ALCINA

for inspiration listen to Magdalena Kozena singing

Ah! mio cor, schernito sei.

Ah! mio cor,

The heroic knight Ruggerio is destined to a short but glorious life,

and a benevolent magician is always whisking him away from the arms of his fiancée, Bradamante.

Bradamante is not the type to put up with the constant disappearance of her lover,

and she spends vast portions of the poem in full armor chasing after him.

Just before the opera begins she has rescued him from an enchanted castle, only to have her flying horse

take a fancy to Ruggiero and fly off with him.

Ruggiero lands on an island in the middle of the ocean. As the winged horse begins to eat

the fruit of a myrtle bush (the fringe is the fruit of myrtle bush), Ruggiero is startled to hear the bush begin to speak.

The bush reveals that it was once a living soul named Sir Astolpho,

and the island belongs to the sister sorceresses Alcina and Morgana.

The beautiful Alcina seduces every knight that lands on her isle,

but soon tires of her lovers and with a flick of her finger changes them into stones, animals, plants,

or anything that strikes her fancy.

Despite Astolfo's warning, Ruggiero strides off to meet this sorceress— and falls under her spell.

Bradamante, again searching for her lover, arrives on Alcina's Island.

Dressed in armor, Bradamante looks like a young man and goes by the name of Ricciardo.

She carries a magic eye which enables the holder to see through illusion,

which she is planning to use to break Alcina's spells and release her captives.

The first person they meet is the sorceress Morgana.

Who has no understanding of true love, she immediately abandons her own lover Oronte

for the handsome 'Ricciardo.

Listen to the Morgana leaving Oronte tango

Morgana conveys the visitors to Alcina's court, where Bradamante is dismayed to discover that Ruggiero

is besotted with Alcina and in a state of complete amnesia about his previous life.

Bradamante rebukes Ruggiero for his desertion, but he can't think of anything except Alcina.

Meanwhile, Oronte discovers that Morgana has fallen in love with 'Ricciardo,' and challenges 'him' to a duel.

Morgana stops the fight, but Oronte is in a foul mood and takes it out on Ruggiero.

He tells the young man exactly how Alcina treats her former lovers and adds that,

as far as he can tell, Alcina has fallen in love with the newcomer, Ricciardo.

Ruggiero is horrified and overwhelms Alcina with his jealous fury.

Things get even worse when 'Ricciardo' enters and pretends to admire Alcina.

Alcina calms Ruggiero, but Bradamante is so upset at seeing her fiancé wooed before her very eyes

that she reveals her true identity to Ruggiero.

Alcina tells Morgana that she plans to turn Ricciardo into an animal,

just to show Ruggiero how much she really loves him.

Morgana begs Ricciardo to escape the island and Alcina's clutches,

but he says he'd rather stay, as he loves another.

Morgana believes that this other person is herself, and the act ends with her triumphant aria

"Tornami a vagheggiar."

http://www.youtube.com/v/CRgPz_G0WAY

Act 2

Under the influence of the magic eye, Ruggiero sees the island as it really is

a desert, peopled with monsters.

Appalled, he realizes he must leave, and sings the famous aria "Verdi prati" ("Green meadows")

where he admits that even though he knows the island and Alcina are mere illusion,

their beauty will haunt him for the rest of his life.

Ruggiero is thoroughly bewildered by the magic and illusion surrounding him, he refuses to believe his eyes

when he at last sees Bradamante as herself, believing that she may be another of Alcina's illusions.

Bradamante is in despair, as is Alcina.

Alcina, convinced of Ruggiero's indifference, she enters to turn Ricciardo into an animal,

and Ruggiero has to pull himself together quickly and convince the sorceress that he doesn’t need any

proof of her love.

It is at this point that the audience realizes that Alcina genuinely loves Ruggiero;

from now until the end of the opera, she is depicted sympathetically.

Oronte realizes that Ricciardo and Ruggiero are in some sort of alliance,

and Morgana and Alcina realize they are being deceived.

But it is too late: Alcina's powers depend on illusion and,

as true love enters her life, her magic powers slip away.

As the act ends, Alcina tries to call up evil spirits to stop Ruggiero from leaving her,

but her magic fails her.

Act 3

After this the opera finishes swiftly. Morgana and Oronte try to rebuild their relationship;

she returns to him and he rebuffs her but then he admits he loves her still.

Bradamante and Ruggiero decide that they need to destroy the source of Alcina's magic,

the urn of illusions .

Alcina pleads with them, but Ruggiero is deaf to her appeals and smashes the urn.

As he does so, everything is both ruined and restored.

Alcina's magic palace crumbles to dust and she sinks into the ground,

Oronte and Morgana turn into stone sculptures (you can see them in Naples),

but Alcina's lovers are returned to their proper selves.

“I was a rock,” says one, “I a tree” says another, and “I a wave in the ocean…”

All the humans sing of their relief and joy, and Alcina is forgotten in the sand s of time.

the entire Libretto

http://www.haendel.it/composizioni/libretti/pdf/alcina%20.pdf