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Amadigi di Gaula (1715)
By George Frideric Handel (Georg Friedrich Händel)
Recordings
 Handel.
Amadigi di Gaula. (HWV 11, London 1715). Naïve Ambroisie
AM 133 (2 CDs, November 2007).
Details. Eduardo López Banzo, Al Ayre Español. Amadigi:
Maria Riccarda Wesseling, mezzo-soprano; Oriana: Elena de la
Merced, soprano; Melissa & Orgando: Sharon Rostorf-Zamir,
soprano; Dardano: Jordi Domènech, countertenor. Minkowski's 1989
recording is superior in virtually every respect, i.e.,
conducting, all the soloists, and acoustics. This one is worth
getting only for the new English translation and, for Spanish
speakers, a Spanish translation. Fast arias are performed very
fast and often with harsh bowing, but due to slow recitatives
and some extended cadenzas and the record company's
unwillingness to spend a few cents for a third CD, the repeat of
the siciliana aria was omitted. (This 2-CD set comes in a
space-hogging 3-CD box.) Update: Anthony Hicks points out
that Banzo performed the previously unrecorded 4/4 version of
Melisso's aria "Io godo, scherzo e rido", which is printed in an
appendix to the HHA edition. EMR 124: 35 (April 2008).
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 Handel.
Amadigi di Gaula. (HWV 11, London 1715). Erato 2292
454902 (2 CDs, 1991). Marc Minkowski, Les Musiciens du Louvre.
Amadigi: Nathalie Stutzmann, contralto; Oriana: Jennifer Smith,
soprano; Melissa: Eiddwen Harrhy, soprano; Dardano: Bernarda
Fink, contralto; Orgando: Pascal Bertin, countertenor.
Outstanding performances by Stutzmann and Fink. Fast arias are
taken very fast but are not unpleasant.
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JPReissued on Warner Classics 2564-69651-9 (2008) in a 6-CD set with Minkowki's recordings of Teseo & Il Trionfo. Improved with new typeset librettos with new aria translations (pdf). US | UK | FR | DE | CA | JP |
Related Operas
André Cardinal Destouches. Amadis de Grèce (Paris 1699). Libretto by Antoine Houdar de La Motte. Handel's libretto is a translation of La Motte rather than the superior libretto by Quinault set by Lully in 1684.
Original Cast
Amadigi: Nicolini, alto castrato; Oriana: Anastasia Robinson, soprano; Melissa: Elisabetta Pilotti-Schiavonetti, soprano; Dardano: Diana Vico, contralto; Orgando: possibly Caterina Galerati, soprano.
Interesting Details
In their revised edition, Dean & Knapp report that an incomplete set of six instrumental parts was discovered in the Fürstenberg Library. The parts evidently were prepared for a purely instrumental performance, giving the vocal line generally to the first oboe. "Five arias have a number of stylish ornaments squeezed in by a second hand; though intended for instruments, they would be equally suitable for the voice." Dean & Knapp (1995), page 297.
References
Winton Dean & J. Merrill Knapp. Handel's Operas, 1704-1726. (Oxford University Press 1995 (1987)).
R. Strohm, "Handel and his Italian opera texts." Essays on Handel and the Italian Opera. (Oxford University Press 1985).
David Kimbell, "The 'Amadis' operas of Handel and Destouches." Music & Letters 49: 329-346 (1968)