Concise History of Western Music
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Chapter Index Chapter 1: Music in Ancient Greece and Early Christian Rome Chapter 2: Chant and Secular Song in the Middle Ages, 400Ð1450 Chapter 3: Polyphonic Music from Its Beginnings through the Thirteenth Century Chapter 4: French and Italian Music in the Fourteenth Century Chapter 5: England and Burgundian Lands in the Fifteenth Century: The Beginnings of an International Style Chapter 6: The Age of the Renaissance: Music of the Low Countries Chapter 7: The Age of the Renaissance: New Currents in the Sixteenth Century Chapter 8: Church Music of the Late Renaissance and Reformation Chapter 9: Church Music of the Late Renaissance and Reformation Chapter 10: Opera and Vocal Music in the Late Seventeenth Century Chapter 11: Instrumental Music in the Late Baroque Chapter 12: Music in the Early Eighteenth Century Chapter 13: The Early Classic Period: Opera and Instrumental Music in the Eighteenth Century Chapter 14: The Late Eighteenth Century: Haydn and Mozart Chapter 15: Ludwig van Beethoven Chapter 16: Romanticism and Nineteenth-Century Orchestral Music Chapter 17: Solo, Chamber, and Vocal Music in the Nineteenth Century Chapter 18: Opera, Music Drama, and Church Music in the Nineteenth Century Chapter 19: European Music from the 1870s to World War I Chapter 20: The European Mainstream in the Twentieth Century Chapter 21: Atonality, Serialism, and Recent Developments in Twentieth-Century Europe Chapter 22: The American Twentieth Century
 

Outlines:
  - Early Eighteenth Century Music in Italy and France
  - The Life and Music Of J. S. Bach
  - The Life and Music of George Frideric Handel
  Quiz
  Listening Guide
Chapter 12: Music in the Early Eighteenth Century
The Life and Music of George Frideric Handel
  1. Biographical Background

    1. Traveled more widely than Vivaldi, Rameau, and Bach

    2. Grew up in Halle, Germany
      1. Took lessons from the church music director in Halle
      2. Learned violin, oboe, organ, harpsichord
      3. Studied counterpoint and became familiar with German and Italian composers' music by copying their scores
      4. Became cathedral organist in Halle but decided to compose opera

    3. Years in Italy (1706–1710) helped lay the foundation of his style.
      1. Met the major Italian composers of the time
      2. Became friends with Domenico Scarlatti

    4. London years (1710–1759)
      1. In 1710 Handel took a job in Hanover, Germany, but then took a leave of absence to produce his opera Rinaldo in London.
      2. Handel composed Italian operas for the Royal Academy of Music from 1720 until 1727. In 1728 a change in taste forced the company to stop producing operas, so Handel took over the theater in 1729.
      3. In 1739 Handel started to compose oratorios because subscriptions to the operas were dwindling.
      4. Handel's oratorios were in English and appealed to a middle-class public.
      5. His first oratorio of this period was Saul, and the second was The Messiah.
      6. Every year during Lent he produced oratorios, and he improvised at the organ during the intermissions.
      7. Because of the popularity of his oratorios, England considered Handel's music a national institution, and he was buried at Westminster Abbey.

  2. Instrumental Music

    1. Orchestral music includes the Water Music suite (1717), Music for the Royal Fireworks (1749), and concertos for woodwinds and strings.

    2. His concerti grossi, Opus 6, expand on the form.
      1. Added movements
      2. More unification between concertino and tutti
      3. Dignified but with occasional decorative figuration in the solo lines.

  3. Handel's Operas

    1. His operas were produced in London, Germany, and Italy during his lifetime.

    2. Librettos
      1. He chose librettos based on the cast he could assemble rather than the subject matter, because the audiences couldn't understand the Italian words and cared more about hearing their favorite singers.
      2. Subjects were magical and adventurous stories drawn from the lives of Roman heroes or the Crusades.

    3. Recitatives develop the action.
      1. Recitativo secco (accompanied by harpsichord) for most action
      2. Recitativo obbligato (accompanied by the orchestra) for the particularly stirring moments
      3. The two types of recitative are sometimes combined with short arias or ariosos to make large scene-complexes, as in Orlando (end of Act II) and Giulio Cesare.

    4. Instrumental sinfonias mark key moments in the plot.

    5. Arias represent a single mood or affection, or two contrasting but related moods.
      1. Arias were allocated according to the importance of each member of the cast.
      2. Arias had to display the singers' vocal and dramatic powers.
      3. Handel composed in a variety of aria types and styles.
      4. He also used several styles of orchestral accompaniment.

    6. Later works, especially Serse (1738) and Deidamia (1741), incorporate a more modern style, with clearly articulated phrases and simple accompaniments.

  4. Handel's English Oratorios

    1. Elements from Italian oratorios:
      1. Dialogue set in recitative
      2. Lyrical verses set as arias
        1. Arias in styles, forms, and aesthetics similar to those of Italian opera
        2. Recitatives prepare the mood of each aria.

    2. Elements from the English masque, the choral anthem, and dramatic forms from France, Germany and Ancient Greece blended with the Italian style to form Handel's unique approach to the genre.

    3. Librettos
      1. The biblical stories he used were from the Old Testament and were familiar to middle-class Protestant England.
      2. English people felt a kinship with the victorious chosen people of the Old Testament.

    4. Use of chorus
      1. England's choral tradition impressed him, and he borrowed from Anglican church music styles, e.g. Chandos anthem.
      2. Choruses often comment on the action of an oratorio instead of an aria, e.g. NAWM 84, O fatal consequences of Rage from Saul
      3. Musical symbolism, especially word-painting, is common in Handel's choral writing.

© 2002 W. W. Norton & Company | Credits