Jephtha was first performed on 26 February ; even though it was his last oratorio, it was no less a masterpiece than his earlier works. Among the works with opus numbers published and popularised in his lifetime are the Organ Concertos Op. Also notable are his sixteen keyboard suites, especially The Harmonious Blacksmith.
Throughout the 19th century and first half of the 20th century, particularly in the Anglophonecountries, his reputation rested primarily on his English oratorios, which were customarily performed by enormous choruses of amateur singers on solemn occasions. The centenary of his death, in , was celebrated by a performance of Messiah at The Crystal Palace, involving 2, singers and instrumentalists, who played for an audience of about 10, people.
Figure 6. Since the early music revival many of the forty-two operas he wrote have been performed in opera houses and concert halls. Giulio Cesare , Tamerlano and Rodelinda each on a libretto by Nicola Francesco Haym, stand out and are considered as masterpieces, each in a different style.
Recent decades have revived his secular cantatas and what one might call secular oratorios or concert operas. Of the former, Ode for St. For his secular oratorios, Handel turned to classical mythology for subjects, producing such works as Acis and Galatea , Hercules and Semele These works have a close kinship with the sacred oratorios, particularly in the vocal writing for the English-language texts.
As such, they are sometimes performed onstage by small chamber ensembles. Handel has generally been accorded high esteem by fellow composers, both in his own time and since. Bach attempted, unsuccessfully, to meet with Handel while he was visiting Halle.
When he chooses, he strikes like a thunder bolt. I would uncover my head and kneel before his tomb. Skip to main content. Search for:. George Frideric Handel In the Olympic games of music history, Bach and Handel share the gold medal platform as greatest composers of the Baroque era.
Introduction Figure 1. Portrait of Handel, by Balthasar Denner. Figure 3. Figure 4. Caricature of Handel by Joseph Goupy Blind in old age, Handel continued to compose. He died in London on April 14, Beethoven thought Handel the greatest of all his predecessors; he once said, "I would bare my head and kneel at his grave".
Did you know? Handel's father did not approve of his son's love of music. His mother had to smuggle a small keyboard into the attic of their house. The young boy would play the instrument up there, in secret on his own, when his father was not around. Discover Music. See more Handel News. Red Priest. Handel received critical training in Halle, Hamburg and Italy before settling in London , and became a naturalized British subject in He was strongly influenced both by the great composers of the Italian Baroque and the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition.
Within fifteen years, Handel had started three commercial opera companies to supply the English nobility with Italian opera. Musicologist Winton Dean writes that his operas show that "Handel was not only a great composer; he was a dramatic genius of the first order. After his success with Messiah he never performed an Italian opera again. Under Zachow's tutelage, Handel mastered composing for the organ, the oboe and the violin alike by the time he was 10 years old.
From the age of 11 to the time he was 16 or 17, Handel composed church cantatas and chamber music that, being written for a small audience, failed to garner much attention and have since been lost to time. Not surprisingly, he did not remain enrolled for long. His passion for music would not be suppressed. During this time, he supplemented his income by teaching private music lessons in his free time, passing on what he had learned from Zachow.
Though working as a violinist, it was Handel's skill on the organ and harpsichord that began to earn him attention and landed him more opportunities to perform in operas. Handel also began to compose operas, making his debut in early with Almira. The opera was instantly successful and achieved a performance run. After composing several more popular operas, in Handel decided to try his luck in Italy.
While in there, Handel composed the operas Rodrigo and Agrippina , which were produced in and respectively. He also managed to write more than a few dramatic chamber works during this period. Enticed to experiment with a freelance music career there, in Handel left Venice and set out for London. Within just two weeks, Handel composed Rinaldo. His most critically acclaimed work up to that date, it gained him the widespread recognition that he would maintain throughout the rest of his musical career.
Handel eagerly accepted. He produced several operas with the Royal Academy of Music that, while well-liked, were not especially lucrative for the struggling academy. In , Handel decided to make London his home permanently and became a British citizen. He also Anglicized his name at this time, to George Frideric.
Under the New Royal Academy of Music, Handel produced two operas a year for the next decade, but Italian opera fell increasingly out of style in London.
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