The Händel House in Halle has an interesting exhibit on “Händel, composer of opera” where visitors can sit and watch Georg Friedrich Händel (as a sort of Monty-Python-style figure) come in, sit down at the cembalo and explain some of his operas.

Händel explaining his operas

The spectators can push buttons to choose which opera he should talk about, and whether he should speak English or German. This is plausible, since in real life Händel was fluent in both English and German, as well as Italian and French. (Though some sources say his Italian was better than his English.)

Program booklets for Händel operas in Frankfurt

Of Händel’s forty-or-so operas I have only seen twelve so far, but I’ve seen most of them several times. Also I have seen three of his English-language oratorios staged as operas. See my post Operas by Georg Friedrich Händel for details.

My photos in this post are from 2009. I revised the text in 2018 and 2023.

See more posts on the composer Georg Friedrich Händel.