Content area
Full Text
(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)
Flavio was one of the 'winners' in Winton Dean's definitive re-evaluation of Handel's operas, first in Handel and the Opera Seria (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969) and then in Handel's Operas, 1704-1726 (co-authored with John Merrill Knapp (Oxford: Clarendon, 1987; second edition 1995)). Previously misunderstood, underestimated, or virtually ignored, it now occupies a distinguished place in a category aptly named by Dean 'antiheroic operas'. It is impossible to improve on Dean's summary ( Handel's Operas, 1704-1726, 466): '[Flavio] is in its modest way a little masterpiece. The prevailing temper is one of sly amusement at the follies and absurdities of the human species, not excluding the more convulsive passions. These flickering emotional cross-currents between tragedy and farce, irony and pathos, are held beautifully in balance.'
The libretto was adapted by Nicola Haym from an earlier one by Matteo Noris, itself ultimately derived from the Gesta Langobardorum of Paulus Diaconus. The action takes place at a time in the Dark Ages when Britain was ruled by Lombardy. The plot is tightly constructed: its individual strands are skilfully interwoven, and the motivations for the action spring convincingly from the characters of the protagonists. There are two pairs of lovers: Guido (son of Ugone) and Emilia (daughter of Lotario) are about to be married; Vitige, a courtier, and Teodata (daughter of Ugone) are conducting a clandestine love affair. Lotario had been expecting to be named the next governor of Britain in succession to Narsete, but Flavio, the King of Lombardy, appoints Ugone instead: having been attracted by the charms of Teodata, the king hopes that the absence of her father will give him easier access to the daughter. Angry at being passed over, Lotario (offstage) slaps Ugone's face. Ugone demands of his son that he avenge the insult by punishing Lotario. Thus wounded pride and a smarting cheek lead to a tragic outcome that is out of proportion to its origin: Guido feels impelled, by filial duty, to fight a duel with the father of his fiancée. The consequences of his action come to a head in the opera's most powerful scene, when Emilia confronts her father's murderer, and Guido invites her to kill him. The Flavio-Teodata-Vitige...