Hercules (music drama)

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Hercules (HWV 60) is a music drama in three acts by George Frideric Handel. The English-language libretto was by Thomas Broughton after the Trachiniae of Sophocles and the Metamorphoses of Ovid.

[edit] Performance history

The Dietrich Eckart Theatre during a scene from Handel's Herakles
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The Dietrich Eckart Theatre during a scene from Handel's Herakles

Hercules was first given at the King's Theatre in London on 5 January 1745 in concert style. There were only two performances, but it was repeated in 1749 and 1752. The first modern performance was in Münster in 1925.

[edit] Roles

Premiere 1745
Hercules bass Thomas Reinhold
Dejanira, wife of Hercules mezzo-soprano Miss Robinson
Iole, daughter of the King of Oechalia soprano Elisabeth Duparc, called "La Francesina"
Hyllus, son of Hercules tenor John Beard
Lichas, a herald alto Susanna Maria Cibber

[edit] Sources

Hercules by Stanley Sadie, in 'The New Grove Dictionary of Opera', ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) ISBN 0-333-73432-7


In other languages