Since we did not know whether there would be a second (let alone subsequent) production of a Handel opera after the first, choosing what might have been our one-and-only Handel opera for the composer’s tercentenary year was fairly straightforward. I had for many years had a very high regard for Rodelinda, one of the trio of masterpieces that received their first performances – astonishingly – within a single year: between 20 February 1724 (Giulio Cesare in Egitto) and 13 February 1725 (Rodelinda). (I have never seriously considered tackling Giulio Cesare: not only does it require two armies, but it is also one of the most frequently performed of all of Handel’s operas. Twenty years later, however, we did perform the middle opera of the trio, Tamerlano.)
With no money in the bank, raising sponsorship was a high priority. We were fortunate to secure corporate funding from eight organisations, and individual donations from several generous people. (One of the corporate sponsors and one of the individuals are still supporting Cambridge Handel Opera today.) Even with this financial support, we could offer our singers only very modest fees. They were either current students on postgraduate courses at conservatoires, or recent graduates. One of them – Jonathan Peter Kenny (countertenor), in the primo uomo role of Bertarido – sang with CHO in three more productions: as Guido in Flavio (1987), in the title role of Amadigi (1991), and as Demetrio in Berenice (1993). Rodelinda was sung by Anne Richards, who had held a Choral Exhibition at Selwyn College, where she read Music, and then won a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music.
My colleague as stage director was Tertia Sefton-Green, at the time a third-year undergraduate reading English at Selwyn College. It was Tertia who introduced an acting style that has been a distinguishing feature of CHO productions ever since: one that is in keeping with the practices of the eighteenth century, according to which visual aspects such as elegance, beauty, and balance are just as important as naturalness of expression.
Andrew Jones (Music Director)
