Handel (Master Musicians Series)
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a welcome addition to what has already proved itself to be an excellent, authoritative series of musical biographies (Classical Music )
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George Frideric Handel was a defining figure of the late Baroque era, shaping its music for the theatre in much the same way J.S. Bach dominated the writing of music for use in church. Perhaps best known for bringing the oratorio form to an English-speaking audience with masterworks such as Messiah, Handel also had a distinguished career, as a composer of Italian operas, and furthermore found time to influence the development of orchestral music by writing such works as the Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks. Donald Burrows's new biography relates Handel's life and his music, devoting particular attention to two crucial junctures in Handel's development: his transition from a church-trained musician in Germany to a successful opera composer in London, and the gradual transformation of his theatre career from opera to oratorio, some thirty years later. In the oratorio form, as Burrows demonstrates, Handel was able to combine the techniques of large-scale construction and of aria writing that he had developed in his operas with an experience of choral music that went back to his earliest training as a church organist. The result was music that succeeds to this day in capturing the imagination of a vast audience. The last half-century has seen Handel take a major place in modern musical scholarship. This book takes into account not only recent knowledge of historical sources and significant studies of Handel's major works, but also research on Handel's `borrowing' practices, his habit of using the existing musical ideas of other composers as well as his own. Yet Handel remains unsurpassed as one of the greatest compositional architects in the history of Western music, with a sure instinct for both balance and originality in the final result. In this insightful study, Donald Burrows brings to life not only the glory of Handel's artistry, but also his sometimes elusive personality and the flavour of the times and places in which he lived.
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Handel was born on 23 February 1685 in Halle, a German city on the river Saale, a substantial tributary of the Elbe. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Handel was born on 23 February 1685 in Halle, a German city on the river Saale, a substantial tributary of the Elbe. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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2 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Well written, up-to-date, very extensive and authoritative biography of Handel. You will re-live Handel's life and times. Many excerpts from Mainwaring's biography from the 18th century, an author with first hand knowledge of Handel. Excellent; includes copious bibliographies.
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1 review
4 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Painfully tedious...
13 Mar 2009
Format:Paperback
Professor Burrows' book consists of chapters enumerating the events of Handel's life during specific time periods, alternating with chapters analyzing the music he wrote in those periods.
The biographical information is really more of a concordance of other Handel sources than a true biography. Much of the content is commentary on the origins of some particular (tiny) fact, and endless discussions of inconsistencies between one source and another.
What's missing is any sense of the historical context in which the events of Handel's life took place. Or conjectures/inferences about why he might have made the choices he made. What's missing is any kind of narrative flow.
I get the sense that Burrows is writing for other Handel scholars rather than for a general audience. The result is that his book reads more like a train schedule than a biography.
So, if you're looking for an exhaustive (and exhausting) academic reference work, this is the book for you. If you want something of a more general nature, you'd be advised to look elsewhere...
The biographical information is really more of a concordance of other Handel sources than a true biography. Much of the content is commentary on the origins of some particular (tiny) fact, and endless discussions of inconsistencies between one source and another.
What's missing is any sense of the historical context in which the events of Handel's life took place. Or conjectures/inferences about why he might have made the choices he made. What's missing is any kind of narrative flow.
I get the sense that Burrows is writing for other Handel scholars rather than for a general audience. The result is that his book reads more like a train schedule than a biography.
So, if you're looking for an exhaustive (and exhausting) academic reference work, this is the book for you. If you want something of a more general nature, you'd be advised to look elsewhere...
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