The score Handel provided for Giulio Cesare was the richest he had attempted to date, including as a does a miraculous range of styles and orchestral colouring that includes parts for two pairs of horns. Notably, only two of the arias in the original score are scored for continuo alone, a remarkably low proportion for Handel at this stage of his operatic career.

The Opera

Giulio Cesare is set during the period of Caesar’s visit to Egypt during the period of the Alexandrine War (48-47 BC). Having defeated his rival, the Roman general Pompey, in Greece, Caesar has pursued him to Egypt, where Cleopatra and her younger brother Ptolomy XII are joint rulers. Although the characters are based on historical figures, the libretto takes considerable dramatic licence, particularly with Caesar, in the opera a virile young man, but in reality a man in his mid-fifties at the time of the action.

The dotted opening of the French overture at once creates an aura of grandeur and spaciousness, while the dynamic fugal movement that follows was originally used in Ottone. Handel then springs the first of many dramatic surprises. What we expect to be a minuet dance movement of the kind Handel frequently employed to round off his overtures becomes a grand chorus of welcome (sung by the principals; Handel’s operas did not employ an independent chorus at this stage of his career) by the Egyptians to Caesar, the orchestration enriched by the sumptuous sound of two pairs of horns. He responds with a brief heroic arioso, “Presti omai” driven by a strong ascending octave upbeat. Already one notes the presence of the low chest notes that were one of Senesino’s great strengths; they will occur in most of Caesar’s music. Caesar, who in the succeeding recitative manages to squeeze in his immortal “Veni, vidi, vici” line, and Curio are approached by Cornelia and her son Sesto, who come to sue for peace. Caesar, the embodiment of enlightened rule, graciously grants it. Achilla arrives with a band of Egyptians to greet the Romans. His master Tolomeo has not only offered Caesar the use of his palace, but offers the conqueror a gift, now revealed by Achilla. It is the head of Pompey. Caesar and Curio are horrified, Cornelia and Sesto devastated. While Caesar orders Achilla to return to his master to convey his disgust, the Egyptian general casts lustful glances at the beautiful widow. Caesar now gives vent to his feelings in “Empio, dirò”, a furious tirade in C minor directed at Achilla. It is articulated by angry scales commencing on a unison violin descent of two octaves, while the vocal line includes long chains of passaggi.

The stage is now left to Cornelia and Sesto to share their sorrow, Cornelia doing so in the first of her four tragic arias, “Priva son d’ogni conforto”, a largo in which the sympathetic sighs of the violins add to the poignancy of the moment. If anything, the B section, which speaks of a heart “already weary of suffering”, intensifies the emotional pull. Despite the tragic mien of the aria, it also conveys the essential dignity and nobility of Cornelia. Full of youthful ardour and impetuosity, Sesto’s response in “Svegliatevi nel core” is very different. In the first part it calls conventionally enough on the furies to give him the spirit to avenge his father’s death, but the beautifully sombre central section with flutes (instruments associated with mourning) elevates the aria onto a distinctly higher plain.