Xerxes

1° Xerxes the Persian

The characters of Handel’s Xerxes are loosely based on Herodotus’s description of the Persian King Xerxes and his campaign against Greece. His admiration for a plane tree, his brother Arsamene the princess Amastre have all been traced to historical facts. He also aspired to build a bridge over the Hellespont, but his engineers failed to construct using the usual materials. In retaliation, the rough sea had to be punished by 300 men. They whipped the water, for Xerxes was determined to maintain a passage over the strait.

The libretto, however, focuses on the fictional love-plotting in Xerxes’ entourage. The king plays a significant role himself as his invasion of Greece should provide him with new lovers to conquer. Helped by intrigue, cross-dressing and mislead letters, the protagonists pursue - and finally achieve - romantic goals rather than glory for the Persian Empire.

In the original programme notes from the 1738 premiere, the historical liberties taken for the libretto were laid bare: “The contexture of this Drama is so very easy, that it wou’ d be troubling the reader to give him a long argument to explain it. Some imbicilities, and the temerity of Xerxes (such as his being deeply enamour’ d with a plane tree, and the building a bridge over the Hellespont to unite Asia to Europe) are the basis of the story; the rest is fiction.”

2° Unfamiliar structures

The opera experiments with new ways of musical dramaturgy. Even though it is an opera seria in tre atti, the ambiguities of the plot invite comic and satirical elements to loosen the usual seria structure. The audience at the premiere did not know how to process this. No heroic story is exposed and developed. Rather, at the centre of the action are the plotters with their agendas and feelings.

The music was different from what the audience was used to as well. Instead of long-lasting da capo arias in which the protagonists reflect on their destiny, there are many short arias and concise recitatives. These push the plot along in a way that felt too fast and hurried at the time.

3° Cumbersome costumes

For all his musical innovations, Handel knew not to interfere with what audiences wanted most - extravagant costumes. Despite their impracticalities, men would have to wear the armour of a roman captain and women would be dressed in hoop skirts with long trains inspired by the fashion of France. All these and more were endured by the singers and enjoyed by the audience when Xerxes received its premiere in 1738 at the Queen’s Theatre in London.

Germany’s Gesine Völlm has designed the costumes at Oper am Rhein. Xerxes’ own opulent costumes change as often as his tactics, which allows his opponents little time to rest. This results in a ‘baroque Muppet Show,’ as the celebrated Norwegian director Stefan Herheim describes his spectacular production.

4° Reaching for the stars

Most of Handel’s main characters are composed for high voices, often castrati. One of the most famous of these was Farinelli, who led an entourage of stars singers. After the singer left London for Madrid, his position was replaced by the castrato Gaetano Majorano, took the stage name ‘Caffarelli’. It was he who first performed the role of Serse. Like all castrati, once he had gained some fame in the opera world, his financial future was secured as well as his status. Society generally ostracised castrati – a lonely destiny awaited everyone who failed to make an impression on stage, and that only came if they survived the dangerous procedure.

Composers stopped writing roles for castrati in the 19th century with female singers largely taking over the heroic characters in the old repertoire. Since the rise of historically-informed performance practice, counter-tenors have been slowly replacing women in these roles. Oper an der Rhein’s production features a mixed cast of both counter-tenors and sopranos, which provides a diversity of timbre to the high vocal ranges required for the opera.

5° Love never falls far from the tree

Despite the comic elements in the opera and the crossdressing, the music has all the dignified traits of an opera seria, starting with Serse’s now canonic ‘Ombra mai fu’. In this opening aria, the king admires a plane tree that is providing him with shade, and he sounds no less rejoiceful than if he were singing about a woman he profoundly loved. Unused to the intermingling of genres, this made it all the more difficult for the first audiences to appreciate the satire. But with the passage of time, Handel became regarded as a comic genius for the way that he paired absurd situations with heroic melodies. ‘Ombra mai fu’ is clear, majestic and timeless. It is also an almost exact copy of the opening aria from Giovanni Bonocini’s Xerses, written 45 years earlier.