George Frideric Handel (eBook)

FOREWORDINTRODUCTION Halle -Handel's family -Earliest youth -Apprenticed to Zachow -Zachow as teacher -Handel's notebook and its contents -Fellow students -Visit to Berlin­Meeting electoral couple and Italian composers -Appointed organist at Halle Cathedral-The university student -Compositions in Halle period -Decision to leave Halle --Hamburg -Music in Hamburg -Handel arrives in 1703 -Friendship with Mattheson -Handel joins opera orchestra -Keiser, his influence on Handel­First attempt at opera, Almira (1705) -Handel-Keiser relationship -Altercation and reconciliation with Mattheson -Debacle of Nero -Handel resigns from Hamburg opera -Composes St. John Passion -State of oratorio-Passion in Germany -The Passion in Handel's life work -Handel leaves for Italy --Italy at the opening of the 18th century -Hegemony of opera and concerto­German vs. Italian music -The process of assimilation -Handel in Florence­Rome -Papal court, academies, patrons -Prohibition of opera -The Arcadian Academy -Handel meets Corelli, Scarlatti, Pasquini -Begins his study of Italian music -The cantata -Mood and melody -The Florentine cantatas -Roman cantatas -Handel's patrons -Large cantata-serenatas -Church music -Spirit of Latin-Italian church music -The "bilingual" composers -Survival of Palestrina ideal-Maturing of Handel's choral writing IV (-1710) The Italian oratorio -Dramatic-theatrical elements -Role of the Scriptures­Carissimi -The Old Testament in thc Italian oratorio -Italian works heard by Handel-La Resurrezione (1708) -Second visit to Florence -Rodrigo ­Naples -Opera and church music in Naples -Composes Ad, Galatea, e Polifemo and Agrippina -Venice -Agrippina produced December 1709­Friendship with Domenico Scarlatti -Musical life in Venice -Opera­Conservatories -The late Venetian madrigal-Instrumental music -Italian musical language completely absorbed -Aspects of Handel's decision to abandon Italy -Religious and artistic reasons -Handel leaves for Hanover --Hanover -Elector Georg Ludwig -His wife, Caroline -Brief stay in Hanover­Conjectures concerning voyage to London -Visit to Halle and Dusseldorf -Arrival in London, fall of 1710 -State of Italian opera in London -Entrepreneurs on the scene -The Haymarket and Drury Lane Theatres -Handel makes contact with Haymarket Theatre -The intermediaries -Handel's first London opera, Rinaldo (February 1711) -John Walsh, the publisher-Opposition to Italian opera -Handel begins to move in social circles -Thomas Britton and his concerts -Handel's leave of absence ends -Second stay in Hanover -Back in London, fall of 1712 -Compositions in Hanover VI (1712-1720) Handel in Burlington House -II Pastor fida -Tesea (1713) -First financial crisis -Birthday Ode and Utrecht Te Deum (1713) -Handel assumes Purcell's legacy -The English tone appears in Handel's music -Queen Anne dies, Georg Ludwig proclaimed King, August 1714 -George I arrives in London­Truant Hanoverian conductor's dilemma -Handel composes Silla for Burlington, Amadigi for Haymarket (1715) -Handel firmly in saddle -Begins his financial investments -Jacobite rebellion put down -The King leaves for Hanover followed by Handel-Travels to Halle and Ansbach -Meeting Christoph Schmidt -Disputed visit to Hamburg -The German Passion in the 18th century -Brackes Passion (1716?) -Handel returns to London, end of 1716-Opera season of 1717 -Cannons -The Duke of Chandos and his establishment -The "English" compositions -Handel's sister Dorothea dies (summer of 1718)­Water Music, Concertos, Opus 3 -Formation of Royal Academy of Music­Handel goes to the Continent to recruit a troupe, June 1719 -Returns late in fall -Academy ready to open VIIBaroque opera, its nature, dramaturgy, and esthetics -Comparison of Baroque with modern opera -Obstacles to our understanding -The aria -Role of Alessandro Scarlatti -Italian melody, Handelian melody -General form of Handel's opera -The castrato 174 Royal Academy opens first season -Radamisto (1720) -Giovanni Bononcini joins staff -Ensuing rivalry -Second season -Third season -Flaridante (1721) -Cuzzoni added to company -Fourth season -OUone, Flavia (1723) -Fifth season -Giulio Cesare (1724) -Bononcini vanquished -Sixth season­Tamerlano, Rodelinda (1724) -Handel buys a house -Academy in financial difficulties -Bordoni engaged -Seventh season -Scipione, Alessandro (1726)­Eighth season -Admeto (1727) -Profitable year -Handel becomes a British subject, February 20, 1727 -George I dies, George II proclaimed King, January 1727-Ninth season-Riccardo 1(1727), Siroe (1728) -Collapse of Academy­Reasons for failure of Italian opera -"English opera" and "semi-opera" -The language barrier -The Beggar's Opera -Its success seals fate of Academy IX Beginnings of "English" Handel-Standards of Augustan Age -Class society and religion -Capitalism -The bourgeoisie -Literature -The Burlington circle -Its influence on Handel-About church music -German music of the Baroque -The cantor's art -The Church of England -Its secular spirit in Handel's time -Nonconformists and Puritans -Handel's conception of Anglican church music -Commemorative-ceremonial-patriotic compositions -Ode and anthem­Chandos Anthems -Other anthems -Te Deums -Handel's English church music compared to Continental-His indebtedness to English composers Handel and Heidegger take over defunct Academy -Trip to Italy to recruit singers -Finds Italian opera changed -Aged mother's illness hastens departure­Visit to Halle -Return to London -Second Academy opens, end of 1729­Lotario (1729), Partenope (1730) -Poor season -New singers improve second season -Walsh as Handel's principal publisher -Poro (1731) -Season closes successfully-Handel's mother dies-Ezio, Sosarme (1732), Orlando (1733)­Interlude from opera: Deborah (1733) -Renewed operatic rivalry -Opera of the Nobility -Fourth season ends with Handel's Singers deserting -Invitation to Oxford -Tremendous success with English compositions -Athalia (1733), first full-fledged oratorio -Handel ignores success, resumes battle for opera­Formidable competition led by POl"pOra -The two Ariannas (1734) -Parnasso in Festa -Heidegger dissolves partnership, Handel joins Covent Garden­Ariodante, Alcina (1735) -Lenten season of English works -Opposition grows stronger, Handel's health begins to fail-Handel turns to English works­Alexander's Feast (1736) -Despite success, Handel returns to opera -Atalanta ( 1736) -Balance turns in his favor, Porpora retreats -Arminio, Giustino, Berenice (1737) -Both opera companies bankrupt -Handel collapses in mind and health -Leaves for Aix XICannons -Masque and pastoral-Handel's pantheism -Culture and nature as concentric forces -Pictorialism in music -Acis and Galatea -Use of the chorus -Mozart's edition -Modern fallacies in performance -Esther­Libretto and music poorly organized -Much borrowed material-Historical importance -Bernard Gates performs Esther (1732) -Subsequent piratical production arouses Handel-First appearance of religious issue -Bishop of London and his edict -Second unauthorized production: Acis -Handel destroys competition -Deborah -New role of chorus -Racine and the return of Greek drama -Athalia successful, but Handel returns to opera -Alexander's Feast XII (1737-1741)Aachen -Remarkable recovery -Handel returns to London -Renews partnership with Heidegger -Queen Caroline dies -Funeral Anthem (1737) -Faramondo (1738) -Roubiliac's statue -Handel's popularity -Serse (1738) -Opera disappears in London for two years -Handel begins Saul-Charles Jennens­Saul, Israel in Egypt (1739) -Handel leases Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre-Ode for St. Cecilia's Day (1739), L'Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato (1740)­Influence of Purcell-Handel suddenly returns to opera -Imeneo (1740), Deidamia (1741) -Final opera season ends in spring of 1741 -Inception of "conversion" theory with Hawkins -The "oratorio way" XIII (1741-1742) Messiah (1741) -Circumstances surrounding composition of Messiah-Arguments supporting special purpose -The legends -Dublin at the time of Handel's visit -Local musical scene -Charitable societies -Handel's trip to Dublin -First public concerts -Subscription sold out -Second series of concerts -Messiah first performed, April 13, 1742 -The libretto -The music -Critical appreciation of Messiah in modern literature -Handel returns to London XIVThe oratorio since the Romantic era -Religious-moral-didactic conceptions­English views of the Old Testament -Comparison of English and German oratorio -The historical-scriptural drama -Handel and the Old Testament­Classifications of the Handelian oratorio -Its constituent strains -Classical antiqUity -The Augustan Age and classicism -Classical dramatic tradition in England -Greek drama as refiected in Handel's oratorio -Attic drama and English Bible -Racine reintroduces chorus -The Handelian oratorio and the Old Testament -English conceptions of the role of the Old Testament in Christianity­Oratorio vis-a-vis stage and church -Handelian oratorio as music drama XV (1742-1744)Handel returns from Dublin -Milton and his Samson Agonistes -Hamilton's libretto for Samson -The music -Handel's changed dramaturgical ideas­Tenor displaces castrato -Samson (1743) a success -First Messiah in London­Dettingen Te Deum (1743) -Radical change of style: Semele (1744)­Con greve' s libretto arranged -The music -Renewed opera war -Ruthlessness of Middlesex party -Moral opposition from public and clergy to Semele -Joseph and his Brethren (1744) -Middlesex company collapses, Handel leases Haymarket Theatre -Twenty-four subscription concerts announced Hercules (1745) -Broughton's libretto-The music-Failure leads to cancellation of concert series -Public rallies and Handel resumes performances­Belshazzar (1745) -Jennens's libretto -The music -Failure again forces suspension of concerts -Handel vacates Haymarket Theatre -Suffers another physical collapse XVII (1745-1748)Handel recovers but is a changed man -Shuns public and does not compose­Stuart rebellion rouses dormant creative instinct -The "victory" oratorios­Occasional Oratorio (1746) -Battle of Culloden commemorated in Judas Maccabaeus (April 1746) -Morell's libretto -The music -Instant success­Handel abandons subscription system -Mixed opinions about Judas Maccabaeus­Handel and Morell continue with successful recipe : Alexander Balus (1748)­The music-Joshua (1748) -End of "occasional" oratorio phase-Handel's life and position changed -His status unassailable -Gluck visits London-New singers trained by Handel -His calm and serene life XVIII (1748-1749) Solomon (1749)-Librettist unknown-The music-Susanna (1749)­Anonymous librettist -The music -Handel acquiesces in public's indolence­Proved successes carry the oratorio seasons -Political events claim his attention -Royal Fireworks Music (1749) -Made Governor of Foundling Hospital­The admired master XIX (1749-1750) New tone in last oratorios -Theodora (1750) has non-biblical Christian subject­Comparison of two "Christian" oratorios: Theodora and Messiah -Morell's libretto -The music -Theodora Handel's favorite oratorio -Final castrato role­Theodora complete failure-Entr'acte: Smollett's Alceste (1749), reworked as The Choice of Hercules -The music -Handel purchases Rembrandt picture­Presents organ to Foundling Hospital-Conducts Messiah to overflowing houses­Yearly performance of Messiah becomes tradition -Handel makes his will, June 1750 -Last visit to Germany Last oratorio, Jephtha -Handel takes leave of his artistic career -New serenity­The religious element in Jephtha-Prototypes-Morell's libretto-MoreU's miscalculations righted by Handel-The music -Borrowings from Habermann­Onslaught of blindness -Oratorio seasons held despite Handel's infirmity -1752 season comes to end with death of Prince of Wales -Jephtha presented in 1752 XXI (1752-1759) Handel undergoes unsuccessful eye surgery -No failure of creative imagination­Additions to revised oratorios dictated -First codicil to will, August 1756 -The Triumph of Time and Truth (1756), last "new" work-Morell's libretto-The music -Second and third codicils -Handel supposedly operated on by Taylor, summer of 1758 -Last oratorio season ends, April 6, 1759 -Final codicil­Handel dies on April 14, 1759, and is buried in Westminster Abbey XXII Handel the man, his friends, his surroundings -Handel the conductor, the entrepreneur, the businessman -Relationship with English musicians -Handel and women; the heroines in his works -Handel and nature, his genre scenes­Spirit of rural England -Handel's English -Handel's religion -Impresario VS. creative artist -Deism -Handel's mutilation of his own scores­Borrowings -The moral issue -"Invention" and "imagination" in the 18th century -Handel's transplanting technique XXIIIHandel's style -The operas -Problem of opera in England -Handel and the Italian tradition -Changed style in last operas -Ensemble and chorus­Recitative, aria, arioso, scena -His opera librettists -Absence of buffa vein­English oratorio a personal creation -The oratorio librettists -Survival of operatic elements in oratorio -Handel's difficulties with post-denouement matters -The happy ending -Handel's role in the operatic reform ascribed to Gluck­Inhibitions faced by modern musicians approaching Handelian style XXIV Handel's melody, harmony, rhythm, and metre -The improvisatory element­Counterpoint -The fugue -Choral counterpoint -Other stylistic features­The recitative -Difficult change from Italian to English recitative -The aria -The da capo principle -The concerted aria -Stylized aria types -Difference between oratorio and opera arias -The ensemble -Illustrative symbolism­Hermeneutics and Affektenlehre -Arguments for and against musical hermeneutics -Handel's use of musical symbols -Handel and French music XXV Handel's instrumental music -Strong Italian influence -Motivic unity -Euphony as main condition -German sources -French and English elements -Chamber music -Orchestral works -"Oboe" concertos, Opus 3 -Mixture of old and new -Twelve Grand Concertos, Opus 6 -Other concertos and suites -Organ concertos -Harpsichord works XXVIHandel's orchestra -The concerto grosso principle -The basso continuo­Baroque orchestral balance -HarpSichord and organ -Handel's chorus -Quality of Handel's performances -Modern performance practices -Tempo and dYnanJics -Continuity -Ornamentation -The restored scores -The problem of length -"Additional accompaniment" and arrangements -The castrato parts­Bowdlerized texts XXVII Handelian biography -Chrysander and Serauky -The English Handelians: Rockstro, Streatfeild, Flower -Winton Dean -Bach and Handel, the inevitable comparison -Handel and English music -Who "crushed" music in England?­Handel and Purcell-Failure to establish English opera -Handel's contemporaries in England EPILOGUE BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTEINDEX OF HANDEL'S WORKS DISCUSSED IN THIS BOOK GENERAL INDEX