Festspieloper Tamerlano Teil 1

Outstanding Masterpiece of Baroque Opera

The story of Tamerlano and Bajazet was so well known that he would not even bother to relate it to the reader, wrote Nicola Haym in 1724 in the preface to the libretto of George Frideric Handel's opera Tamerlano HWV 18. The historical subject matter of the military leader Timur Lenk, Italianized Tamerlano, who lived in Samarkand, and Bayezid I, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire with the Italianized name Bajazet, had in fact been extremely popular since the late 16th century. Christopher Marlowe had written a tragedy for the London stage in 1587, which was followed in the 17th century by several French works as well as Nicholas Rowe's play Tamerlane, which was very successful in London in 1702. Jacques Pradon's 1675 French version, Tamerlane ou La Mort de Bajazet, proved particularly successful and was translated into several languages, including Italian, which appeared in print in 1709 and was performed in Rome during the carnival that year. It is quite possible that Handel was still in Rome in the spring of 1709 and heard about the play, or at least the printed text.

The historical material is nothing less than the story of two rulers who wanted to make the world their own. Bajazet – his name translates as “the thunderbolt” – expanded the territory of the Ottoman Empire as far as Bulgaria in the northwest and Anatolia in the southeast, both through conquests and dynastically motivated marriages. He also prepared the conquest of Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, and strove further to the east. However, he stood in the way of Tamerlano – his name translates as “Timur the Lame” in reference to his right leg, which was paralyzed from birth – who in turn massively expanded his rule over Transoxania. Transoxania already encompassed much of Central Asia including the cities of Bukhara and Samarkand, through which the historic Silk Road also ran. Timur expanded this empire to include territories as far as the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus. The conquests of both sides now collided in the eastern Anatolian highlands. On July 20, 1402, a battle took place between the armies commanded by Tamerlano and Bajazet, in which the Ottoman troops suffered a devastating defeat. Bajazet was captured and died a few months later in the Anatolian city of Akşehir.

In its Italian translation, Pradon's tragedy served as the basis for a highly successful opera libretto by Agostino Piovene. It was first set to music in 1711 by Francesco Gasparini, the conductor of the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice. By 1810, there had been nearly 40 other settings of this libretto, although the libretto was always subject to revision. Handel also followed Piovene's libretto in a modified form, relying on the skill of his librettist Nicola Haym, with whom he had a successful collaboration on a total of nine operas, from Teseo HWV 9 in 1713 to Tolomeo HWV 25 in 1728. Tamerlano was largely composed in July 1724 and premiered on October 31 of that year at the King's Theatre in the Haymarket. Francesco Borosini, the tenor Handel had engaged for this season, who had sung the title role in a heavily revised version by Gasparini of the opera, now called Il Bajazet, in Reggio nell'Emilia five years earlier and who was now to sing that very role in Handel's Tamerlano, also had a major influence on the libretto. Through Borosini, Handel also gained an insight into the score of Gasparini's opera and used it as a model, particularly for the final scene. He also revised parts that had already been composed after studying Gasparini's opera.

Haym eliminated from his libretto some of the more drastic passages that he considered historically inaccurate. In concentrating the plot, however, he closely followed Pradon's tragedy and Piovene's libretto, which ideally fulfill the requirement of unity of place, time, and action. The entire opera is set in one place, Tamerlano's palace in Prusa, then the capital of the Ottoman Empire, and the time played out on stage corresponds to the linear progression of the plot, without jumping back into the past or forward into the future. At the heart of the opera are two love stories that only find a happy ending with the tragic suicide of Bajazet. It is quite unusual that the two couples who belong together at the beginning of the opera are reunited at the end. Tamerlano is engaged to Irene, the Princess of Trapezunt, without ever having seen her. He falls in love with Asteria, Bajazet's daughter, who was captured along with Tamerlano. Asteria, however, loves Tamerlano's ally, Andronico, who reciprocates this love. Tamerlano offers Andronico the throne of Byzantium along with Irene's hand in exchange for his persuasion of Asteria to marry Tamerlano. Tamerlano informs Asteria of these plans, whereupon she agrees to take revenge on Andronico for his infidelity. Meanwhile, Irene, who has arrived at the court, is made privy to Andronico's plans, but does not want to give up Tamerlano under any circumstances. Andronico suggests that she go to Tamerlano disguised as Irene's messenger to threaten him.

Tamerlano now prepares to marry Asteria. Andronico meets Asteria, who has just been summoned to Tamerlano and announces that she will oppose their decision to marry. Bajazet learns from Andronico that Asteria has entered Tamerlano's chamber and urges Andronico to follow her together in order to prevent her ascension to the throne. However, Asteria is actually planning to kill Tamerlano. When Bajazet angrily enters the throne room and begins to reproach Asteria, she reveals her plans for murder, whereupon Tamerlano vows revenge.

While imprisoned in the palace, Bajazet decides to commit suicide with his daughter using the poison he still has left. Tamerlano asks Andronico to bring Asteria back to the throne, but Andronico refuses because he himself loves Asteria. Tamerlano is furious and orders Bajazet and Asteria to serve as slaves at his table. On this occasion, Asteria gives him a cup into which she has poured the poison. The messenger, however, has observed this, reveals herself to be Irene and warns Tamerlano. Asteria now tries to drink the poison herself, but is prevented from doing so by Andronico. Bajazet leaves the room, only to return a short time later: It is he who has ultimately killed himself with the poison and now curses Tamerlano. This is the tragic climax of the plot, which in the end brings about Tamerlano's purification. He forgives Asteria and decides to marry Irene. Andronico receives the promised throne, along with an invitation to marry Asteria.

Handel brought Tamerlano to the stage of the King's Theatre a total of twelve times in the 1724/25 season. In addition to the tenor Borosini, he also engaged other first-class soloists: Andrea Pacini sang Tamerlano, Francesco Bernardi, known as Senesino, took on the role of Andronico, and the celebrated Francesca Cuzzoni, who played the leading female roles alongside Senesino in all of Handel's operas between 1723 and 1726, appeared as Asteria. The number of performances in the premiere season somewhat belies the fact that Tamerlano was not a great success with the public. The only revival in the 1731/32 season lasted only three performances. Tamerlano may have been too ambitious, for Handel breaks with the stereotypical opera seria pattern here. In terms of stage presence, the tenor role of Bajazet surpasses the two castrato roles of Tamerlano and Andronico, and it is Bajazet whose death scene is the musically extremely rich and dramatically intense climax of the opera. Handel's mastery of combining such contradictory emotions as love and hate, revenge and reconciliation into one dense musical scene makes Tamerlano's purification seem credible. The third act of this opera is particularly notable for its wealth of expressive accompagnato recitatives and ariosi, with which Handel confronts the various complications of the plot with its drastic emotions in an impressive way that does not fit the simple pattern of secco recitatives and da capo arias. Handel thus succeeds in creating an immensely impressive characterization of the protagonists, so that Tamerlano can rightly be called one of the outstanding masterpieces of Baroque opera.

Andreas Waczkat

Lawrence Zazzo
Countertenor | Tamerlano

Louise Kemény
Soprano | Asteria

Juan Sancho
Tenor | Bajazet

Yuriy Mynenko
Countertenor | Andronico

Dara Savinova
Mezzo-soprano | Irene

Sreten Manojlović
Bass-Baritone | Leone

FestspielOrchester Göttingen

George Petrou
Musical Director

Rosetta Cucchi
Director

Tiziano Santi
Set designer

Claudia Pernigotti
Costume designer

Ernst Schießl
Lighting designer