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Building upon the developing picture of the importance of British
music, musicians and institutions during the eighteenth century,
this book investigates the themes of composition, performance
(amateur and professional) and music-printing, within the wider
context of social, religious and secular institutions. British
music in the era from the death of Henry Purcell to the so-called
'Musical Renaissance' of the late nineteenth century was once
considered barren. This view has been overturned in recent years
through a better-informed historical perspective, able to recognise
that all kinds of British musical institutions continued to
flourish, and not only in London. The publication, performance and
recording of music by seventeenth- and eighteenth-century British
composers, supplemented by critical source-studies and scholarly
editions, shows forms of music that developed in parallel with
those of Britain's near neighbours. Indigenous musicians mingled
with migrant musicians from elsewhere, yet there remained strands
of British musical culture that had no continental equivalent.
Music, vocal and instrumental, sacred and secular, flourished
continuously throughout the Stuart and Hanoverian monarchies.
Composers such as Eccles, Boyce, Greene, Croft, Arne and Hayes were
not wholly overshadowed by European imports such as Handel and J.
C. Bach. The present volume builds on this developing picture of
the importance of British music, musicians and institutions during
the period. Leading musicologists investigate themes such as
composition, performance (amateur and professional), and
music-printing, within the wider context of social, religious and
secular institutions.
The life and career of George Frideric Handel, one of the most
frequently performed composers from the Baroque period, are
copiously and intricately documented through a huge variety of
contemporary sources. This multi-volume major publication is the
most up-to-date and comprehensive collection of these documents.
Presented chronologically in their original languages with English
translations and with commentaries incorporating the results of
recent research, the documents provide an essential and accessible
resource for anyone interested in Handel and his music. As well as
being an outstanding musician with a successful career as a
composer of Italian operas and English oratorios, Handel was a
well-known figure in his own lifetime, with an international
reputation. In charting his activities in Germany, Italy and
Britain, the documents also offer a valuable insight into broader
eighteenth-century topics, such as court life, theatrical history,
public concerts and competition between music publishers. This
volume includes family documents from Halle, then covers Handel's
early career in Germany and Italy, followed by the period in which
he became an established composer for London's Italian opera
company while also writing the Water Music and the Utrecht Te Deum
for the British court.
This new guide to Handel's most celebrated work traces the course
of Messiah from Handel's initial musical response to the libretto,
through the oratorio's turbulent first years to its eventual
popularity with the Foundling Hospital performances. Different
chapters consider the varying reception the work received in Dublin
and London, the uneasy relationship between the composer and his
librettist Charles Jennens and the many changes Messiah underwent
through the varying needs and capacities of Handel's performers. As
well as tracing the history of the work's development, the book
addresses musical and technical issues such as Messiah's place in
the oratorio genre, Handel's treatment of structural design, tonal
relationships and English word-setting. An edited libretto
elucidates the variants between the text that Handel set and the
texts of the early printed word-books. Donald Burrows brings many
new insights to this fascinating account of one of the favourite
works of the concert hall.
Handel is recognized as one of the principal creative figures in Baroque music. In this Companion acknowledged experts on Handel make their expertise accessible to the interested general reader and music lover. All the genres in which Handel composed are considered including oratorio, chamber cantata, opera, and church music, as well as works for the keyboard and orchestra. The wide-ranging essays cover topics from Handel's composing methods to his treatment of the Italian language and matters of performance practice.
The life and career of George Frideric Handel, one of the most
frequently performed composers from the Baroque period, are
copiously and intricately documented through a huge variety of
contemporary sources. This multi-volume major publication is the
most up-to-date and comprehensive collection of these documents.
Presented chronologically in their original languages with English
translations and with commentaries incorporating the results of
recent research, the documents provide an essential and accessible
resource for anyone interested in Handel and his music. In charting
Handel's activities and the performance and reception of his music
during his lifetime, the documents also offer valuable insights
into broader eighteenth-century topics such as court life,
theatrical history, public concerts and music publishing. Volume
Four begins with the re-establishment of Handel's career in London
following his return from Dublin in 1742, and covers the period to
1750 which saw the composition of a succession of his greatest
English works for his oratorio seasons, including Samson, Semele,
Belshazzar, Juda Maccabaeus and Solomon.
The life and career of George Frideric Handel, one of the most
frequently performed composers from the Baroque period, are
copiously and intricately documented through a huge variety of
contemporary sources. This multi-volume major publication is the
most up-to-date and comprehensive collection of these documents.
Presented chronologically in their original languages with English
translations and with commentaries incorporating the results of
recent research, the documents provide an essential and accessible
resource for anyone interested in Handel and his music. This volume
begins with Handel's move to the Covent Garden theatre, during the
period of his competition with the Opera of the Nobility, and ends
with his season of oratorio performances in Dublin. These years saw
the composition of Italian operas including Ariodante, Alcina and
Serse but also of the major English works Alexander's Feast, Saul
and Messiah.
The life and career of George Frideric Handel, one of the most
frequently performed composers from the Baroque period, are
copiously and intricately documented through a huge variety of
contemporary sources. This major multi-volume publication is the
most up-to-date and comprehensive collection of these documents.
Presented chronologically in their original languages with English
translations and with commentaries incorporating the results of
recent research, the documents provide an essential and accessible
resource for anyone interested in Handel and his music. In charting
his activities in Germany, Italy and Britain, the documents also
offer a valuable insight into broader eighteenth-century topics,
such as court life, theatrical history, public concerts and
competition between music publishers. This volume covers the period
of Handel's London opera career during which he achieved gradual
independence from the Royal Academy opera company, but also
introduced English theatre oratorios and wrote the music for the
1727 coronation.
Handel is one of the most remarkable figures in the history of
western music. His compositions form one of the peaks of creative
achievement in the Baroque period, and cover a remarkable range:
full-scale Italian operas and English oratorios (including
Messiah), but also shorter works such as the Water Music and the
Coronation Anthem Zadok the Priest. His compositional processes
were often complex, but could result in accessible and memorable
'hit tunes', such as the aria that subsequently became famous as
'Handel's Largo'.
His life and career were as remarkable as his music. Born in
Germany to a family that reputedly tried to discourage his initial
interest in music, he broke away to seek his fortune in Italian
opera, and proceeded to gain first-hand experience of the latest
Italian styles in Rome, Florence, Venice and Naples. A series of
career moves brought him via Hanover to London, where he eventually
settled and dominated the city's musical life for half a century.
There he quickly made his mark in English church music as well as
Italian opera, and eventually created two new musical
genres--English theatre oratorio and the organ concerto.
Handel is important also because, as a musician, he also became a
significant public figure. In Rome he attracted the patronage of
princes and cardinals; soon after his arrival in London he appeared
at the court of Queen Anne, and he subsequently enjoyed substantial
support from the "Hanoverian" royal family. He survived turbulent
periods in the musical and political life of London, reached a
wider public through publications of his music, died a rich man and
was buried in Westminster Abbey.
This biography provides a comprehensive and balanced account of
both the man and his music, drawing on the unusually rich legacy of
documentary and musical sources from Handel's lifetime. This new
edition of a book that has been recognized as a 'classic' biography
of Handel, reliable on the factual details of the composer's life
and comprehensive in the coverage of his music, incorporates a
great deal of new material. The last half century has seen a great
renewal of research on the circumstances of Handel's life, and a
major expansion in performances and recordings of his music. The
book brings together the results of this scholarly activity, and is
informed by wide experience of modern performances of Handel's
music, including the revival of his operas and experimentation with
'authentic' performance practices.
Handel's English church music spans the complete period of his
active career in London: his first anthem and the Utrecht Te Deum
were composed soon after his arrival in London, and his last works
nearly 40 years later. The repertory, which includes the Coronation
Anthem Zadok the Priest, forms one of the most impressive and
engaging areas of Baroque church music. Most of it was stimulated
by Handel's creative contact with the English Chapel Royal, a group
of professional singers in a different tradition from the opera
stars with whom he worked in the theatre.
Appearing in paperback for the first time, this first full-length
study of Handel's English Church music traces the background to the
diverse items in the repertory, which relates directly to Handel's
constant but changing relationship with the Hanoverian British
royal family, and was affected by political and dynastic events. It
also examines the circumstances of Handel's performances, the
building which (unlike his theatres) still survives in London
today.
Caroline of Ansbach (1683-1737), Augusta of Saxe-Gotha (1719-1772),
and Charlotte of Mecklenberg-Strelitz (1744-1818) were three German
princesses who became Queens Consort-or, in the case of Augusta,
Queen in Waiting, Regent, and Princess Dowager-of Great Britain,
and were linked by their early years at European princely courts,
their curiosity, aspirations, and an investment in Enlightenment
thought. This sumptuously illustrated book considers the ways these
powerful, intelligent women left enduring marks on British culture
through a wide range of activities: the promotion of the court as a
dynamic forum of the Hanoverian regime; the enrichment of the royal
collection of art; the advancement of science and industry; and the
creation of gardens and menageries. Objects included range from
spectacular state portraits to pedagogical toys to plant and animal
specimens, and reveal how the new and novel intermingled with the
traditional. Published in association with the Yale Center for
British Art and Historic Royal Palaces Exhibition Schedule: Yale
Center for British Art (02/02/17-04/30/17) Kensington Palace
(06/22/17-11/12/17)
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