8 Burkholder ⦁ Opera Party Although both operas were written by notable composers, the music in Handel’s proves to be of significant interest. Donald Grout claimed that “Handel was not a revolutionist in opera; he accepted the forms he found but filled them with his own inimitable genius.”34 Arianna in Creta is no exception to this genius. A common characteristic of Handel’s operas was the establishment of a specific tonality that the audience hears throughout the entire performance. For this particular opera, D minor and major are the predominant tonalities.35 Per usual, these keys were firmly established during the overture, interspersed vaguely throughout the middle of the performance, and intentionally emphasized at the end.36 Suzanne Aspden suggests that these keys may be symbolic of “the opera's transition from tyranny to matrimony.”37 In addition, an interesting scene that appears in both operas and potentially has multiple interpretations is that of a ship in a harbor. One interpretation could be that this scene is symbolic of William IV’s arrival in England. This image appears at the end of the overture in Arianna in Creta; the setting along with the accompanying music serves to leave the audience intrigued as to what is to come.38 The details of the Ariadne operas and how they are related to the politics of the day will now be investigated. Dissection of the Ariadne Operas To see the relationship between opera and politics in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century England on display, two operas will be discussed and analyzed in detail. Arianna in Creta and Arianna in Nasso were both based on the same myth from Plutarch’s Lives and premiered in 1734.39 Porpora’s opera was produced by the company referred to as the Opera of the Nobility, a rival of Handel’s.40 These operas highlighted separate sections of the myth; however, both depict distinct similarities between the characters of Theseus and Ariadne and the marriage between William IV of Orange and Princess Anne.41 This suspicion can be somewhat confirmed by the fact that the royal family was itself divided over the 34 Grout, 188. 35 Grout, 190. 36 Grout, 190. 37 Aspden, 760. 38 Aspden, 760. 39 Aspden, 747. 40 McGeary, The Politics of Opera, 150. 41 Aspden, 756.
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