Jakub Józef Orliński / Il Pomo d’Oro / Katowice Kultura Natura Festival - NOSPR

Family love affair in Cyprus

Anyone losing their way in the labyrinthine narrative of Tolomeo and deeming it absurd ought to explore the true story of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Macedonia that ruled ancient Egypt for almost three centuries. By comparison, Haym’s adaptation of Capece’s earlier libretto comes across as wholly transparent. Ptolemy IX Soter really existed, like his mother, Cleopatra III – the absent instigator of the confusion portrayed in the opera, which in reality followed a different, far more tempestuous course. Tolomeo was the last work that Handel wrote for the Royal Academy of Music before its bankruptcy in 1728. A shadow was cast over the premiere by the composer’s conflict with the company’s primo uomo, the phenomenal castrato Senesino, who performed the titular role. This work also brought an end to Handel’s collaboration with Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni – the other two pillars of the triumvirate of singers who contributed to the greatest triumphs of his operas in London. Tolomeo did not immediately fall into oblivion: after the demise of the ‘first’ Academy, it was revived twice during the composer’s lifetime. It returned to the stage during the 1960s and continues to attract interest among artists as one of the most beautiful Handelian tales of the victory of good and love over the soulless cruelty of the powerful and mighty of this world.

Dorota Kozińska

translated by John Comber

Duration of the concert (including break): approx. 210 minutes