Harry Walsh is a young man on the make. He intends to become a famous singer, li
ttle knowing what dramas this will lead him through. He attaches himself to the
celebrity composer, George Frederick Handel, maestro of the Italian opera, a fav
ourite of royalty. But the aristocratic fashion for Handel is cooling. Opposing
opera factions, one led by the scheming castrato, Senesino, knock the great man
from his pinnacle. Meanwhile, rival impresarios are capturing new audiences with
vulgar burlesques and extravagant pleasure gardens. As Harry negotiates his way
through these shifts in popular entertainment his love-life proves equally comp
licated. He develops a passion for Handel s shy young assistant and finds himsel
f tied into a triangle of love that slowly and painfully falls apart. Documentin
g the launch of the great oratorio, the Messiah, in Dublin, and capturing the se
lf-absorbed world of the singer, this is a light-hearted account of the rise and
fall of the Italian opera in Hanoverian London. It is also a well-observed stor
y of confused sexuality and an adolescent yearning for self-esteem and love."
