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She Did It First

She Did It First
La Bella by Palma Vecchio, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

Will the real Alcina please stand up? For opera fans, the Alcina that comes to mind is the seductive sorceress and titular role in George Frideric Handel's 1735 opera seria, based on the Italian epic by romantic Renaissance poet Ludovico Aristo. Mixing history with high fantasy, Aristo’s tale follows a chivalrous knight during Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne's campaign to defend Christianity against the Saracen army. Magicians and maidens interfere, and a hero even takes a ride upon a hippogriff — the mythical mare with the wings and head of an eagle that was invented by Aristo, long before it was borrowed by J.K. Rowling for "Harry Potter."

Handel also wrote "Orlando" and "Ariodante" based on the poem, but back in 1625, Italian composer Francesca Caccini had already staged the material in her comic piece "The Liberation of Ruggiero from The Island of Alcina" — the first opera written by a woman. In Caccini's tale of romantic rivals and gender-bending, wandering knight Ruggiero (the one who rides the hippogriff) falls under the love spell of the wicked witch Alcina, and must be saved by the good witch Melissa, disguised as a man. "Alcina" (Francesca’s Version) will be at Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, Mass., on Friday, June 23, and Saturday, June 24, as part of the Boston Early Music Festival.

Alexander Wilburn

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