It’s quite likely that if we could ask him, the great 18th century composer George Frideric Handel would have described himself first and foremost as a composer of Italian operas. For most of the 19th century, however, it was chiefly Handel’s English-language sacred oratorios that kept his fame alive. It wasn’t until the 20th century that curiosity about Handel’s Italian operas led to revivals, recordings, and their eventual return to the repertory of opera companies worldwide.

On today’s date in 1711, Handel’s opera “Rinaldo” had its premiere performance in London at the Queen’s Theater in the Haymarket. This was the first Handel opera produced in London, and the first Italian opera written specifically for that city. It was designed to be a spectacle, full of heroic chivalry and stage magic including live birds and flying machines, a kind of 18th century “Star Wars,” if you will.

It was a tremendous success, and, like “Star Wars,” was so popular that it became fit material for parody. Handel’s Act III march of Christian Crusaders resurfaced as a chorus of highway robbers in John Gay’s “Beggar’s Opera” of 1728, a spoof poking fun at both contemporary politics and the conventions and pretensions of Italian-style opera.