Jealousy – the poisoner of love
Hercules
George Frideric Handel
Premiere
Love, jealousy, and an unintended murder are the basic ingredients of this highly dramatic oratorio by George Frideric Handel. After Handel’s Semele, Barrie Kosky now takes on his story about the deadly power of jealousy as a parable on human weakness.
At the heart of the action is not the titular Hercules, but his wife Dejanira. Waiting for her beloved Hercules to return from his conquests has driven her nearly insane. When he finally comes home with a captive Iole, the daughter of the defeated king, Dejanira cannot believe he’s done this with no ulterior motives. Dejanira’s jealousy is baseless, but she nonetheless tries to win back her husband’s love—which she’d never actually lost—with a gift. However, the precious cloak slipped to her by a centaur is in fact poisoned, and Hercules suffers an agonizing death. In contrast, their son Hyllus finds true happiness in his love for Iole.
The premiere of Hercules in January 1745 was ill-fated. Handel had quickly whipped up several arias for a suddenly available star contralto, but then she became too ill for the premiere. After the singer who stepped in for the recitatives also turned out to be hoarse, no one could follow the tragic story anymore. The premiere was a flop. It was not until the nineteenth century that the piece’s dramatic power was rediscovered for the stage. With Hercules, director Barrie Kosky turns to another of the Handel oratorios that are seldom staged in this country. In a production that grows entirely out of the magnificent music, he makes the piece sparkle in all its grandiose and deeply human facets.
Don't miss
Mezzo-soprano Paula Murrihy as Dejanira, whose voice melts the hearts of more than just Greek heroes!
Part I
Dejanira, wife of Hercules, King of Thrace, bemoans her husband’s long absence at war. Her son Hyllus reports the oracle’s sombre prophecy: Hercules will die. Dejanira fears she’ll only see her husband again in the land of the dead. Hyllus decides to look for his father.
Dejanira, wife of Hercules, King of Thrace, bemoans her husband’s long absence at war. Her son Hyllus reports the oracle’s sombre prophecy: Hercules will die. Dejanira fears she’ll only see her husband again in the land of the dead. Hyllus decides to look for his father.
Hercules’ sister Lichas announces her brother’s victory. He returns with a number of prisoners, including Princess Iole, daughter of the King of the Oechalians, whom he killed. Hercules rules that Iole may move freely in Trachin, but she’s inconsolable, mourning the loss of her father and home. Hercules swears to lay down his weapons forever, looking forward to his wife’s love.
But Dejanira’s consumed by jealousy: She thinks he only attacked and destroyed Oechalia to win Iole. Iole adamantly refutes this assertion. Lichas tries in vain to rid Dejanira of her tormenting thoughts, but she remains convinced of her husband’s infidelity.
Part II
Hyllus has fallen in love with Iole, but she spurns the son of the man who killed her father and destroyed her homeland.
Before Hercules leaves for the victory celebrations, Dejanira accuses him of being unfaithful. He denies her accusation and begs her to forget her groundless jealousy.
In her desperation, she remembers a garment the centaur Nessos gave her after Hercules fatally wounded him. Nessos promised that the shirt soaked in his blood would rekindle extinguished love. Dejanira has Lichas deliver the shirt to Hercules as a gift of reconciliation. Sure that her husband will be hers alone again, Dejanira asks Iole’s forgiveness.
Lichas tells how Hercules took the shirt from Dejanira during the sacrificial ceremony, and put it on: the heat from the fire on the altar made the poison in the robe melt and flow into his body. Hercules collapsed trying to tear the deadly material from his body.
In infernal torment, Hercules blamed his wife, and asked Hyllus to take his body to the top of mount Oeta and burn it on a funeral pyre. Horrified at having carried out Nessos’ revenge, Dejanira, delirious, sees her guilty soul hounded by Furies. Iole feels sorry for Hercules’ family, despite her own misfortunes. Jupiter’s priest proclaims that an eagle took Hercules’ body from the pyre and flew up to Heaven with it, where he now resides with the Gods. It is Jupiter’s wish that Hyllus marry Iole.
Musical drama in three acts [1745]
Libretto by Thomas Broughton
Libretto by Thomas Broughton
Premiere on 3 March 2024
A co-production with the Frankfurt Opera
Recommended from grade 7
English
3hr 30min incl. intermission
Musikalische Leitung
Inszenierung
Bühnenbild und Kostüme
Dramaturgie
Chöre
Licht
Joachim Klein
Szenische Einstudierung
Hercules
Dejanira
Iole
Hyllus
Lichas
Priester des Jupiter
Chorsolo
Martin Fehr/Katrin Hacker/Taiki Miyashita/Takahiro Namiki
Komparserie
Komparserie
Further Productions