Handel’s Deidamia: Myth, Literature, Music (an international study day)
Thursday 28 November 2024, 10am–5pm
The Foundling Museum, Brunswick Square, London
The Handel Institute presents a free public study day devoted to Handel’s final opera Deidamia (1741). For one of the few brand-new opera librettos that the composer set, the poet Paolo Rolli drew on a complexity of Italian literary traditions of an often-revived ancient Greek narrative featuring gender swap, draft-dodging, doomed love and futile heroism. This one-day symposium will include a research seminar, several scholarly papers, a lecture recital by musicians whose forthcoming staged production is in preparation, and a round table discussion. These international contributors will all pay special attention to text-music relationships and the circumstances around the production of Handel’s last Italian opera for the London stage. This study day, in partnership with the Gerald Coke Handel Collection at the Foundling Museum, is also a timely memorial to the musicologist and harpsichordist Terence Best (d. 10 January 2024), a founding council member of The Handel Institute and editor of Deidamia for the Hallische Händel-Ausgabe.
Registration
Attendance at the Study Day is entirely free of charge and open to anyone, but please note that advance registration is obligatory. The deadline for booking online is Sunday 17 November 2024, although earlier booking is advised because space in the venue is fixed to 30 participants. If you wish to join us for lunch, the inclusive cost of £20 must be paid when you register to attend the event.
Student Bursaries
If you are studying in further or higher education outside London or abroad, or an early career academic, you may apply to The Handel Institute for a limited number of bursaries offering help with travel expenses.
Applications should be submitted using the form provided to, Dr David Vickers [email protected] as a single PDF file.
The closing date is 15 September 2024. Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their applications by the end of September.
Annual Study Day of Music in Eighteenth-Century Britain (Friday 29 November 2024)
Anyone interested in attending The Handel Institute’s event might also wish to attend this year’s annual study day on Music in Eighteenth-Century Britain, which is to be held the next day, also at the Foundling Museum. Further details and booking…
Past study days:
- Rodelinda (Cambridge, 2018)
- Theodora (Manchester, 2017)
- Atalanta (Cambridge, 2013)
- Agrippina (Cambridge, 2011)
- Handel Documents (London, 2010)
- Ariodante (Cambridge, 2009)
- Imeneo (Cambridge, 2007)
- Tamerlano (Cambridge, 2005)
- Serse in Perspective (Cambridge, 2003)
- From Passion to Oratorio (London, 2002)