Parnasso in festa is Handel’s only serenata – an opera-like, but not necessarily staged, work written to celebrate a royal wedding. In this case, the subtitle … per li sponsali di Teti e Peleo, reveals that the libretto derives ultimately from the same source used by Cavalli and Rossini for their different works entitled Le nozze di Teti e di Peleo, the marriage of Thetis (sea nymph) and Peleus (Greek hero), the parents of Achilles. In Handel’s case, the god Apollo and various muses, nymphs and heroes celebrated the 1734 wedding of Anne, the Princess Royal to Prince William of Orange in the guise of Teti and Peleo. There is not a lot of what you might call plot, although Orfeo’s loss of Euridice is central to the otherwise joyous occasion. There are mythological vignettes, such as Daphne turning into a tree when pursued by Apollo, and the appearance of the royal couple was marked by their being festooned with pearls and mollusc shells, as befits the daughter of Nereus. Much of the music is recycled from Handel’s 1733 oratorio Athalia.
This was one of director Sigrid T’Hooft’s wondrous witty creations, in which Baroque gesture, movement and dance, not to mention costume, are used to create glorious moving tableaux which are a perfect fit with the singing and the sounds emanating from the pit. The scenery, on the early 19th-century stage in the Goethestheater, Bad Lauchstädt, displayed the gloriously garbed personages – Apollo gleaming in gold, Clio in blue and white paniered silk and nursing an historic scroll – amongst the clouds. Eleven singers including seven soloists comprised the on-stage personnel, and two expert Baroque dancers.
The hunting scene was outstanding. To the sound of horns, the assembled throng pursued each other elegantly about the stage, holding dainty bows, arrows, tiny hunting horns and bits of old foxes and ermine things such as one’s aunties wore to weddings. The proceedings were then suspended for a half-time interval. The coro “Si parli ancor di tronfar” (We speak then of triumph, recognisable to those familiar with Athalia as “Bless the true church and save the king”) was almost too much fun in celebrating the royal couple with unbridled encomium.
The Lautten Compagney Berlin were conducted on this occasion by Jörn Hinnerk Andresen, standing in for their usual Wolfgang Katschner. Mercifully, there were no added timpani, as in performances by this group in recent years. The overture was played with lively precision, and the band did good service in accompanying the singers throughout. There were very nice flute/recorder solos, especially in “Nel spiegar”. The choral singing was exemplary.