La Resurrezione--The Resurrection (Handel)

HWV 47: La Resurrezione or "Oratorio per la Risurrezione di Nostro S. Giesù Cristo"

• Genre: Oratorio
• Libretto: Carlo Sigismondo Capece (1652-1728), court poet to Queen Maria Casimira of Poland, who was living in exile in Rome.
• Completed score: 1708
• First performance: 8 April 1708 (Easter Sunday) : the Marchese Ruspoli's palace, Palazzo Bonelli, Rome. Repeated the next day.
  • Original cast :
    • S. Marie Maddalena :
      • Margherita Durastanti (soprano) - first performance only
      • Pippo (castrato) - next performance
    • Angelo : Signor Matteo (castrato)
    • S. Marie Cleofe : Signor Pasqualino (castrato)
    • S. Giovanni Evangelista : Vittorio Chicceri (tenor)
    • Lucifero : Signor Christofano (bass)
• Notes:
  • Arcangelo Corelli lead the orchestra.
  • At the second performance role sung by castrato owing to papal complaint as women were forbidden to perform on public stage in Rome. The replacement castrato was named, "Pippo soprano della Regina", or Pippo, castrato in former Queen Casimiri's service.