Masculinities. Too hot to Händel? - Guided Tour by Dr. Juliane Riepe

Anything but a museum topic: masculinity is a hot social issue, omnipresent in politics, culture, the media and public discourse. It is all about domination, power appropriated and misused, the return and consolidation of old role models, but also about destabilisation, damage, uncertain identity, the search for new concepts. The annual exhibition Images of Men: Too Hot to Handel? links a highly topical theme to the historical world of George Frideric Handel. It juxtaposes notions and portrayals of men at Handel’s time and images of men of the present and the recent past to demonstrate the variability of the notion of masculinity. For example, the exhibition deals both with Handel the man and the male figures of his operas, oratorios and cantatas, the satirised, comic man and the disturbing fascination of the castrati – and contrasts them with images of masculinity from the recent past and the present. By linking historical distance and contemporary relevance, critical reflection and playful testing, we aim to open up perspectives that move, surprise or provide food for thought.

Guide: Dr. Juliane Riepe (Curator, Head of the Library Department / Archive / Research Handel House Foundation)