Philippe Jaroussky as “homo interpretatus” (on the example of Nero’s image in G. F. Handel’s opera “Agrippina”)
Authors: Zaporozhan Dmytro 
Published: February 2025

Statement of the problem. Philippe Jaroussky is one of the most talented representatives of the art of contemporary countertenor singing. Nevertheless, when attempting to study Ph. Jaroussky’s performance style, we encounter the problem of insufficient coverage of the role of the singer in the musical life and culture of the 21st century. Reviews of the singer’s performances and interviews with him are scattered and do not provide a systematic overview of the artist’s work. The analysis of the specifics of the interpretation of the part of Nero , which is significant for understanding the singer’s performance style, is relevant in terms of practical value for modern countertenors and serves as a basis for the characterization of Ph. Jaroussky as an interpreter. Objectives, methods, and novelty of the research. The purpose of the article is to highlight the creative biography of Ph. Jaroussky and to carry out an interpretative analysis of his performing the part of Nero from G. F. Handel’s opera “Agrippina” as a landmark for the early period of the singer’s work. The operas clavier and its video recording from 2004 (directed by F. Fisbach) were used. The singer’s work is considered in the context of historically informed performance. The biographical method highlights the facts of Ph. Jaroussky’s creative life, the interpretative one – the features of his reproduction of the image of Nero, and the value-semantic method reveals the singer’s creative orientations. For the first time in Ukrainian musicology, Ph. Jaroussky’s creative portrait based on the analysis of his discography and the performance style of Nero’s part in Handel’s Agrippina is presented. Research results and conclusion. The facts of the artist’s life and work, from the first steps of professional musical education, and a brief overview of his extensive discography of the first decade of creativity (1999–2009) have been provided. The part of Nero was analysed, which is iconic and allows us to determine the vocal, technical and artistic components of Ph. Jaroussky’s performance style. He gained popularity due to his impressive timbre and virtuoso technique, which perfectly correspond to the ideas of baroque singing. The characteristic features of Ph. Jaroussky as a performer-interpreter can be considered: • intellectualism, historicism of thinking; • conscious choice of a sound-image ideal, conditioned by the value semantic guidelines of a stylistically sustained performance; • value and semantic guidelines of the performing strategy, which are not subjective self-expression, but meet the requirements of baroque aesthetics; as a result, an ideal sound embodiment of the baroque opera style; • rapid development due to the extremely high quality of vocal technique and the versatility of the singer-actor’s talent with the artistic charisma; • universalism, which is revealed through the main directions of the singer’s creative work (performer, researcher, co-author of artistic projects). Ph. Jaroussky as the interpreter of Nero’s part appears as the ideal embodiment of “higher objectivity” (according to R. Rolland), which corresponds to the stylish performance of Handel’s composition.