Language: Italian
Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish

Rodelinda, Regina de' Longobardi is an Opera Seria in Three Acts composed for the first Royal Academy of Music by George Frideric Handel. The libretto is by Giacomo Rossi, based on an earlier libretto by Antonio Salvi. Rodelinda has long been regarded as one of Handel's greatest works.

The subject, which has as its source Jerusalem Delivered from the Cup and evokes the loves of Armide, was chosen by Aaron Hill, director of the Queen's Theater and entrusted to librettist Giacomo Rossi. The latter made the adaptation not from the original Italian version, but from an English translation.

The libretto being in Italian, this double translation has led some commentators to denounce a sort of breach. Handel composes the music in two weeks using numerous covers, the composer recycling tunes from his own cantatas, even borrowed from his Italian colleagues. Thus the aria "Lascia ch'io pianga" is a cover of an earlier work, Lascia la spina from the oratorio Il Trionfo del Tiempo written in 1707. It is the quality of the composer's music, although uneven, which saves the lengths and clumsiness of the libretto. The opera conforms to the style of opera seria with a lot of machinery and spectacular visual effects combining war and magic. Hill goes so far as to introduce at the first a release of birds in the scene of the bocage of the first act which greatly impressed the spectators.

Director: Claus Guth (Direction and Scenography), Ivor Bolton (Music Conductor)
Cast: Rodelinda: Lucy Crowe, Bertarido: Bejun Mehta, Grimoaldo: Topi Lehtipuu, Eduige: Sonia Prima, Unulfo: Lawrence Zazzo, Garibaldo: Umberto Chiummo