, first performed at the King’s Theatre on 31 October 1724, was
the successor to Giulio Cesare . Though no less masterly, it is
more austere in style, requiring no special orchestral colours
or elaborate stage spectacle. The action of Haym’s libretto
(based on a French tragedy by J N Pradon, one of Racine’s
rivals) takes place in Prusa (now Bursa in modern Turkey) and
deals with the conflict between the captured Ottoman emperor
Bajazet, his daughter Asteria and the Tartar conqueror
Tamerlane. With Handel’s music it achieves a dramatic intensity
unparalleled in any comparable work of the period. The Overture
sets the tragic mood with a particularly dark opening section
and an Allegro based on the corresponding movement in the Sonata
which begins the Chandos anthem Have mercy upon me . A brief
bridge passage leads to a concluding minuet. Throughout the
opera Tamerlane attempts to use threats against Bajazet to gain
the hand of Asteria, who is thus faced with a series of
agonizing dilemmas. At the start of Act 3