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Original NCO production: July 1998

The contexture of this drama is so very easy, that it wou'd be troubling the reader to give him a long argument to explain it. Some indications, at the temerity of Xerxes (such as his being deeply mov’d of a plane tree, and the building of the historic bridge over the Hellspont to unite Africa and Asia) are the basis of the story; the rest is fiction.  

G. F. Handel

Producer's Note

For the producer, Xerxes is a Baroque Opera that is a welcome change from the da capo arias of early 18th-century opera seria. The wide variety f musical forms probably owe their presence to Handel's desire to produce a satirical work, although as Tony Hicks points out, many of them reflect the structure of the 17th0century libretto that was reworked for Handel's piece. To a modern audience, Handel's music tends to negate some of the comedy and farce that attends much of the action; the love song to plane tree, the banishing of Arsemenes only to have him return without comment, the mistaken letter scenes, the extravagant and inappropriate expression of feelings, and the touching naiveté of all the characters who seem to instantly believe what is said to them.

One feature of the libretto is that no-one in the opera is particularly likeable. Xerxes, as the anti-hero, is deeply flawed. He is prepared to betray the woman to whom he is betrothed, he tries to force himself on a woman who does not love him, and he is guilty of credulity in believing the transparent lies of a woman who is scheming to realise the trying f her own affections. On the other hand, both Romilda and Arsemenes whose love has made them selfish, are blind to the extent to which the feelings of others might influence their relationship, while Atlanta, who seems to have strong feelings, will finally admit that there are other pebbles on the beach. Amastris is the one who appears to be  most deserving of our sympathy; yet she is a member of a Royal house spying on her lover through whatever motives; that she catches him out, does not remove the fact that she behaves in an unfitting manner. However, this does not mean that Handel treats them unsympathetically; indeed, on the occasions when they glimpse the true state of their feelings, he gives them some of the most sublime moments in the opera.

Xerxes