Table of Contents

The Rival Queens 1726-1728
Alessandro
Admeto Re di Tessaglia
Riccardo Primo Re d'Inghilterra
Siroe Re di Persia
Tolomeo Re di Egitto
The `Second Academy' 1729-1734
Lotario
Partenope
Poro Re dell'Indie
Ezio
Sosarme Re di Media
Orlando
Arianna in Creta
Covent Garden 1734-1737
Ariodante
Alcina
Atalanta
Arminio
Giustino
Berenice Regina di Egitto
The Last Operas 1738-1741
Faramondo
Serse
Imeneo
Deidamia

Reviews

No one writes better on Handel. No one has so sure a hotline to the whole range of his characters, in their strengths and weaknesses (and for Dean, the heart of the operas is character)...We are fortunate to have Dean's erudite and enthusiastic advocacy of these splendid works. Handel's Operas provides essential reading for scholars, a warning for directors, information for opera-goers...and a source of great pleasure for anyone interested in 18th century culture. A delight. MUSICAL TIMES (Patricia Howard)Dean's book is clearly outstanding, and is essential reading for anyone who wants to discover almost everything there is to know about these fascinating works. SUNDAY TIMES (Hugh Canning)The writing is throughout an object lesson to those who with half (or less) of Dean's scholarly knowledge would blind us with obtuse and convoluted language. It is this above all that will surely ensure Handel's Operas a place on the shelves of the general enthusiast...The completion of a near-lifetime of scholarship, it is a cause for profound gratitude and the heartiest of congratulations. GOLDBERG (Brian Robins)No music library or ardent Handelian should be without it. But one can't help feeling that the general reader too, dipping into...Handel's Operas, now has access to an unparalleled account of Handel's uniquely creative years on the stage. BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE (5 Stars)It is not fanciful to insist that without Winton Dean's invaluable devotion to Handel scholarship many of his subsequent colleagues would have remained fumbling in the dark for decades. GRAMOPHONE (David Vickers)An important book - a minor miracle. OPERAThere are riches in this book...Again and again Dean's descriptions leap off the page with a vividness that compels attention. The reader is gripped not only by the elegance and wit of his style but also by the sense that this writer...is truly a man of the theatre. EARLY MUSIC TODAYMonumental, encyclopedic, indispensable, not-to-be-superseded...essential reading. EARLY MUSIC Can be unhesitatingly recommended as the definitive study of the subject. CLASSICAL NET REVIEWDean's accomplishment is extraordinary , and his work is of monumental significance. NOTESDean's comments...are illuminating and often powerfully evocative...This book and its predecessor are a remarkable achievement. MUSIC & LETTERS