Free Handel by Jonathan Keates Page B

elaborate on the women’s discovery of the empty sepulchre and the joyful news brought to the Apostles.
    If there is little in all this to recall the sublimities of Messiah , Saul or Israel in Egypt , Capeci’s excellent poetry is transfigured by a score of unabashed richness, in which Handel concentrates on arias that are effectively a series of detailed emotional studies, designed to heighten our awareness of individual moods, as opposed to adding anything to a composite character portrait or to illuminating a central theme. Even by the standards of the Ruspoli–Ottoboni–Pamphilj world there is an exceptional reliance here on the varying strands of orchestral sound. In Maria Maddalena’s ‘Ferma l’ali’ we are invited to admire the suppleness of the vocal line while simultaneously being wooed by a pair of recorders, muted violins and viola da gamba. Trumpets add lustre to Cleofe’s ‘Vedo il ciel’, but the rising sun evoked by Giovanni in ‘Ecco il sol’ is portrayed with an elegant economy through simple use of an ornate continuo line – in the end Handel’s trust was founded upon his basses.
    With the success of La Resurrezione still reverberating, Handel left Rome for Naples in May 1708. His departure was doubtless hastened by the unexpected intensity with which the war in Italy now gathered momentum. Encouraged by a gradual weakening in political support for England’s share in the conflict, the French had stepped up their military effort in Flanders and Spain, and the Austrians were now constrained to follow suit. The fall of Mantua to the imperial troops the previous year had not simply served to enrich the cast of Vincer se stesso è la maggior vittoria with the singers of its dethroned duke.Pope Clement’s wavering neutrality was now severely threatened and an army under Marshal Count Daun actually appeared at the gates of Rome itself en route to Naples. The point has been very well made that the situation in Italy during these years was bad enough to undermine the traditional sources of local patronage towards musicians of all kinds and to create the diaspora artistica which sent many composers and instrumentalists of the highest quality wandering through Europe in search of secure employment.
    Naples was hardly the safest of places. A strong Austrian military presence under the command of Prince Philip of Hesse Darmstadt upheld viceregal rule in the name of Archduke Charles as King of Spain. Just before Handel arrived the rough and ready Count Daun was superseded as viceroy by a man of very different stamp, to whom the composer was probably recommended by Cardinal Pamphilj. One of the most powerful figures in the whole of Italy, Vincenzo Grimani came of a Venetian noble family, several of whose members had held high offices of state and two of whom were actually doges. Related to the Mantuan Gonzagas through his mother, he had used his connexions in tireless political activity on Austria’s behalf. The cardinal’s hat he had gained from Innocent XII in 1697 was probably a good deal less important to him than the gift of abbeys in Lombardy and Hungary from the Emperor Leopold, for whom, as ambassador to Turin, he had secured the alliance of the Duke of Savoy. Promptly banished from Venice for his pro-Austrian activities, Grimani went on further imperial missions to London and The Hague, and began to intrigue from a distance against the Spanish government in Naples. His involvement in the Congiura di Macchia, a conspiracy of Neapolitan nobles in 1701 to assassinate the Spanish viceroy, was widely suspected. Seven years later he himself assumed viceregal powers, winning popularity among the Neapolitans for his efficiency and fairness in sorting out civic finances, consolidating the administration of justice and reducing the burden of church taxes on ordinary citizens, a measure that earned criticism from an already hostile Pope Clement.