Radamisto Opera seria in tre atti The revival of 1728

Handel revived Radamisto for the last time at the beginning of 1728. Senesino and Boschi retained the roles of Radamisto and Tiridate, Faustina Bordoni sang Zenobia, Francesca Cuzzoni Polissena, Giovanni Battista Palmerini Farasmane, and the alto Antonio Baldi was Tigrane. Handel altered the structure of the work fundamentally, in order to give equal status to the two rival prime donne Faustina and Cuzzoni, with eight arias apiece. Polissena was given three extra arias: the first was Fraarte's "Lascia pur amica spene” (16) which, with a recitative derived from a scene which occurs at this point in Lalli's libretto (omitted in Handel's 1720 versions), was interpolated as a new Act I scene 9; the aria had its opening words changed to "Vieni pur, amica spene”. Then the opening of Act III was rewritten to create a scene for Polissena which included two of Zenobia's former arias, "Troppo sofferse” (23), and "Fatemi, o Cieli, almen” (19); again the inspiration was from Lalli: in the 1720 versions Handel's Act III began with Lalli's scene 3, in which Tigrane and Fraarte debate their plan to remove Tiridate's power; in 1728 Handel preceded this with a shortened version of Lalli's scenes 1 and 2, in which Polissena is informed by Fraarte that Tiridate has repudiated her: the elimination of Fraarte from the cast means that Tigrane takes the role in this scene in Handel's score. The new beginning of the act makes clearer Tigrane's motivation for his later actions; and Handel's revision of "Troppo sofferse” is an interesting reworking of a beautiful aria. Other changes to Polissena's part are the restoration of the original tessitura in "Sommi Dei” (1) and of the original key of E major in "Tu vuoi ch'io parta” (4), and the upward transposition of "Barbaro, partirò” (31) to make use of Cuzzoni's top notes. Zenobia, sung by Faustina, lost "Son contenta di morire” (7) in Act I, in favour of Fraarte's "Deh, fuggi un traditore” (2), with altered words. In Act II, her "Quando mai, spietata sorte” (13) was transposed to G major, with flute obbligato substituted for the oboe; "Già che morir non posso” (17) was raised to D minor; her "Fatemi, o Cieli, almen” (19) being transferred to Polissena in Act III, it was replaced by Radamisto's "Ferite, uccidete” (no 7 of the April 1720 version). Since Zenobia also lost "Troppo sofferse” to Polissena, she was compensated by the elimination of the Duet at the end of Act II (25), which was replaced by the aria "Parmi che giunta in porto”. The other Radamisto-Zenobia duet, "Non ho più affanni” (36) in Act III, was also dropped in favour of an aria, the one which occurs at this point in the April 1720 version, "O scemami il diletto”, raised in pitch and shortened. The Act III aria "Deggio dunque” (33) was transposed to G minor, and an oboe replaced the violoncello solo. Tigrane became an alto, and lost two arias: "L'ingrato non amar" (3), and "Vuol ch'io serva" (14) - the omission of the second restores the better dramatic flow of the April 1720 version of Act II scene 2 - and the remaining three were lowered in pitch for Baldi. Farasmane lost his only aria, "Son lievi le catene" (9), and at the end of the opera Act III scenes 8-10 were omitted, as was the quartet (35).