Handel – Agrippina (Malgoire, Grande Ecurie, Chambre Du Roy) DVD – Philippe Jaroussky, Thierry Grégoire

Agrippina was staged for the first time in late December 1709 – or possibly at the beginning of 1710 – at Venice’s Teatro San Grisostomo and met with enormous success as testified by twenty-seven following performances a record number even for 18th-century standards. Agrippina’s triumph sanctioned Handel’s definitive investiture as an operatic composer. After nearly 300 years this opera appears as a masterpiece of 18th-century music and an innovative work considering that when Handel composed it he was just twenty-four years old. The composer’s melodic creativity and sense of theatre are quite remarkable. The cast conducted by Jean-Claude Malgoire includes Vronique Gens in the title role.