History Theatre / GiulioCesareInEgitto

* VillainLoveSong: Achillas has two – ''Tu sei il cor di questo core'' (''You are the heart of this heart'') and the frequently cut ''Se a me non sei crudele'' (''If you aren’t cruel to me''). Many productions have him sing them with genuine tenderness, but the fact that he organized the murder of Cornelia’s husband and imprisoned her son does ''not'' help his cause.

* OneHundredPercentAdorationRating: Caesar is universally beloved in Egypt (Ptolemy and initially Achillas being the only exceptions), so that everyone squees at the news that Egypt will now be subject to Rome.

* ContraltoOfDanger: Inverted – Cornelia, a contralto, is the more timid of the female leads, and Cleopatra, a soprano, is the tougher one.

* LoveDodecahedron: Hardly a surprise in baroque opera, it includes almost everyone. So: Caesar and Cleopatra fall in love with each other, Cornelia was HappilyMarried to Pompey, is loved by Curius and pursued by Achillas and Ptolemy. Curius also nearly makes a move at Cleopatra (in her Lidia disguise), and some adaptations include the real-life-based IncestSubtext between Cleopatra and Ptolemy.

!! The opera contains examples of:

Cornelia and Sextus, attempting to get their revenge, are captured by Ptolemy instead, and Cornelia finds both Ptolemy and Achillas vying for her favors. But Ptolemy makes the mistake of promising Cornelia’s hand to his general and then going back on his word in the most humiliating manner possible, so Achillas switches to Cleopatra’s side. When Caesar and Cleopatra’s army is defeated, the mortally wounded Achillas gives Sextus the ring with the commander’s sigil and tells him where the relief troops are hiding. Caesar, whom everyone thought dead, emerges alive and well, and the ride of the battle turns. Sextus is finally able to kill Pompey, and Caesar crowns Cleopatra as Queen of Egypt.

* DoggedNiceGuy: Curius, perhaps the only unambiguously nice guy in the whole story, gets repeatedly rejected by Cornelia. In an earlier opera by Sartorio, made to the same libretto, she does accept him in the end, but Handel’s version lacks that part.

** Cornelia’s ''Priva son d’ogni conforto'', after she sees [[AndIMustScream her husband’s head]] brought to Caesar.

** Caesar’s ''Aure, dei, per pietá'' – at roughly the same point of the timeline, when Caesar has barely survived leaping into the sea, his troops are scattered, and he doesn’t know what has happened to Cleopatra.

** Caesar’s ''Aure, dei, per pietá'' – at roughly the same point of the timeline, when Caesar has barely survived leaping into the sea, his troops are scattered, and he doesn’t know what has become of Cleopatra.

* ImDyingPleaseTakeMyMacguffin: Achillas to Nirenus and Sextus (it’s ambiguous whether he recognizes either of them at any point) when he gives him the ring.

Meanwhile, Ptolemy’s sister Cleopatra believes the throne should be hers since she’s the eldest, so she decides to get Caesar to help her with her rebellion. Disguised as a lady-in-waiting, she arrives at his camp and says [[ExactWords she is a highborn woman and Ptolemy has stolen what’s her birthright]]. Caesar is immediately smitten and promises to help her. After a while, Cleopatra realizes she has fallen in love with him as well.

''Giulio Cesare in Egitto'', often shortened to ''Giulio Cesare'' (''Julius Caesar in Egypt'') is a 1725 opera by Music/GeorgeFredericHandel, considered to be one of his best works and one of the best-known Baroque operas overall nowadays. The libretto by Nicola Haym is extremely loosely based on the relationship of UsefulNotes/CleopatraVII and UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar, and the civil conflict in Egypt in which they were involved.

Cornelia and Sextus, attempting to get their revenge, are captured by Ptolemy instead, and Cornelia finds both Ptolemy and Achillas vying for her favors. But Ptolemy makes the mistake of promising Cornelia’s hand to his general and then going back on his word in the most humiliating manner possible, so Achillas switches to Cleopatra’s side. When Caesar and Cleopatra’s army is defeated, the mortally wounded Achillas gives Sextus the ring which is a sign of a commander’s status and tells him where the relief troops are hiding. Caesar, whom everyone thought dead, emerges alive and well, and the ride of the battle turns. Sextus is finally able to kill Pompey, and Caesar crowns Cleopatra as Queen of Egypt.

* VillainLoveSong: Achillas has two – ''Tu sei il cor di questo core'' (''You are the heart of this heart'') and the frequently cut ''Se a me non sei crudele'' (''If you aren’t cruel to me''). Many productions have him sing them with genuine tenderness, but the fact that he organized the murder of Cornelia’s husband and imprisoned her son does ''not'' help his cause.

* CrosscastRole: The majority of the parts were written for castrato voices, and now every role except Achillas and Curius (both of them basses) can be sung by women.

* ImDyingPleaseTakeMyMacguffin: Achillas to Nirenus and Sextus (it’s ambigiuous whether he recognizes either of them at any point) when he gives him the ring.

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Achillas is killed trying to overthrow Ptolemy (or, in some productions, by Ptolemy himself).

* LoveAtFirstSight: Again, very common in baroque opera.

* VillainLoveSong: Achillas has two – ''Tu sei il cor di questo core'' (''You are the heart of this heart'') and the frequently cut ''Se a me non sei crudele'' (''If you aren’t cruel to me''). Many adaptations have him sing them with genuine tenderness, but the fact that he organized the murder of Cornelia’s husband and imprisoned her son does ''not'' help his cause.

Cornelia and Sextus, attempting to get their revenge, are captured by Ptolemy instead, and Cornelia finds both Ptolemy and Achillas vying for her favors. But Ptolemy makes the mistake of promising Cornelia’s hand to his general and then going back on his word in the most humiliating manner possible, so Achillas switches to Cleopatra’s side. When Caesar and Cleopatra’s army is defeated, the mortally wounded Achillas gives Sextus the ring which is a sign of a commander’s status and tells him where the relief troops are hiding. Caesar, whom everyone thought dead, emerges alive and well, and the ride of the battle turns. Sextus is finally able to kill Pompey, and Caesar crowns Cleopatra as Queen of Egypt.