George Frideric Handel has been regarded as a pious composer for his work, Messiah. An examination of textual studies of Handel’s work, Aci, Galateae Polifemo, however, explores how the texts of the work are built by notions of sexuality and sexual identity. Handel’s work features a story of a love triangle–a boy, his lover and one‐eyed Cyclops–that erupts into violence, murder, and unexpected transformation of the characters at the end. Throughout the drama the boy is passive, nevertheless, Galatea, the boy’s lover, mirrors the male identity. The music of the work also contains some unique characteristics revealing transformation in terms of physical and mental changes of the characters. Consideration was also given to Handel’s journey to Italy, because the composer’s Italian experience can be viewed as part of the cultural, historical, literary context of Handel’s time. This paper will show how Handel's text layers the thoughts, political and religions influences, and sexual codes of the composer's days

• 장영심 | Young Shim Chang