It cannot be overstated just how passionate Jennens was to present his very specific Protestant/English/anti-Italian version of his Messiah. He wrote many letters of disappointment concerning Handel's treatment of his words musically. Thank you for a scholarly approach to this work.
I thoroughly enjoy Handel’s music. Full of life, energy and colour. Fireworks. Water Music. characteristic. Yet some of his pieces are so tender. Ombra ma Fu. Any Handel fan would enjoy visiting Parkgate, west of Chester, from where Handel sailed to Dublin for the first performance of The Messiah.
Wonderful talk! Would you be willing to share the source of the choir that was singing during your explanation of the different acts? I love their clear English ! Thank you!
There were many others in English besides Purcell like Eccles for example and the first opera in English I think was the spectacular "Siege of Rhodes" by William Davenant who some people believe to have been the illegitimate son of William Shakespeare-anyway I think Shakespeare was his godfather.
One of the speakers made the point that the lives of baroque composers tended to be a bit dull and uninteresting and not material for popular movies -but how about Lully and the movie "The King Dances"Lully was quite a character and a rogue and there's always his death by his stomping on his toe with the conductors big baton.Then there is the life of Gesualdo(More a late Renaissance composer though)and how he murdered his wife and her lover -having first pretended to go on a hunting trip but returning to find them in flagrante delicto!And he was a total masochist and this shows in all of his music.But the daddy of them all has to be Alessandro Stradella also a murderer and got murdered in the end because of adultery and the like.He is the subject of novels and operas and and an operetta I think.Just imagine an opera about an opera composer!
Handel, never really does much for me. Still an interesting and informative listen as I didn't know any of the details of his life and career. Doesn't really do much for me tho, as insanely talented as he was.
Oh .. it's just another over-educated musical-nerd college guy, talking about someone else's art as if he knew something about it.... I was hoping it would be something actually entertaining, you know, like HÄNDEL.
The problem with college people is that they think they know better than everyone else because they paid to learn it, but all they really know is all the same stuff that the rest of us can learn for free.
It cannot be overstated just how passionate Jennens was to present his very specific Protestant/English/anti-Italian version of his Messiah. He wrote many letters of disappointment concerning Handel's treatment of his words musically. Thank you for a scholarly approach to this work.
I thoroughly enjoy Handel’s music. Full of life, energy and colour. Fireworks. Water Music. characteristic. Yet some of his pieces are so tender. Ombra ma Fu. Any Handel fan would enjoy visiting Parkgate, west of Chester, from where Handel sailed to Dublin for the first performance of The Messiah.
Wonderful explanation of Handel's Messiah......thankyou
Thanks for your kind comment!
Really interesting analyses of his life and the Messiah one of the most beautiful musical pieces I know…
Oratorio..
Wonderful talk! Would you be willing to share the source of the choir that was singing during your explanation of the different acts? I love their clear English ! Thank you!
My favourite Baroque composer 🥰
Didn’t Handel have an amanuensis who was John Christopher Smith? His student and an English composer!
Love Handel and J.S.Bach!
🎼🎶🎵🎶🎵🎺🎻🥁🎹🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎼
Although an outlier of sorts, before Handel get to England, Dido and Aeneas, and opera in English, was composed by Purcell
There were many others in English besides Purcell like Eccles for example and the first opera in English I think was the spectacular "Siege of Rhodes" by William Davenant who some people believe to have been the illegitimate son of William Shakespeare-anyway I think Shakespeare was his godfather.
One of the speakers made the point that the lives of baroque composers tended to be a bit dull and uninteresting and not material for popular movies -but how about Lully and the movie "The King Dances"Lully was quite a character and a rogue and there's always his death by his stomping on his toe with the conductors big baton.Then there is the life of Gesualdo(More a late Renaissance composer though)and how he murdered his wife and her lover -having first pretended to go on a hunting trip but returning to find them in flagrante delicto!And he was a total masochist and this shows in all of his music.But the daddy of them all has to be Alessandro Stradella also a murderer and got murdered in the end because of adultery and the like.He is the subject of novels and operas and and an operetta I think.Just imagine an opera about an opera composer!
The words from the messiah come from the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament of the Bible.
He doesn't need the Umlaut in English. The way you pronounce him in English ist the same you prononounce him in German with the Umlaut.
I cant hear anything! Just chorus
Almira is about the length of Wagner's 4 hrs plus opera !
Handel, never really does much for me. Still an interesting and informative listen as I didn't know any of the details of his life and career.
Doesn't really do much for me tho, as insanely talented as he was.
In 100 years someone will do a talk like this on Hans Zimmer ;-)
Awfully detailed before getting to the point of the Messiah!
Oh .. it's just another over-educated musical-nerd college guy, talking about someone else's art as if he knew something about it.... I was hoping it would be something actually entertaining, you know, like HÄNDEL.
The problem with college people is that they think they know better than everyone else because they paid to learn it, but all they really know is all the same stuff that the rest of us can learn for free.