Apollo e Dafne
TITLE
Apollo e Dafne
ABOUT
In this program, Opera Fuoco presents the Roman myth through the works of two masters of the 18th century, George Frederick Handel’s Apollo e Dafne, composed in 1709 and Johann Joseph Fux’s Dafne in Lauro, written five years later. The program highlights the splendid use of arias with obbligato instruments in Handel‘s virtuosic secular cantata which anticipates the brilliant operatic writing of his later London years.
Adding two arias from Fux's opera creates a coherent dramaturgy: Amor’s first aria serves as an opening to Handel‘s cantata (for which the overture has been lost), and both of Amor’s arias become theatrical bookends, as if the cantata were an opera. Amor, boasting of his irresistible powers, is now challenged by Apollo who claims his weapons are far superior to Cupid’s inconsequential arrows.
Thus begins the god‘s pursuit of the beautiful river nymph. After Dafne declares her allegiance to the chaste goddess Diana, her ultimate transformation into a laurel tree and Apollo‘s final lament, a spirited Amor returns to the stage and concedes that in spite of his many tricks, Virtue has the greater value.
The lively and playful conclusion doesn’t diminish the somber and contemplative mood left by this story of non-consensual love.
Concert presented by David Stern
ARTISTS
Katharina Wolff & David Stern - Artistic Direction
Soloists and former soloists of the Opera Fuoco Young Artists Program
Iryna Kyshliaruk – Dafne
Jennifer Courcier – Amore
Kevin Arboleda – Apollo
Katharina Wolff - Violin
Hélène Mourot - Oboe
Jennifer Hardy - Cello
Kenneth Weiss - Harpsichord
Randa Haines - Semi staging
PROGRAM
Georg Friederich Handel (1685-1759)
Cantata Apollo e Dafne HWV 122
Johann Joseph Fux (1660-1741)
Arias from the opera Dafne in Lauro