On G.F. Handel's opera Giulio Cesare in Egitto (HWV 17) : historical context and structure of work : virtuosity of main characters' vocal arias

The article is dedicated to virtuosity of vocal arias in Giulio Cesare in Egitto by George Frideric Handel. The main goal of this text is to examine the form of the opera and the role of an artistic expression in the arias. This paper presents the overall situation of Italian opera in Britain in the eighteenth century and justifies the position of G.F. Handel as a leading composer of that period. The text shows fiction and reality in libretto by N.F. Haym (a comparison of the real history of Caesar and Cleopatra with the opera, by means of juxtaposition of historical works and translations of sources from ancient Rome known in the British Isles in the early eighteenth century)