First performed in 1723, Ottone is one of Handel’s problem pieces. It has been much criticised for narrative confusion, though its flaws lie ultimately in variability of inspiration and characterisation. The plot has much in common with the formal patterning and metaphysical interventions of medieval romance: Ottone, German ruler of the Holy Roman Empire and his Byzantine bride, Teofane, have fallen in love with each others’ portraits, but are prevented from meeting by a combination of court intrigue and the workings of abstract destiny.
This hapless pair, however, are ciphers – he is conventionally heroic, she relentlessly put-upon and sorrowful – and Handel is much more interested in the intriguers: Gismonda, the wicked queen of Italy, and her wanton son, Adelberto, former lover of Ottone’s strong-willed sister, Matilda, though he now has designs on both Teofane and Ottone’s throne. This splendid trio get the best numbers in the score and bring it magnificently, if intermittently, to life.
James Conway’s new production for English Touring Opera bravely tackles the resulting unevenness, but doesn’t succeed in fully overcoming it. Handel set the opera in Rome; Conway relocates it to Byzantium and is particularly good when it comes to machinations in the corridors of power. His emphasis on sensual cruelty sits at times uneasily, however, with the hardness of edge that we find in the score.
The opera is handsomely conducted by Jonathan Peter Kenny, and there are terrific performances from Gillian Webster, all hauteur, tantrums and maternal anguish as Gismonda, and Rosie Aldridge as vindictive Matilda. Andrew Radley is the attractive, if lethal Adelberto. Clint van der Linde and Louise Kemeny sound good as Ottone and Teofane; that we find neither character quite credible is ultimately Handel’s responsibility, not theirs.
• At West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge until Friday. Box office: 01223 503333. Then touring.
