Handel’s Compositional Methods in his London Operas of the 1730s, and the Unusual Case of ‘Poro, Rè Dell’indie’ (1731)

Most of the autograph manuscripts of Hande’s operas present puzzles and problems of various kinds, prompting a whole series of questions for the enquiring scholar. This is particularly true of the autograph score of Poro, Rè dell’Indie. ¹ My purpose here is, first, to outline briefly what is already known about Handel’s customary compositional methods in his London operas of the period 1729–40, and, second and more important, to describe and account for the ways in which he appears to depart from these norms in the case of Poro.