Virgin: 3788772

Conti: David

Azione sacra in 2 acts, Libretto by Apostolo Zeno, First performance at the Royal Chapel, Vienna 1724

David tells the story of David and Saul, covering very much the same ground as Handel’s magnificent Saul written fifteen years later. The tenor role of Saul in Conti’s work was taken by Francesco Borosini, who later sang for Handel in London and Alan Curtis speculates that Borosini may have shown the libretto to Handel. Certainly Handel, like Conti, includes the scene where David tries to calm Saul’s rage with a harp (in both works, David’s harp is represented by a theorbo), and Saul’s subsequent attempt to kill David with his javelin. Such comparisons were also made in Handel’s day.