Handel’s 1724 baroque opera “Giulio Cesare in Egitto” (“Julius Caesar in Egypt”) could just as easily been named “Cleopatra.” The Roman may have conquered Egypt, but she bewitched him. Decca has just released a 2-DVD set of the 2012 Salzburg Whitsun production, starring mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli (the artistic director of the festival) as Cleopatra. She is the production’s greatest asset.
The opera starts with the Egyptian people welcoming Julius Caesar to Alexandria, where he is pursuing his enemy Pompey. The king of the Egyptians, Ptolemy, sends Caesar a gift—the head of Pompey.
Sextus, Pompey’s son, promises his mother Cornelia that he will bring justice to his father’s murderer.
Ptolemy’s sister Cleopatra wants to wrest power from her brother, and she decides to win Caesar’s affection. Meanwhile, Ptolemy learns that Caesar is not happy with his “gift” and plots his murder.
Cleopatra presents herself to Caesar under the assumed identity of a servant named Lydia, who has been wronged by Ptolemy. She convinces him to help her and also offers to help Cornelia and Sextus in their plot against her brother.
However, the Egyptian king achieves the upper hand by sending Sextus to prison and Cornelia to his harem. Both Ptolemy and his general Achillas have designs on Pompey’s widow.
