Diego Fasolis, I Barocchisti - George Frideric Handel: Faramondo (2009)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 894 Mb | Total time: 65:59+48:52+51:17 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Virgin Classics | # 2 16611 2 9 | Recorded: 2008
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 894 Mb | Total time: 65:59+48:52+51:17 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Virgin Classics | # 2 16611 2 9 | Recorded: 2008
Until it was revived in the late twentieth century, Handel's opera Faramondo was performed just eight times in London in 1738 and then fell into obscurity. According to the conventions of Italian opera of the period, men's roles were often written for women, in spite of the lack of dramatic realism, and the use of castrati was common, so higher voices strongly predominate. Handel wrote the title role, which would have gone to a castrato, usually a male alto, for Cafarelli, who had the range of a mezzo-soprano.