Rinaldo was the first Italian opera written for the London stage. A smash hit at its 1711 premiere, it catapulted the young Handel to fame and fortune. Clive Paget traces Handel’s journey to London and talks with Erin Helyard, Artistic Director of Pinchgut Opera, which is staging its first Handel opera with Rinaldo.
It’s not uncommon to find Handel depicted as an irascible, corpulent epicure, the darling of the House of Hanover and creator of regime-satisfying Protestant oratorios. But when he arrived as a 25-year-old composer in London in 1710, he was anything but. Hot off the back of the Venetian triumph of Agrippina, a...
I defer to Mr Paget on general musical knowledge, but having heard Gavin Gostelow play the clavichord I beg to differ. Gavin comments as follows:
“Although hordes of clavichord players may have protested Mr Paget’s casual debunking of the Handel clavichord story, you probably wouldn’t have heard them. That is because, unlike the bright clear penetrating sound of the harpsichord, the clavichord is particularly quiet, sweet and sensitive. The harpsichord plucks, the clavichord strikes, very gently and inefficiently. It was the cheapest and most easily available keyboard instrument at the time, mainly used for practicing. Very Quietly.
The splendid Carey Beebe has a particularly fine example of a clavichord at his shop, which will transform your understanding of JS Bach and his sons, if you play well.”
I have his permission to pass this on to you.