Ezio (Handel)

Ezio ("Aetius", HWV 29) is an opera seria by George Frideric Handel to a libretto by Metastasio. Metastasio's libretto was partly inspired by Jean Racine's play Britannicus. The same libretto had already been set by many other composers first of all Nicola Porpora who managed to preempt the official Rome premiere of Pietro Auletta's setting for 26 December 1728 with his own version (of a slightly edited copy of the libretto) for Venice on 20 November, a month earlier. The libretto continued to be set and reset for another 50 years, including two versions of Ezio by Gluck. Handel's Ezio is considered one of the purest examples of opera seria with its absence of vocal ensembles.

The story of the opera is a fictionalisation of events in the life of the fifth-century AD Roman general Flavius Aetius (Ezio in Italian), returned from his victory over Attila.

Performance history

Ezio

Ezio is an Italian masculine name, originating from the Latin name Aetius.

It may refer to:

Ezio (libretto)

Ezio is an opera libretto by Metastasio, first officially set to music by Pietro Auletta and premièred in the Teatro delle Dame, Rome, on December 26, 1728; an unauthorized setting by Nicola Porpora had already been premièred a month earlier (November 20) in Venice.

Other notable settings include:

References

Ezio (Mysliveček) (1777)

Ezio is an eighteenth-century Italian opera in 3 acts by the Czech composer Josef Mysliveček. It was the composer's second setting of a libretto by the Italian poet Metastasio that was first performed in 1728, one of the most popular of the Metastasian librettos in Mysliveček's day. The story is based on incidents from the lives of the 5th-century Roman emperor Valentinian III and his general Aetius. For a performance in the 1770s, it would only be expected that a libretto of such age would be abbreviated and altered to suit contemporary operatic taste. The cuts and changes in the text made for the 1777 performance of Mysliveček's opera are not attributable. All of Mysliveček's operas are of the serious type in Italian language referred to as opera seria.

Performance history

Surname

A surname or family name is a name added to a given name. In many cases, a surname is a family name and many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name". In the western hemisphere, it is commonly synonymous with last name because it is usually placed at the end of a person's given name.

In most Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking countries, two or more last names (or surnames) may be used. In China, Hungary, Japan, Korea, Madagascar, Taiwan, Vietnam, and parts of India, the family name is placed before a person's given name.

The style of having both a family name (surname) and a given name (forename) is far from universal. In many countries, it is common for ordinary people to have only one name or mononym.

The concept of a "surname" is a relatively recent historical development, evolving from a medieval naming practice called a "byname". Based on an individual's occupation or area of residence, a byname would be used in situations where more than one person had the same name.

Handel (name)

Handel is a surname of German origin. The word "Handel" means "trade" or "commerce" in German and as such has no plural form. The name (like the famous composer's and his father's) was originally rather spelled "Händel" (with umlaut) which as a plural noun means something like "affairs". "Händel" is also a southern German variant of "Händlein" which means "little hand". The surname was later, in English-speaking places, also used as a given name.

People surnamed Handel or Händel

People with the given name Handel

Handel (disambiguation)

Handel usually refers to George Frideric Handel (1685-1759), a German/British Baroque composer.

Handel may also refer to:

Organisations referring to G. F. Handel

Places

Business