Polifemo (opera)

Polifemo is an opera in three acts by Nicola Porpora with a libretto by Paolo Rolli. The opera is based on a combination of two mythological stories involving the cyclops Polyphemus: His killing of Acis and his blinding by Ulysses.

The last of five operas Porpora composed while residing in London, the opera premiered on 1 February 1735 at King's Theatre, and featured the famed castrato singers Farinelli and Senesino. Polifemo was Porpora's second-most popular opera, after his Arianna in Nasso.

The beginning of the eighteenth century saw the rise of Italian culture in London. Not only was Italian literature popular, but there was a "sudden craze for Italian opera". Among the many creative energies of Italian creators in the 18th century it was felt that opera best encapsulated the principles of neoclassicism. Italian opera had been presented in London as early as 1705 with Thomas Clayton's Arsinoe, Queen of Cyprus. The success of George Frideric Handel's first Italian opera for London, Rinaldo of 1711 and three subsequent operas led to the formation in 1720 of the Royal Academy of Music, a company devoted to presenting Italian opera at King's Theatre. Despite the financial stability due in large part to backing from King George I, the company collapsed in 1728, probably due to a combination of high fees for star singers as well as the changing tastes of the public, who had made The Beggar's Opera (first performed 29 January 1728) a hit. Handel and his impresario John Jacob Heidegger were able to start a Second Royal Academy of Music in 1729. This second company was based on a subscription model. Although it started out moderately, its success grew with the re-engagement of Senesino, the castrato who had successfully performed in Handel's Italian operas of the "first" Royal Academy of Music. Beginning in 1731, Handel began to incorporate English into his operas. In 1732 there had been a pirated version of his Acis and Galatea. Handel responded with a new production in while interpolating Italian arias from his dramatic cantata of 1708, Aci, Galatea e Polifemo. While Handel did not abandon Italian opera entirely, he was aware of the public's changing tastes, moving away from heroic plots towards more magical elements while stretching the boundaries of opera seria.

Though the castrato Senesino had often been featured in Handel's works, their relationship was fraught. The premiere of Handel's oratorio Deborah with prices in excess of what patrons would pay for an opera led to some consternation on the part of the public. It was also the culmination of disagreements between singer and composer. Senesino was fired a few weeks after the Deborah's premiere. In solidarity with her colleague, soprano Francesca Cuzzoni also left the company. Through appeals to the nobility, Senesino, under the patronage of Frederick, Prince of Wales, was able to create a second company to rival Handel's: The Opera of the Nobility. Nearly all of Handel's singers deserted his company for this new company including Antonio Montagnana and Francesca Bertolli. Porpora was invited to write operas for the company and Paolo Rolli was hired as the company's official poet/librettist. Securing the theatre at Lincoln's Inn Fields, their first production was Porpora's Arianna in Naxo with a libretto by Rolli, presented 29 December 1733.

For the 1734–35 season, Handel's company took up residence at Covent Garden, allowing the Opera of the Nobility to take over King's Theatre at Haymarket.

Italian opera in London depended on bold dramatic and scenic effects along with occasionally pageantry which would in turn inspire composers to produce evocative music. Librettist Rolli favored mythological plots, based on French opera. This allowed for the incorporation of magic and supernatural effects, which opera of the time, typically based on historical incidents, would not allow. Musicologist Darryl Jacqueline Dumigan wrote that in his writing he was "able to push the boundaries of the static opera seria conventions with a greater freedom of structure that challenged the prevailing rigid formula of alternating action contained in secco rcitative with suspension aria."

The plot is drawn from two sources, Ovid's Metamorphoses (book XIII, 750) which involves Polyphemus, Acis and Galatea as well as Homer's Odyssey which involve Ulysses (the Roman name for Odysseus), Polyphemus and Calypso. Rolli's libretto differs from Homer. The librettist has Calipso (Calypso) helping Ulisse (Ulysses) to thwart Polifemo (Polyphemus). (In Homer the episode with Polyphemus occurs prior to Ulysses's encounter with Calypso who is determined to win over Ulysses.) Dumigan suggests that Rolli might have been aiming for more "dramatic truth." Despite Polifemo being an ugly and evil cyclops, he is allowed to show another side of his personality by revealing his despair at having lost his sight. Galatea, who loses immortality upon the death of Aci, is allowed to plead for her life, revealing more of a three-dimensional character.

After its premiere on 1 February 1735, Polifemo had eleven subsequent performances. The London Daily Post and General Advertiser wrote that it had attracted "one of the greatest audiences that hath been known this season." the work's final performance of the season was 7 June 1735.