The heroics of youth. The dangers of experience.
Handel’s Giustino is an opera depicting a young man’s rise to fame and glory from lowly beginnings. Based on the real-life story of the Byzantine Emperor Justin in the sixth century, Giustino uses historical events as the starting point for a fantastical coming-of-age tale. In the opera, the hero, Giustino, navigates a path from youthful innocence to the sexual and political complexities of adulthood, via an encounter with a sea monster, and two counts of courtly intrigue. Not to be confused with Vivaldi’s 1724 opera of the same name, Handel’s Giustino was first performed in 1737 in Covent Garden, and you can find out more about this rarely-staged work below.
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Giustino is a young ploughboy who believes his life will never amount to anything until the Goddess Fortuna appears to him in a dream, predicting an illustrious destiny. When Giustino wakes, he rescues a royal woman from a bear attack and is immediately hailed as a hero at the Byzantine court of Emperor Anastasio. When the Empress Arianna is captured by the scheming rebel Vitaliano, Giustino rescues her from a sea monster, ultimately sparking jealousy in the Emperor. Overcoming Emperor Anastasio’s jealousy and Vitaliano’s murderous ambition, Giustino returns to court, where a new enemy, Amanzio, has attempted to steal the throne. Giustino defeats Amanzio and is appointed as co-regent.
The premiere of Handel’s Giustino took place in 1737 at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, which stood on the site of today’s Royal Opera House. The premiere featured an all-star cast, including two leading castrati of the day, Domenico Annibali as Giustino and Gioacchino Conti as Anastasio.
The Italian-language libretto for Giustino was adapted from an existing text by Pietro Pariati, which was in turn inspired by an even earlier text by Nicolò Beregan. At the time, Handel was composing Italian- and English-language works for London audiences, and the 1736-37 Season was a particularly busy one for Handel.
Giustino, like many of Handel’s operas, features a variety of Da Capo arias. The Italian term ‘Da Capo’ means ‘From the top’, and a Da Capo aria is a solo song defined by its repeating ‘A-B-A’ structure. A Da Capo aria begins with an opening section (A) which is followed by a contrasting section (B). The opening section (A) is then repeated, and often embellished by the vocalist to give additional expression.
Giustino is defined as an Opera Seria. Although this Italian genre means ‘Serious opera’, the term is traditionally used to describe baroque operas featuring a cast of noble characters (i.e. kings and queens, and/or gods and goddesses), and which are based on classical, historical or mythological themes. In the case of Giustino, the opera blends history and fantasy, adding mythological elements to its depiction of the real-life tale of Emperor Justin.
Giustino (alto castrato)
Anastasio (soprano castrato)
Arianna (soprano)
Leocasta (contralto)
Amanzio (contralto)
Vitaliano (tenor)
Polidarte (bass)
La Fortuna (treble)
Act I
At court, the widowed Empress Arianna, crowns her new husband, Anastasio. The celebrations are cut short when Polidarte delivers a message from his general, the rebel leader Vitaliano. Vitaliano offers to cease his attack on the empire if Arianna surrenders to his bed. She refuses and Anastasio departs to fight Vitaliano. Unbeknownst to her husband, Arianna follows.
Giustino, a young boy, is visited in a dream by the Goddess Fortuna, who declares that a great destiny awaits him. He wakes and immediately rescues a woman, Leocasta, from a bear. Leocasta is attracted to Giustino and sees great potential in him as a future leader. Meanwhile Amanzio, Anastasio’s political advisor, secretly plots to seize power through deception.
Arianna is captured by Polidarte and brought to Vitaliano. When she refuses to yield to Vitaliano, he decides to feed her to a sea monster. Anastasio has heard of Giustino’s brave exploits and sends him to rescue Arianna. Giustino kills the sea monster and captures Vitaliano. Amanzio grows jealous of Giustino’s favour with the Emperor. Anastasio and Arianna are reunited.
Act II
Vitaliano is now Arianna’s captive, to her delight. Meanwhile the scheming Amanzio poisons Anastasio’s mind against Giustino. He convinces the Emperor that Arianna’s gift of a treasure to Giustino is not a reward for his heroics but evidence of infidelity. Anastasio is enraged and turns on his young champion. Leocasta is fearful for Giustino and tells Arianna that she suspects Amanzio of treachery.
Imprisoned, Giustino curses the Goddess Fortuna, and falls asleep from exhaustion. Vitaliano escapes his bonds and is about to kill Giustino when he hears the voice of his dead father warning him that he is about to murder his own brother. Vitaliano is stunned to discover the family mark on Giustino’s arm, and the brothers are reconciled.
Amanzio has usurped the throne and imprisoned Anastasio. Giustino returns and defeats Amanzio, ordering his immediate execution. In thanks, Anastasio offers Giustino Leocasta’s hand in marriage, and makes him co-regent.
Born in Halle, Germany, Handel settled in England permanently from 1712. In the 1720s he built up a loyal following for his operas through his theatre company, the Royal Academy of Music (not to be confused with the modern-day conservatoire of the same name). In 1728, however, he began to face significant difficulties: at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, London, John Gay’s satirical opera, The Beggar’s Opera lampooned Handel’s operas, and was a huge box office success. Despite Handel's financial challenges, and the competition from rival company, The Opera of the Nobility, Handel remained determined to make new work, premiering some 25 operas at the Queen’s Theatre, Haymarket. In 1733, Handel set up a new company at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, on the site of what is now the Royal Opera House. Handel wrote the operas Ariodante and Alcina for Covent Garden, as well as the oratorios Alexander’s Feast, Samson, Semele, Judas, Maccabeus, Joshua, Susanna, Solomon, Giustino and Jephtha – several of which have been performed at the Royal Opera House in recent years, as part of the Handel Covent Garden series.
In 1737, the year Giustino was performed, Handel was engaged in an exceptionally busy Season. Alongside revivals of his earlier operas, Atalanta, Alcina, Poro and Partenope, he was also involved in presenting three new works for the stage, Arminio, Giustino and Berenice. On the concert platform, he was also presenting revivals of the oratorios Esther and Deborah, alongside a new oratorio, Alexander’s Feast, and a reworking of his 1708 oratorio, Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, under the new title, Il trionfo del Tempo e della Verità.
The libretto of Giustino
The libretto for Giustino was adapted from an existing text (1711) by Pietro Pariati, which was in turn inspired by an earlier text (1682) by Nicolò Beregan. As was typical in Handel’s day, many other composers chose to set the same text to music. Prior to Handel’s version, a variety of settings of the Pariati text were composed by Antonio Vivaldi (1724), Tomaso Albinoni (1711), while the earlier Beregan text inspired operas by Domenico Scarlatti in 1703, and Giovanni Legrenzi in 1683.
A Four Seasons Connection
Vivaldi’s 1724 Giustino was composed for Rome’s carnival season, and although it is rarely staged today, one of its arias, Vedrò con mio diletto, is popular as a standalone work in recital, while a motif from the Sinfonia from Act I Scene V was used by Vivaldi in La Primavera (‘Spring’) from his popular violin concerto, The Four Seasons.
Premiere and Reception
Why did Handel choose the tale of a humble ploughboy who rose to fame? The story of Giustino may not seem like an obvious homage to King George I (who ruled from 1714-27) or King George II (1727-60), but the Hanoverian dynasty (from which both Kings were descended) was relatively obscure in the line of succession before coming to the throne. It is therefore possible that Handel’s opera would have been seen as a parable of the Haverian rise to glory. There is also, arguably, a parallel with Handel's own story, of a foreign composer who rose to dominate the English opera scene.
Handel completed the composition of Giustino in 1736, but by early 1737, his health had begun to suffer (he would later suffer a stroke in April 1737). The premiere of Giustino took place on 16 February 1737. The opera did not enjoy an overly warm reception, and it closed after eight performances in Covent Garden. It is likely that Handel was forced to withdraw from conducting the performances due to ill health. It is also possible that the stress of running his opera company, the demands of a busy Season, and the fickleness of public taste, may have all taken their toll on the composer.
Giustino was subsequently performed in Brunswick (Braunschweig), Germany, in 1741, after which the next recorded performance took place in 1963, in Abingdon, in the early days of the revival of interest in Handel’s works. Online sources suggest that the opera was later performed in London in 1983.
Giustino is based on the story of Justin I, the sixth-century Eastern Roman Emperor. He was alive during the era of the Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, which lasted from 330-1453 AD. Born in 450 AD in Bederiana (part of modern-day Macedonia), Justin was born into a humble peasant family, and was a swineherd or ploughboy. Thanks to his military successes, he rose through the army’s ranks, becoming commander of the Imperial Guard. In 518, at the age of 68, he was made Eastern Roman Emperor and ruled for 9 years, founding a dynasty that lasted for three generations.
In Handel’s opera, the Roman goddess, Fortuna, makes an appearance in the opera. As the goddess of fortune, luck and chance, she is often depicted with a wheel, a rudder and a cornucopia, representing cyclical fate, the control of destiny, and abundance.
With its story of seascapes, palaces and mythical monsters, Giustino has a richly varied musical score, and the text inspired some wonderfully vivid music from Handel. The unusual overture features an extended oboe solo (written for the virtuoso instrumentalist Giuseppe Sammartini) that almost turns into a concerto in its own right, and vocal fireworks abound, as heard in Giustino’s heroic aria, ‘Se parla nel mio cor’, and Anastasio’s valiant ‘Un vostro sguardo’.
Following the mockery of Handel’s operas by John Gay’s hugely popular 1728 satire, The Beggar’s Opera, The Haymarket Theatre premiered the burlesque opera, ‘The Dragon of Wantley’ in 1737, with music by John Frederick Lampe, and text by Henry Carey. Lampe's opera was inspired by a popular ballad of the same name, and this satirical work lampooned the taxation policies of Prime Minister Robert Walpole as well as taking aim at the flamboyant musical style of Handel’s operas. The plot of The Dragon of Wantley featured a monstrous dragon slain by a hero – quite possibly a reference to the sea monster in Giustino. Lampe's opera ran for 69 consecutive showings (eclipsing Giustino’s run of 8 performances) breaking The Beggar’s Opera record of 62 performances – the longest theatre run in the UK and second-longest theatre run in history at the time.
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