George Frideric Handel composed the large-scale secular serenata Aci, Galatea e Polifemo for a ducal wedding in Naples in July 1708. The libretto is based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses and is about the love between the sea nymph Galatea and the shepherd Acis, who is destroyed by the Cyclops Polyphemus. This early masterwork will be presented for the first time using the Halle Handel Edition in a performance given by René Jacobs and the Akademie für Alte Musik in the Schiller-Theater, Berlin on 5 and 6 February.

The Hannover-Herrenhausen Arts Festival is offering a real operatic rarity on 26 June with Francesco Cavalli’s dramma per musica  L'Artemisia, first performed in Venice in 1657. For the first performance in modern times, Cavalli specialist Hendrik Schulze has prepared a critical edition which Claudio Cavina and his ensemble La Venexiana use in their interpretation. A further performance is planned for 24 July at the Festival de Radio France et Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon, which will be followed by a CD recording. The full score and performance material of L’Artemisia are published by Bärenreiter in their new series “Opere di Francesco Cavalli”.

Leoš Janáček’s symphonic fragment Dunaj (The Danube) dates from the period of the composition of “Katya Kabanova”. The composer was not concerned with a musical-picturesque description of a river landscape, but with the mythical link between women’s destinies and water.

Rossini composed only a few works in the last years of his life. These include the Petite Messe Solennelle which was performed privately. This chamber music version with two pianos and harmonium exists in two versions. These are now being presented for the first time in a single edition.

During Handel’s lifetime Ezio only received five performances, yet the work, which deals freely with an episode from the end of the Roman Empire, deserves to be rediscovered. This is now possible, using the Halle Handel Edition as a secure scholarly basis.

Leoš Janáček’s String Quartet No. 2 “Intimate Letters” belongs to those works whose performance history has been shaped by adaptations made by its interpreters.

Erstmals werden nun in der Neuedition im Rahmen der Kritischen Gesamtausgabe der Werke von Leoš Janáček die Schichten der Komposition freigelegt.

Handel’s penultimate oratorio was not a success. A total of just five performances were arranged. The subject matter was evidently too unfamiliar for Londoners. Now Theodora is being published in the Complete Edition, with vocal score and performance material.