Alcina’s Island is a 3-act dramma giocoso (comic opera), loosely based on the character of the sorceress Alcina from Ariosto’s epic poem Orlando furioso, which was also the source for Handel’s far more serious and literary Alcina.  The successful Venetian composer Gazzaniga wrote at least 50 operas, of which L’isola d’Alcina was one of the most widely performed - his most famous score was Don Giovanni, 1787, performed by Bampton in 1997 and 2004.

Alcina's Island

Deanery Garden

St. John's Smith Square

The Barn at Old Walland

Westonbirt School Orangery Theatre

In Lo speziale (The Apothecary), the librettist Goldoni demonstrates his belief that ‘comedy was created to correct vice and ridicule bad behaviour’.  Haydn exploits the satire with characteristic wit and colour, and feasts on the comic potential of the four entangled characters.  Sempronio, a work-shy apothecary, spends his time with the newspapers, attempting to sift reality from fake news, but is readily distracted by the charms of his pretty ward Grilletta.  But her fluttering eyes are cast on his shy assistant, Mengone, a youth with little understanding of chemistry who somehow concocts a powerful laxative, to be praised in one of Haydn’s jauntiest arias.  Meanwhile Grilletta is also wooed by the foppish Volpino, whose mastery of disguise leads to a finale of delightful silliness. 

Jeremy Gray

Events

Past events

Jul 19 - Sep 13, 2024

Alcina's Island · Bampton Classical Opera

May 6, 2024

The Apothecary · Bampton Classical Opera

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