea from the organ in this music that Mozart himself admired so much that he made a German version of it…

Carmina Latina, ambronay, Leonardo Garcia Alarcon, Chœur de chambre de Namur, Cappella Mediterranea

Prochaines dates

Program

Acis und Galatea HWV 49

A semi-opera in two acts with libretto by John Gay based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses, premiered in London in 1731.

Duration: 1h40

Find out more about our other productions

Cast

Charlotte Bowden, soprano – Galatea
Hugo Hymas (Ambronay) / Guy Cutting (Namur & Chantilly), tenor – Acis
Staffan Liljas, bass – Polyphemus
Valerio Contaldo, tenor – Damon

in Ambronay :
Maud Bessard Morandas, soprano
Leandro Marziotte, countre-tenor
Raphaël Hardmeyer, bass

Cappella Mediterranea
Chœur de Chambre de Namur (Namur & Chantilly)

Leonardo García-Alarcón, orguan and musical direction

Our partners

Opéra royal de Versailles (janvier 2025)

Bâtiment des Forces Motrices, Genève (novembre 2023)

Archive

12 Novembre 2023

17h00

La Cité Bleue

Geneva, Switzerland

31 Janvier 2025

20h00

Opéra Royal de Versailles

Versailles, France