Hercules
by Handel
Handel's Hercules was first performed in January 1745.  Described by Handel as a "music drama," the work was performed like an oratorio, although its story is unrelated to Christianity or to the Bible.
A recording of Hercules with Les Musiciens du Louvre conducted by Marc Minkowski and a cast including Anne Sofie von Otter, Gidon Saks, Richard Croft, Lynne Dawson, and David Daniels, has received favorable reviews.
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Melodram has released a recording of a 1958 La Scala performance in Italian with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Jerome Hines, Franco Corelli, Fedora Barbieri, and Ettore Bastianini, conducted by Lovro von Matacic.
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DVD

Handel - Hercules / Shimell, DiDonato, Spence, Bohlin, Ernman, Kirkbride, Christie, Les Arts Florissants

"This Aix-originated Hercules, brilliantly conceived by Luc Bondy and bracingly executed by William Christie and a wonderful cast, was captured at Paris's Garnier on December 22, 2004.  Vincent Battaillon's filming highlights Bondy's effective direction of the complicated dynamics of relationships:  a work that sometimes seems fairly statis emerges as taut, Sophoclean family drama.  Bel Air's welcome issue must count among the best DVD's ever made of a Handelian production."--David Shengold in Opera News of April 2006.

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Handel: Hercules / Minkowski, Von Otter, Croft, et al., ArkivMusic.com