Deidamia, premiered at Lincoln’s Inn Fields on January 10, 1741, was Handel’s last opera. It didn’t come towards the end of his composing career and it’s certainly no Falstaff or Parsifal; though at three hours this recording, virtually complete save for one aria and the substitution of an earlier version for another, might put you in mind of the latter. The opera was a failure and was given only three times.

The subject had already been treated by Metastasio’s Achille in Sciro, first set by Caldara in 1736. Achilles is hiding on Scyros, disguised as a woman. He inadvertently gives himself away to Ulysses, who has come to rout him out, and sets off for Troy and the predicted death he was trying to avoid. The complication is that Deidamia, having discovered Achilles’s identity, has become his lover.

The tone is light, with one or two serious numbers. David Alden’s jokey, modern-dress production is entertaining without quite persuading one that the opera’s neglect is undeserved. The mood, such as in the miming in Nerea’s ‘Diè lusinghe’, is akin to that of David McVicar’s Giulio Cesare for Glyndebourne (7/06). Sally Matthews is perfect as Deidamia: saucy in ‘Nasconde l’usignol’, heartfelt in ‘M’hai resa infelice’, with its echo of the first concerto in Handel’s Op 3 set. Why is her last aria transferred to Achilles? Veronica Cangemi is delightful as her fellow princess. Ivor Bolton conducts with passion: splendid sforzandos in another intense aria, ‘Se il timore’. The audience certainly enjoyed it all.