Handel on the Stage

David Kimbell is Emeritus Professor of Music at the University of Edinburgh. His publications include Verdi in the Age of Italian Romanticism (Cambridge, 1981), Italian Opera (Cambridge, 1991) and Vincenzo Bellini: Norma (Cambridge, 1998). He has also contributed to The Cambridge Handel Encyclopedia, The Cambridge History of Italian Literature and The Oxford Companion to Italian Literature, and has edited volumes for Hallische Händel-Ausgabe and Works of Giuseppe Verdi.

• Preface; 1. Handel and opera – a biographical survey of the circumstances; 2. The libretto (1) – argument – dramatis personae; 3. The libretto (2) – words for music; 4. The music (1) – mastering the medium; 5. The music (2) – its role in the drama; 6. Aspects of the performance of Handelian opera in his time and in ours; Appendix: an overview of the repertory of the Royal Academy of Music.

'Not only do the carefully selected examples superbly articulate the points Kimbell wishes to make, but readers are also provided with a range of additional elements to help them follow the argument or fill potential gaps in background knowledge. … This well-written study is an essential read for anyone with an interest in Handel's operas.' Matthew Gardner, Early Music