To understand the musical language of George Frideric Handel, it is important to have some basic knowledge of the Baroque style. Baroque music is often a study in contrasts: contrasts in dynamics (loud vs. soft), tempi (fast vs. slow), texture (thick vs. thin, or ripieno vs. concertino), mode (major vs. minor), harmony (dissonance vs. consonance), polarity (bass line vs. melody). There were also significant doctrines of musical thought or aesthetics that needed to be followed. Within the 'doctrine of the affections' it was generally thought that certain keys, melodic motifs, chords or other purely musical elements were capable of communicating quite specific emotional states. For example the keys of D major and G major were reserved for communicating joy and spiritual exaltation. Keys like C minor or F# minor communicated melancholy, fear and terror. Certain melodic structures were also considered symbols of extra-musical ideas. Pairs of descending notes (usually at the interval of a minor second or 'half-step') were thought of as symbolizing tears and show up often in Baroque music when the composer is communicating sad texts. 'Running' melodic figures of eighth or sixteenth notes were indicative of joy and were often used by Bach in his Christmas season cantatas and chorale-preludes to describe the angels flying across the heavens in celebration of the coming of the Messiah. Plodding eighth notes in an andante tempo were used to describe walking or the slow progression of a group of people towards some unattainable goal. Dissonances, like the augmented fourth or 'tritone', were often used to denote evil or to mark the presence of the Devil in a Christian text.
Much Baroque music is derived from the dance forms of the period: the gavotte, the bouree, the courante, the gigue, the pastorale or siciliano. One of the remarkable things to happen as a result of the emphasis on Baroque scholarship in the last fifty years has been the realization that Baroque music must dance in performance, that there must be a certain lightness of touch and a sense of pulse that is driven by an intuitive understanding of physical motion. Listen to recordings of Baroque music from before 1950, when performances of Messiah or of The St. John Passion were given over to 19th century-sized orchestras, choruses of hundreds and Wagnerian soloists. No conductor in his right mind would try to attempt such a thing today when we have a much better grasp of the forces that Bach and Handel had at their disposal and when we are clearer about the actual sound that was produced by early instruments.
The music of Handel's Ariodante is typical of the elements of Baroque music as outlined above, and the forces gathered to perform the work will generally follow those with which Handel himself might have been familiar. The most obvious example of Baroque style will be the presence of the harpsichord, an instrument that was ubiquitous in the performance of Baroque opera. It is more prominent in the recitatives, when the orchestra is quiet in order for the text to be more clearly delineated. In recitatives the continuo player was given a bass line and a series of numbers and symbols under certain notes in order to dictate the harmonies that were to be used, but the 'realization' of those symbols was entirely at the discretion of the keyboardist, making every performance of a work fresh and improvisatory. Use of the harpsichord (and a cello or viol da gamba to play the bass line) also acted texturally as an element of counterbalance to the thicker texture of the full orchestra, giving the ear a sense of rest and repose during the recitatives.
The feeling for contrast can be heard in the overture of Ariodante which is initially in a slow, stately tempo but which suddenly breaks into a quick fugal passage. After a full stop there is yet another contrasting movement, a gavotte-like dance that is filled with "echo" effects and playfully moving from thick to thin textures in instrumentation.
The use of Baroque compositional techniques is to be found in the arias of the opera. After the hero Ariodante and Princess Ginevra pledge their love to each other, Ginevra sings an aria reflecting her joy: Volate, amori, di due bei cori la gioia immensa a celebrar! (Fly, ye Cupids, to celebrate the immense joy of two loving hearts!) The two 'action' words in this verse are "fly" and "celebrate". Handel chooses the key of B-flat major and six eighth-notes to the measure in a fast tempo to communicate the joyful meaning of the text. But the most interesting thing is how the composer treats the concept of flying cupids. He practically draws a picture for us in the music by having the oboes and violins play long phrases of running sixteenth-notes in order to imitate the beating of the love gods' tiny wings; then he has Ginevra sing similar runs on the word volate (fly) throughout the aria. This expressive (and descriptive!) treatment of the text is typical of the Baroque "doctrine of the affections".
There are many moments like this in the score of Ariodante. The first use of brass instruments, usually reserved to denote royal or noble characters, is to be found in the first aria of the King, Ginevra's father (Voli colla sua tromba Let [Fame] fly with her trumpet). Ginevra, after Duke Polinesso attempts to present himself as a possible suitor, sings an aria that perfectly describes her distaste for him through the large, angular leaps in her melodic line. The first aria of Dalinda, Ginevra's handmaiden, when she turns sorrowfully to Polinesso to try to entice him away from Ginevra and towards herself, is in the melancholy key of F sharp minor, perfectly portraying her feelings at the moment (Apri la luci — Open your eyes). And the duet within which Ariodante and Ginevra pledge their love (Prendi da questa mano — Take from this hand), cast as it is in the form of a pastorale, communicates through its lilting pulse and droning basses the love that the two characters share.
Like Messiah, Ariodante is an attempt by Handel to illustrate poetic texts in a nearly literal way so that the audience can place itself in the drama wholeheartedly. If the audience can give itself over to this process (particularly in this day of supertitles), the experience can be magical!