Handel's Aci, Galatea e Polifemo

Inspired by Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Handel’s Aci, Galatea e Polifemo recounts a tragic love story in which tender romance clashes with violent rage. The nymph Galatea loves the young shepherd Acis, but their happiness is threatened by the giant Polyphemus, who, consumed by jealousy, unleashes his fury on Acis. Refusing to renounce her love even in the face of Acis’ death, Galatea begs her father, the sea god Nereus, to turn her beloved into a river, thereby immortalizing him.

In this staging by Davide Livermore based on the principle of the double, each character’s emotions are amplified by actors who embody the expressive qualities of the score, which was written for the wedding of an aristocratic Neapolitan couple. Reminiscent of Corelli and Alessandro Scarlatti, Acis and Galatea is one of the crown jewels of Handel’s youth, depicting human passion with a seismic intensity that transcends the pages of its libretto.