Opera - Armide

Nicolas Poussin, Rinaldo and Armida

The story of Rinaldo and Armide is, to say the least, an intriguing one. It interweaves tales of conquest with moments of passion, blurring the lines between love and hate. It first appeared in the form of a 16th century romance epic, the Gerusalemme Liberata, by Torquato Tasso. Since then, there have been numerous reincarnations of the tale in different operas throughout the ages. This essay shall focus on two specific operas in the Baroque period, namely Jean-Baptiste Lully’s Armide and George Frederic Handel’s Rinaldo. I will attempt to compare and contrast these two productions, concentrating on elements in their librettos and musical dramatic techniques.

The librettos of these two operas share some common traits. Both of them exalt the value of war and glory over love. War is seen as a manly, honorable activity; a means of achieving one’s goals through fair play. In Giacomo Rossi’s libretto for Handel’s Rinaldo, Armide wins back her estranged lover Argante through her “manly” desire for fair combat. Rinaldo is well-respected and loved because he is a valiant warrior, not because he is a lover. In fact, in Rinaldo, he is chided by Goffredo for being momentarily distracted from his duty by his love for Almirena. The above incident also exemplifies how love is represented in both operas. While it brings fleeting joy and ecstasy, it also causes pain and hatred in its wake. It is seen as a selfish endeavor that one could possibly punished for. In Philippe Quinault’s libretto for Armide, the title character turns her back on fighting for her faith and country, instead focusing her powers on forcing Rinaldo to love her. In return for her efforts, she gets her heart broken and loses a portion of her power. Rinaldo himself forsakes Armide’s love to return to war, even though he still has residual feelings for her. In Rinaldo, love also deeply complicates the relationships between Armide, Rinaldo, and their respective lovers, and distracts them from their goals.

On the other hand, the two librettos drastically differ in terms of plot and characters. While the basic storyline in which Armide falls in love with Rinaldo while trying to defeat him stays constant, there are many other discrepancies between the two operas. Handel’s version of the tale includes Almirena and Argante, the lovers of Rinaldo and Armide respectively. As a result, Rinaldo boasts a far more love-centered progression of events, featuring a large amount of interaction between the four lovers. Argante falls in love with Almirena while Armide does the same for Rinaldo. Jealousy and confusion result, and Argante goes to war against Armide for a period of time in the opera. Furthermore, Rinaldo incorporates the appearance of another interesting character: the good sorcerer who helps Goffredo and Eustazio find Armide’s fortress. All these little twists and subplots are completely excluded in Lully’s Armide, in which neither Almirena, Argante or the sorcerer are present. His version is far more simplistic and focuses more on the relationship between the two main characters, as well as the war.

Another major difference between the two operas is their endings. In Lully’s finale, Armide is defeated only in matters of love; she remains unpunished otherwise. She still has her powers, and dissembles her castle in a fit of wrath, flying off to wreak vengeance on Rinaldo. Her grand exit reflects the fact that she is still in control of the situation. However, in Handel’s Rinaldo, the Crusaders enjoy a definite victory over Armide and Argante. The two defeated lovers are so impressed by their enemies’ power that they willingly convert to the Christian faith. The ending of Rinaldo is definitely happier and more politically correct than that of Armide, which is left tantalizingly open.

Besides differences in storyline and characters, the two operas also differ in terms of dramatization and characterization. The two productions were written in distinct time periods and locations, where political climates and operatic traditions were disparate from each other. While Lully and Handel stayed true to certain elements of the story and furnished the main characters with similar personalities, they embellished their respective renditions of the tale with their own inventions and incorporated musical trends of the time into their operas.

One major difference between the two operas is the separation of emotions in characters. Handel’s Rinaldo, being an Opera Seria, pays heed to the Doctrine of Affections, a popular mode of thought at the time, in which rational human beings were believed to experience only one emotion at a time. As a result, his opera shows both Rinaldo and Armide showing at most 2 emotions in their arias. Rinaldo’s aria, “Cara Sposa”, showcases his two conflicting feelings of tenderness and violence, signaling him as a character who is not completely rational. However, these emotions are separated by ritornellos into distinct sections, showing that some semblance of structure still remains. Armide’s conflicting emotions in “Dunque I lacci” and “Ah, crudel” are similarly separated into alternating sections of lamentation and anger. This sense of segregation continues on a broader level throughout the opera; recitatives which denote action and dialogue are sharply distinguished from the more emotive and passionate arias. On the other hand, in Lully’s Tragedie lyrique Armide, both characters show a relative lack of restraint in segmenting their emotions. Set pieces frequently feature a wide range of feelings, all of which are not confined to specific sections. Armide in particular exhibits an impressive amount of emotions in her singing, and Lully allows them to weave together into a colorful tapestry of humors. One example of the fluidity of her emotions is her accompanied recitative “Le Perfide Renaud”, in which she shows the audience her pain, self-pity, regret, wrath, and confusion all in the same song. Also, not only Armide, but other characters in Handel’s Rinaldo are able to make smooth transitions between recitative, aria and other forms of song in between; this serves to further enhance the intergration of different emotions with each other.

Another notable distinction between the two operas is the different vocal roles assigned to Rinaldo. Lully’s self-established form of French opera advocated the use of manly, lower voices in male roles. One possible reason for this was because Rinaldo, being the heroic protagonist of the opera, was designed to represent and exalt the reigning monarch of the time, Louis XIV. As a result, Rinaldo’s part is traditionally sung by a counter-tenor, depicting Rinaldo as masculine and noble. However, Handel chose a higher, soprano voice (traditionally meant to be sung by a castrato) for Rinaldo, as well as other male characters, in his opera. This was because he was conforming to the trend in Italian opera where it was typical for castrati or biological women to take the roles of men. As a result, Handel’s Rinaldo is a much more effeminized, possibly irrational character. This is exemplified by his greater tendency to love and be toyed with by love, as compared to Lully’s Rinaldo. The Rinaldo in Handel’s opera is more prone to being distracted from his duties as a warrior in order to rescue his fiancée.

Lully’s and Handel’s operas both manage to convey the atmosphere of Tasso’s original epic poem effectively. Both operas maintain and reinforce the themes of conquest and love, and how they relate to each other. They also remain reasonably true to the characters and events depicted in the Gerusalemme Liberata. However, this is where most of the similarity ends. Each opera has its own intricacies in detail and design, differing in plot, characterization, and the types of music sung by its characters. It is indeed interesting to observe how each composer adapted this famous story to his own style.