Underworld Productions Opera Performance: HAENDEL'S "APOLLO & DAFNE"

Underworld Productions Opera presents Apollo & Dafne by G.F. Handel (1710), the archetypal story of Apollo’s aggression toward Dafne, her escape via metamorphosis, and the laurel wreath woven from her limbs. This performance is sung in Italian with supertitles, semi-staged, with piano accompaniment.

Handel began work on Apollo & Dafne in Venice in 1709 and completed it in Hanover in 1710. While conceived as a secular cantata, the drama and pathos of the score presage his success as a composer of Italian operas. The many clear references in the libretto to specific actions render it appropriate for a staged performance. The work opens with the god Apollo proclaiming his victory over the Python. No sooner has he declared his invincibility, even to Cupid’s assaults, than he is stricken with an infatuation for the mortal Dafne. Apollo tests every method to win this follower of the chaste goddess Diana, from lofty speeches to flattery to seduction, finally resorting to force. At the moment of crisis, Dafne is transformed into a laurel tree. The god, despairing of ever carrying her in his heart, consoles himself wearing the wreath of her limbs on his brow. Apollo & Dafne will be performed by Amelia Watkins, soprano (Dafne) and Jesse Cromer, baritone (Apollo), with Elizabeth Rodgers at the piano.

Image of Bernini's Apollo e Dafne, by Manuel Servin.