G. F

The same age as Scarlatti and Bach, George Handel is one of the greatest composers of the Baroque era. Over 57 years of his creative career, he composed more than 120 cantatas, duets and trios, 29 oratorios, 42 operas, numerous arias, anthems, chamber music, odes and serenades, and organ concerts.

Handel made an invaluable contribution to the development of opera and, according to critics, if this composer had been born a little later, he could have successfully carried out a complete reform of this genre. An English subject of German origin, Handel was a truly transcultural figure, easily combining in his work the musical experience of English, Italian, and German composers and performers.

Read a short biography of George Frideric Handel and many interesting facts about the composer on our page.

Brief biography of Handel

George Frideric Handel was born in Halle, Germany in 1685. The father of the future composer, George Handel, having married the widow of the court barber-surgeon, inherited the position of the deceased. He raised his five children from his marriage with that woman according to his life principles: “conservatism, caution, frugality and prudence.” After the death of his first wife, Georg married the daughter of a Lutheran priest, Dorothea Taust, who became the mother of G.F. Handel.

The life principles of a deeply religious father, on the one hand, and the origin of his mother, on the other, as well as the low position of their family in society, should have categorically closed the path to music for the boy, but “quite by accident” this did not happen.

Handel’s biography contains the fact that one day, by the will of fate, Duke Johann Adolf I heard the amazing performance of 7-year-old Frederick. The nobleman recommended giving the boy a musical education, and the father, not daring to contradict the will of the Duke, was forced to forget about his son’s legal education. George Handel hired the organist of the Gallic parish church, F.W., as a teacher. Tsakhov, who became the first...and last who studied music with Handel.

Belonging as a church organist to the old school, Tsakhov reveled in the performance of fugues, canons and counterpoint. At the same time, he was well acquainted with European music, and also composed works that emanated a new, concert-dramatic style. Many of the characteristic features of the “Handelian” style will originate precisely in Tsakhov’s music.

Harpsichord , violin, organ , oboe - Handel mastered and improved the playing of these instruments under the strict guidance of his mentor. And since transferring his church duties to the student gradually began to become a habit for Tsakhov, 9-year-old Friedrich Handel successfully composed and performed organ music for Divine Services for several years.

It is not known for certain whether Handel visited Italy after (or shortly before) his father’s death or not, but there is evidence that in 1702 he entered the University of Galle and, of course, not the Faculty of Law. University studies made the young man the man we know.

Even at the beginning of his university studies, Handel, although he was a Lutheran, received the appointment of organist at the Gallic Calvinist Cathedral. This gave him a good income and a roof over his head. In those years he met G.F. Telemann, one of the leading German composers of his time.

Handel's duties as organist of the Domkirche undoubtedly included composing Liturgical music, but not a single work has survived. But his first chamber works, composed at that time, have survived to this day: 6 sonatas for two oboes and bass, as well as his first opus, published in 1724 in Amsterdam.

A special commitment to secular music soon forced Handel to move in 1703 to Hamburg - the “German Venice” - where there was an opera house. Here he wrote his first operas - Almira and Nero (1705), and three years later - two more: Daphne and Florindo.

When Ferdinando de' Medici invited the composer to Italy in 1706, he could not help but go. The famous “Dixit Dominus” on the words of Psalm 110, the oratorios “La resurrezione” and “Il trionfo del tempo”, the composer’s first Italian opera “Rodrigo” - Handel wrote these and other works there. The audience, struck as if by thunder by the grandeur and pomp of his style, gave a standing ovation when the aria “Il caro Sassone” from the opera “Agrippina” (1709) was performed.

In 1710, as bandmaster to Prince George, the future king of Great Britain and Ireland, Handel moved to London, where he would subsequently spend the rest of his life.He wrote several operas a year for the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal Theatre, and Covent Garden, but the framework of the sequential structure of the opera seria was so tight for the imagination of the great composer, and disagreements with the nobles were so constant that he changed one job to another. different and gradually switched from the genre of opera to oratorio.

In April 1737, Handel suffered a stroke, as a result of which 4 fingers of his right hand were paralyzed. In the summer, relatives began to notice periodic cloudings of Georg Friedrich’s mind, which gave reason to think about the worst. However, within a year he was back in his previous form, although he no longer composed operas.

The fateful event happened much later - in 1759. Completely blind as a result of an accident in 1750, he lived in darkness for 9 years. A week before his death, Handel listened to a concert where his oratorio “Messiah” was performed, and on April 14 he died. The composer, who gained fame throughout Europe, was buried in Westminster Abbey with the pomp characteristic of the funerals of English statesmen.

• The biography of Handel notes that the father of the future composer was very alarmed by the musical inclinations that appeared early in his son, so he forbade keeping musical instruments in his house, and also strictly ordered the boy not to enter any house where there was at least some kind of musical instrument. . The result, as we know, was exactly the opposite of expectations.

• The opera Scipio was performed at the Royal Academy of Music as a temporary replacement for the repertoire until the famous Faustina Bordoni, owner of a charming mezzo-soprano, arrived in London.
• In 1727, Handel was entrusted with composing 4 anthems for the coronation ceremony of King George II. One of them, the anthem "Zadok the Priest", has been performed since then during every British coronation. A fragment of this anthem is also used in the Anthem of the UEFA Champions League football.
• By order of George II, the well-known chorus “Hallelujah” from “Messiah” became mandatory for performance in all churches of the Anglican Church and, like a prayer, had to be listened to while standing.
• On his deathbed, Handel whispered: “I know my savior lives” - words from “Messiah.” It is these words and the notes for them that will be written on the composer’s tombstone.

Collection of paintings by George Frideric Handel

Handel loved painting very much, and until his sight left him, he often admired the paintings put up for sale. He amassed a huge collection of paintings, consisting of 70 canvases and 10 engravings, which depicted landscapes, ruins, hunting, historical scenes, seascapes and battle scenes. The collection also contained a couple of erotic paintings and several portraits and scenes with biblical themes.

Handel bequeathed some of the paintings to his relatives and friends, the rest of the paintings were sold at auction on February 28, 1760 by Abraham Langford.

Handel Museum in Halle, Germany.

The first Handel Museum was opened in 1948 in the house where the future composer was born. The Handel House Museum has become especially popular among tourists since 2009, when the permanent exhibition “Handel – a European” opened there. Each of the 14 exhibition halls represents a certain period of the composer’s life.

In addition to the main exhibition, in the attic there are temporary exhibitions of rare exhibits related not only to Handel, but to the history of music in general. The museum's holdings contain more than 700 musical instruments from various eras, which can be viewed in the building adjacent to the Handel House.

Every year since 1922, the traditional Gallic Handel Festival takes place within the museum’s walls. The rest of the time, recordings of the composer’s masterpieces are played in all halls of the museum.

George Frideric Handel Museum in London, England.

In 1723, Handel moved into a house at 25 Brookstreet, settling there for the rest of his life. The house where he rehearsed, where the Muse inspired him to create his greatest works - "Messiah", the suite "Music for the Royal Fireworks", the hymn "Zadok the Priest", - where the composer sold tickets for his concerts at the Royal Academy of Music - this the house became the George Handel House Museum.

The museum was opened in 2001 on the initiative of musicologist Stanley Sadie. It consists of carefully preserved rooms on the second and third floors of house no. 25 and the building of the neighboring house no. 23, where the exhibitions are located. In the early 1990s, Sadie and his wife Julia Anna founded the Handel House Trust, a charity aimed at creating a museum in the composer's home.

The house was restored, completely reproducing the laconic interior of the times of King George, when the famous composer lived there. This is a typical early 18th century London terrace house with a basement, three floors and an attic. Later the attic was converted into a full fourth floor. There is a shop on the ground floor, which has no connection with the museum, and the fourth floor is leased to the Handel House Trust and has been open to visitors since late 2001.

Authentic 18th-century materials collected from all over the world were used to decorate the rooms; as for the original decoration of Handel’s house, only a few fragments have survived. The trust has amassed a collection of the composer's memorabilia, including the Bairn Collection, which contains several hundred items related to Handel's life: letters, manuscripts, early editions of his musical works, etc.

Handel's biography shows that he was a man of great inner strength and conviction. As Bernard Shaw said about him: “You can despise anyone and anything, but you are powerless to contradict Handel.” According to the playwright, even hardened atheists were speechless at the sounds of his music.

Childhood and early years

George Frideric Handel was born on February 23, 1685, his parents lived in Halle. The father of the future composer was a barber-surgeon, whose wife grew up in the family of a priest. The child very early began to be interested in music, but in early childhood not much attention was paid to his hobbies. Parents believed that this was just child's play.

Initially, the boy was sent to a classical school, where the future composer was able to absorb some musical concepts from his mentor Pretorius. Being a true connoisseur of music, he himself composed operas for the school. Among the first teachers of Handel was the organist Christian Ritter, who gave the boy lessons in playing the clavichord, and the court bandmaster David Poole, who often visited the house.

Young Handel's talent was appreciated after a chance meeting with Duke Johann Adolf, and the boy's fate immediately began to change dramatically. A great admirer of musical art, having heard a wonderful improvisation, persuaded Handel's father to give his son an appropriate education. As a result, Georg became one of the students of the organist and composer Friedrich Zachau, who was very famous in Halle. For three years he studied composing music, and also mastered the skills of free playing on several instruments - he mastered the violin, oboe and harpsichord.

Beginning of a composer's career

In 1702, Handel entered the Gallic University, and soon received an appointment as organist at the Gallic Calvinist Cathedral. Thanks to this, the young man, whose father had died by that time, was able to earn a living and found a roof over his head. At the same time, Handel taught theory and singing at a Protestant gymnasium.

A year later, the young composer decides to move to Hamburg, where the only opera house in Germany was located at that time (the city was even called "German Venice"). Reinhard Kaiser, head of the theater orchestra, became a role model for Handel at that time. Handel, who joined the group as a violinist and harpsichordist, shared the opinion that it was preferable to use Italian in operas. In Hamburg, Handel created his first works - the operas Almira, Nero, Daphne and Florindo.

In 1706, George Handel, at the invitation of the great Prince of Tuscany, Ferdinando de' Medici, came to Italy. After spending about three years in the country, he wrote the famous “Dixit Dominus”, which was based on the words of Psalm 110, as well as the oratorios “La resurrezione” and “Il trionfo del tempo”. The composer becomes popular in Italy, the public perceives his operas “Rodrigo” and “Agrippina” very warmly.

Handel in England

The composer will spend the period from 1710 until the end of his life in London, where he will go as bandmaster to Prince George (later he will become the king of Great Britain and Ireland).

Every year creating several operas for the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal Theater, and the Covent Garden Theater, the composer was forced to change jobs - the imagination of the great musical figure was cramped within the then existing framework of the sequential structure of the opera seria. In addition, Handel constantly had to come into disagreement with nobles. As a result, he gradually switched to composing oratorios.

In the spring of 1737, Handel suffered a stroke, due to which his right arm was partially paralyzed, and later he began to notice clouding of his mind. But the composer managed to recover within a year, but he did not create any more operas.

Nine years before his death, Handel became completely blind due to a fatal accident and was forced to spend these years in darkness. On April 7, 1759, the composer listened to a concert during which the oratorio “Messiah” he created was performed, and this became the last appearance of the master, whose name was famous throughout Europe. A week later, on April 14, George Frideric Handel left this world. According to his last will, the funeral took place in Westminster Abbey. The funeral ceremony was organized with pomp, like the most important statesmen of England.

Handel Georg Friedrich (1685-1759), German composer.

Born on February 27, 1685 in the city of Halle. From early childhood, the boy had a talent for music, but his father dreamed of him becoming a lawyer. Nevertheless, the parents allowed their son to take lessons in playing the organ and composition from F.V. Tsachau.

After the death of his father in 1697, Handel decided to devote himself entirely to music; however, back in 1702 he continued to study at the Faculty of Law at the University of Halle. At the same time, Handel received the post of organist of the Protestant cathedral. In 1703, the musician left for Hamburg, where he took the place of second violinist, harpsichordist and conductor of the Hamburg Opera.

In this city he wrote and staged his first opera, “The Vicissitudes of the Royal Fate, or Almira, Queen of Castile” (1705). Since then, opera has occupied a central place in Handel's work. He wrote over 40 works of this type of musical art.

The composer spent from 1706 to 1710 in Italy, improving his skills. In addition, he performed with great success in concerts as a virtuoso performer on the organ and harpsichord.

Handel's fame was brought to him by his next opera, Agrippina (1709). From Italy he went back to Germany, to Hanover, where he took the place of court conductor, and then to London. Here in 1711 he staged his opera Rinaldo.

Beginning in 1712, the composer lived mainly in the English capital; he was first patronized by Queen Anne Stuart, and after her death by George I. Since the opening of the Royal Academy of Music opera house in 1719, headed by Handel, the time of his brilliant glory has come. The composer wrote his operas one after another: “Radamist” (1720), “Mucius Scaevola” (1721), “Otto” and “Flavius” (both 1723), “Julius Caesar” and “Tamerlane” ( both 1724), "Rodelinda" (1725), "Scipio" and "Alexander" (both 1726), "Admetus" and "Richard I" (both 1727).

In 1727, Handel received English citizenship. In 1728, due to financial difficulties, the opera house closed. A difficult time came for Handel; he tried to create a new theater and traveled to Italy several times. All these troubles undermined his health: in 1737, the right side of his body became paralyzed. But the composer did not abandon his creativity. In 1738 it was
The opera “Xerxes” was written, but the next opera, “Deidamia” (1741), failed, and Handel did not write any more operas.

He settled on the oratorio genre, in which he showed the full power of his genius with no less scope. Among the best examples of this genre are Saul and Israel in Egypt (both 1739), Messiah (1742), Samson (1743), Judas Maccabee (1747), "Jeuthai" (1752). In addition to the oratorios, Handel wrote about a hundred cantatas, and for orchestra - 18 concerts under the general title “Great Concerts”.

After 1752, Handel's eyesight deteriorated greatly, and at the end of his life he became completely blind. Nevertheless, the composer continued to create. The last concert under his direction, in which the oratorio “Messiah” was performed, took place eight days before Handel’s death.

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HANDEL, GEORGE FRIEDRICH(Händel, Georg Friedrich) (1685–1759), German composer who worked in England most of his life; along with J.S. Bach, he is the largest representative of the Baroque era in music and, by all accounts, one of the greatest figures in the history of world musical art. Handel's Oratorio Messiah (Messiah) - among the world's favorite and popular works, but Messiah is just one of the many masterpieces of this extraordinarily gifted and prolific musician.

LIFE

Early years.

George Frideric Handel was born on February 23, 1685 in Halle (Saxony). The father, no longer a young surgeon, was at first against his son’s musical studies, but when the boy was eight years old, he allowed him to study the organ for three years under the guidance of a local organist. In January 1702, after the death of his father, Handel entered the law faculty of the university of his native city, but a month later he was appointed organist at the cathedral. The following year, he said goodbye to Halle and went to Hamburg, where he became first a violinist and then a harpsichordist at the Hamburg Opera, at that time the only opera house in Germany. In Hamburg, Handel composed Passion for the Gospel of John (Passion nach dem Evangelium Johannes), in 1705 his first opera was staged there. Almira (Almira). She was soon followed Nero (Nero), Florindo (Florindo) And Daphne (Dafne). In 1706 he left for Italy and remained there until the spring of 1710, living in Florence, Rome, Naples and Venice and composing Italian cantatas and oratorios, Catholic church music and operas. Handel met A. Corelli, A. and D. Scarlatti and other leading Italian composers, surprising them with his virtuoso playing on various instruments; his stay in Italy strengthened Handel's previously identified inclination towards the Italian musical style.

Trips to England.

In June 1710, Handel replaced A. Steffani as court conductor of the Elector of Hanover, George, having previously requested leave to travel to England. In the autumn of the same year he went to London, where immediately upon arrival, within fourteen days, he composed an opera Rinaldo (Rinaldo), delivered on February 24, 1711.

Six months later, Handel returned to Hanover, but in the spring of 1712 he returned to England, where he wrote several more operas and dedicated them to Queen Anne. Birthday ode, and in honor of the conclusion of the Peace of Utrecht wrote Te Deum(1713). However, in 1714 the queen died and was succeeded by George of Hanover, who was very angry with Handel for his unauthorized delay in England.

Forgiveness was granted after fulfillment Music on the water (Water Music) - a surprise prepared by Handel for the king's boat trip along the Thames from Whitehall to Limehouse one evening in August 1715. (The story of Handel's forgiveness is considered by some to be a legend, since Handel's music is known to have been played during another royal voyage in July 1717.) The King approved an annual pension of 200 pounds, granted to the composer by Queen Anne, and in January 1716 Handel accompanied the monarch on his visit to Hanover; At the same time, the composer’s last work was created on a German text - the poem about the Passion of the Lord by B.H. Brockes, also used by J.S. Bach in his St. John's Passion.

Upon his return to London (1717), Handel entered the service of the Duke of Chandos and directed concerts at the Ducal Palace of Cannons near London; a number of Anglican anthems (church chants), pastoral Acis and Galatea (Acis and Galatea) and mask (entertainment performance) Haman and Mordechai (Haman and Mordechai, first edition of the oratorio Esther, Esther).

Opera composer.

Handel's service with the duke coincided with the period when Italian opera was not given in London, but in 1720 opera performances were resumed at the Royal Academy of Music, which was founded a year earlier with the participation of representatives of the English nobility and under the direction of Handel, J.M. Bononcini and A. Ariosti. Handel went to Europe in search of singers and returned with a new opera - Radamisto (Radamisto). The Academy existed for nine seasons, during which Handel staged some of his best operas - for example, Floridante(Floridante), Otto(Ottone), Julius Caesar(Giulio Caesar), Rodelinda (Rodelinda). In February 1726, Handel became a British citizen. After the death of King George I (1727), he composed 4 coronation anthems for his heir. In 1728, the Academy of Music went bankrupt, unable to compete with the original sharply satirical play that had just been staged in London. Beggar's Opera Gaia and Pepusha, which was a huge success. Nevertheless, Handel did not want to admit defeat and, together with his business partner Heidegger, began to fight: he assembled a new opera troupe and staged performances first at the Royal Theater, then at the Lincoln's Inn Fields theater in Covent Garden. Since he had to fulfill during Lent Esther without stage production (1732), he composed an oratorio the following year Deborah (Deborah) especially for the Lenten period, when opera could not be given. Handel's enterprise had a strong rival in the person of the opera troupe, which, in defiance of his father-king, was patronized by the Prince of Wales. During this period, the composer's health deteriorated, and in 1737 rheumatism, overwork and a deplorable financial situation finished off Handel, who was also abandoned by his companion. The composer concluded a truce with creditors and went to take hot baths in Aachen.

Oratorio.

1737 is a turning point in Handel's life. He returned from the resort cheerful and strengthened. But although he renewed his partnership with Heidegger and from 1738 to 1741 the enterprise staged several more Handel operas at the Royal Theater (in particular, Deidamia, Deidamia, the composer's last opera), Handel's attention now turned to another genre - the English oratorio, which did not require either a stage or expensive Italian singers.

On March 28, 1738, Handel performed a program at the Haymarket Theatre, which he called Oratorio(actually it was a mixed program of compositions from different genres), and it brought the composer an income of about a thousand pounds, which allowed him to pay all his debts. By this time there already existed Esther, Deborah And Atalia (Athalia), but so far these were only scattered examples of the new genre. From now on, starting from Saula (Saul) And Israel in Egypt (Israel in Egypt, 1739), Handel began to compose oratorios with the same regularity with which he had previously created Italian operas. The most famous oratorio is Messiah(1741) was composed in three weeks and first performed on April 13, 1742 in Dublin. They followed her Samson, Semele, Joseph And Belshazzar. In the summer of 1745, Handel experienced a second serious crisis, both financial and related to deteriorating health, but managed to recover from it and celebrated the suppression of the Jacobite uprising with the creation of a pasticcio called Oratorio for the occasion (Occasional Oratorio). Another oratorio associated with the Jacobite uprising was Judas Maccabee (Judas Maccabaeus, 1747), which contemporaries perceived as a laudatory ode to the savior of England, the “butcher” Cumberland (William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland), slightly covered with a biblical story. Judas Maccabee– Handel’s best oratorio; at the very first performance, the work turned out to be so consistent with the general mood that Handel immediately became a national hero, and a hero of the entire people, including not only the nobility, but also the middle class. In 1748–1750 he pleased his fans with a whole series of masterpieces - Alexander Balus (Alexander Balus), Joshua(Joshua), Susanna (Susanna), Solomon (Solomon) And Theodora(Theodora), of which not all passed with the success they deserved. In 1749 Handel composed Fireworks music (fireworks music) to celebrate the conclusion of a peace treaty in Aachen, ending the War of the Austrian Succession; The fireworks themselves were not very successful, but Handel's music was a great success.

Last years, blindness and death.

In the summer of 1750, Handel visited Germany for the last time. Returning to England, he began work on an oratorio Jewfay (Jephtha), but felt that his vision was failing him. He underwent operations three times, but in January 1753 Handel became completely blind. However, he did not sit idly by, but with the help of his devoted friend J.K. Smita composed his last great pasticcio Triumph of Time and Truth (Triumph of Time and Truth, 1757), the material for which was borrowed mainly from Handel's early Italian oratorio Il Trionfo del Tempo(1708), as well as from other previously created works. Handel continued to play the organ and conduct concerts. So, on April 6, 1759, a week before his death, he supervised the execution Messiah at the Covent Garden Theatre. Handel died on April 14 and was buried in Westminster Abbey on April 20; His coffin was accompanied by about three thousand people, and the combined choir of the abbey and the Cathedral of St. sang at the funeral. Paul and the Royal Chapel.

CREATION

Operas.

Handel's most valuable contribution to the treasury of world art is his English oratorios, but nevertheless it is necessary first of all to turn to his Italian operas. From 1705 to 1738, the composer devoted the overwhelming majority of his creative energy to this genre.

Handel's operas are not just concerts in costume, composed only so that the then fashionable castrati singers (male sopranos and altos) and prima donnas could demonstrate their virtuosity. It is true that in Handel's operas da capo arias predominate in the traditional three-part form (A-B-A) and many of these arias are monuments of the golden age of Italian music and were written in the style of A. Scarlatti, whose direct successor was Handel. But Handel's arias are rarely “pure” music: each aria depicts an individual character in a given situation, and the sum of the arias creates a complete dramatic image. Handel had an amazing ability to create dramatic character within a single aria (for example, Poppea's lament Bel piacere V Agrippina) and achieved brilliant results by breaking the conventional form, for example, by introducing a recitative scene of Caesar before Cleopatra's aria da capo V"adoro pupille V Julius Caesar. The same form of the aria gives room for a picturesque and extraordinary orchestration, including both ordinary and stage orchestras. Handel's harmonic writing can also be very expressive and original. Sometimes in climactic moments - such as the death scene of Bayazet in Tamerlane or the scene of madness in Orlando, - Handel moves away from a simple alternation of recitative dialogues with arias and composes a real dramatic scene.

Oratorios.

The dramatic techniques developed in the opera, Handel transferred to his oratorios. They differ from his operas in their lack of acting and scenery; using English instead of Italian; free introduction of choirs. Most often, religious subjects from the Old Testament are used in oratorios, but the music here is more dramatic than church, and in some cases (for example, in Semele And Hercules) plots are not connected with Christianity at all.

Messiah at first glance, it is quite consistent with the popular idea of ​​Handel’s oratorio as a series of recitatives, arias, choruses, etc., and yet this work stands apart, which is due to the plot: Messiah tells about the Nativity, Passion and Resurrection of Jesus, but not by means of a direct retelling of the Gospel events, but by various kinds of allusions. According to unanimous opinion, Messiah- one of the masterpieces of world music, and yet it is hardly worthwhile, as is often done, to extol this work, forgetting about Handel’s other oratorios. Israel in Egypt- another outstanding oratorio: its peculiarity lies in the exceptional predominance of choirs and an equally exceptional number of “borrowings” from the music of other authors. In general, Handel’s “borrowings” and adaptations of other people’s material - from individual themes to entire parts - have repeatedly become the subject of discussion. Sometimes Handel takes someone else's theme in order to give impetus to his own imagination, and he certainly makes changes to it that are beneficial. However, the case Israel in Egypt(and it is not unique) requires a special explanation, since there are so many borrowings here that it almost comes to accusations of plagiarism. E. J. Dent suggested that the increased use of foreign materials in the works of the late 1730s was a consequence of the mental illness that haunted Handel during these years.

Other choral genres.

The genre range of Handel's choral music is very wide: from two cycles of German passions (where Handel most closely comes into contact with the style of J.S. Bach) and English serenatus (a genre close to opera) and odes (a delightful pastoral Acis and Galatea, brilliant and picturesque Feast of Alexander, Alexander's Feast, etc.) to Italian chamber cantatas for solo voices, duets and trios (one or two numbers from this music later became very popular parts Messiah – His yoke is easy And For unto us). It makes sense to divide the composer’s church music into three categories, very different in style. The first category is a few early Catholic psalms, mostly composed in Italy; Among them the best is Psalm 110 Dixit Dominus. The second category is the music of the Anglican Church, created on the occasion of major historical events: these are the “Dettingen” Te Deum, four magnificent antecedents for the coronation of George II and a deeply felt funeral antecedent The ways of Zion do mourn to the death of the queen. The third category consists of eleven less monumental so-called. Chandos anthems(named after the Duke of Chandos) are more reminiscent in form of German church cantatas than of any type of English anthem.

Instrumental works.

Handel's instrumental works have numerous merits, but are still inferior in quality to his choral opuses. The peaks of the composer's chamber-instrumental creativity are his sonatas op. 1 for solo instruments (flute, oboe or violin with basso continuo) and trio sonatas (Op. 2), performed in the Italian style, but undoubtedly Handelian in spirit. The trio sonatas (Op. 5) are more superficial and largely consist of borrowings from earlier music. Likewise, the second cycle of organ concerts consists mainly of transcriptions; There are also many transcriptions in the excellent first cycle of organ concerts and in the third cycle, which were published, respectively, under opuses 2 and 7. These concerts, performed by the author himself as interludes during the performance of oratorios, were published under the title Concertos for harpsichord or organ, and indeed, playing them on a harpsichord is even more convenient than on an organ of modern design (i.e., a harpsichord is preferable if a baroque organ is not available). The early concertos for orchestra (Op. 3) are also uneven in quality. The main masterpiece of the composer's instrumental work is the monumental cycle of 12 concerti grossi for strings (published in 1740, op. 6); Only some fragments can be placed next to it Music on the water.

The weakest part of Handel's instrumental legacy is his harpsichord music. Eight Suites ( Suites de pieces pour la Clavecin), published in 1720, and Six fugues or fantasies for organ or harpsichord (Six Fugues or Voluntarys for the Organ or Harpsicord), which appeared in 1735, are certainly worthy of the name of their author, although Handel’s “free”, quasi-improvisational fugues are still inferior to the fugues of J. S. Bach, which are chased in form. The late suites and numerous small plays in general are on the periphery of the composer's work.

Like Bach, Handel was distinguished by conservatism. Thus, his operas entirely belong to the genre of Neapolitan opera of the early 18th century. Handel lived to see the era in which the tone was set by the Mannheim symphonists, C. P. E. Bach and the young Haydn, but in his work there are almost no traces of their influence, while, for example, his older contemporary K. Graupner (1683 –1760), who first wrote baroque operas for the Hamburg theater, by the mid-18th century. became the author of numerous symphonies of a new type. What was new in Handel, like in Bach, was always highly individual and had nothing to do with the trends of musical fashion. For example, the unique English oratorio is entirely the creation of Handel. Handel's style, already outdated during the composer's lifetime, did not have a direct impact on the musical process. Thirty years passed before Mozart discovered Handel and re-orchestrated Messiah, and about forty years before Haydn followed Handel's path in the oratorio world creation.

Main genres

Handel's creative activity was as long as it was fruitful. She brought a huge number of works of various genres. There is opera with its varieties (seria and pastoral), secular and sacred choral music, chamber vocal music, collections of instrumental pieces (harpsichord, organ, orchestral) and numerous oratorios.

Handel was a secular artist to the core, composing only for the theater and concert stage, this left its mark on his compositional style. When comic opera began in Italy, he was about fifty years old. And the composer openly and regretfully said that he was too old to work in the new genre. Nevertheless, the expressive techniques of the buffa were later reflected in his heroic oratorios.

Handel always resisted the performance of his works in church, and during the composer's lifetime the higher clergy prevented attempts to interpret his oratorios as cult music. Even the organ, an ancient church instrument, was moved by Handel to the concert hall, and instead of fugues and choral preludes, secular motifs of Italian violin concertos sounded on it. And in our time, many of his sublime operatic arias are familiar in the form of church tunes, and his brilliant, secular oratorios are often perceived as a peculiar variety of Bach's passions.

Despite the common stylistic features characteristic of all music of that era and the unity of national origins, the music of Bach and Handel differ significantly in their aesthetic orientation. Bach is associated with the philosophical-contemplative cult line in music. Handel, on the other hand, relies mainly on theatrical images and completes the “secular” culture of a number of previous generations.

The heroics of operas and the solemn decorativeness of court ballets, the lyrics of folk songs and the colorfulness of mass dances, the brilliant imposingness of concert plays and the intimate depth of chamber music - these and many other features of secular musical culture prepared the features of Gödel's style, in tune with the advanced artistic ideals of the 20th century.

The essence of Handel's music is expressed in his monumental oratorios. Handel came to them after many years of work in musical theater. In them he embodied bold dramatic ideas that he was unable to implement within the framework of modern opera seria. As a unique refraction of the opera genre, they form a link between old Italian opera and the realistic dramaturgy of the classics of the revolutionary era. They pave the way for a new path in musical aesthetics, which crowns the lyrical tragedies of Gluck, the musical dramas of Mozart, and the symphonies of Beethoven.

Unlike Bach, Handel from a young age did not want to come to terms with either the narrowness of life in the German provinces or the position of a church musician, which was acquired by the largest composers of the 18th century. Trained as an organist who wrote cult music in Halle in his youth, he broke these ties at the first opportunity and headed to Hamburg, where the only German opera house existed. But the art school he attended in his youth left a deep and lasting mark on his work. All subsequent years, Handel maintained his attitude towards music as the area of ​​the most sublime spiritual manifestations. The contradictions of the best years of his creative life were associated with the desire to create ideological, serious music within the framework of entertaining opera. This began his conflict with the aristocratic environment, which ended in a complete break with the genre of serious opera, to which he devoted more than thirty years.

Handel's operatic work is represented by the genre of serious opera. He was not a reformer of opera seria. What he sought was a search for a direction that would later lead, in the second half of the 18th century, to the operas of Gluck. Nevertheless, in a genre that in many ways no longer meets modern needs, he managed to embody lofty ideals. Before revealing the ethical idea in the folk epics of oratorios, he honed his style in operas.

The problem of musical theater was central to Handel. He was drawn to the opera with uncontrollable force. Meanwhile, both in Germany and in England, in those years, opera did not have a nationwide democratic character. For Germany, the era of the birth of the national theater has not yet arrived. In this country, musical drama was cultivated exclusively in princely circles and was a typical example of “gilded” court art. The Hamburg Opera, the only type of folk musical theater in Germany, collapsed before it had time to form. Neither the brilliant talent of the Kaiser nor the genius of Handel could save her from this fate. Handel, who devoted a lot of creative energy to this theater, was doomed to failure in his search for a national operatic style even before the material inconsistency of such a “fantastic” enterprise for Germany as a city public theater became obvious.

But if for Germany the heyday of folk musical theater was ahead, then for England this moment was missed. The interesting and original ways of developing national opera, outlined in the work of Henry Purcell, were irretrievably lost. And Handel was faced with an unexpected and difficult situation. England attracted him with its democratic way of life and the possibility of live communication with a wide audience. But, unlike Italy and France, the English public was unreceptive to the art of opera. There was no national musical theater in England, and the genre of grand theater opera, in which Handel was able to prove himself a brilliant master, met only the tastes of the aristocracy. But in this environment, the composer’s attempts to go beyond the scope of opera seria did not meet with sympathy. Tuckeray's novel "The Virginians" has a characteristic touch in his description of the life of high society: the "golden youth" considered it a sign of good taste to boycott Handel's opera productions, demonstratively preferring to them the lightweight works of his rivals.

With unflagging tenacity, Handel continued to search for his own style in operatic dramaturgy. He imbued his works with heroic features, strived for psychological truthfulness, to enrich the primitive mechanical composition of Italian opera, rightly called the “album of arias.” But the aesthetics of this highly conventional genre constrained his creative possibilities. While destroying the established style of mythological opera and thereby causing discontent among the aristocratic audience, Handel, at the same time, could not go beyond its limits. While some of Handel's arias achieved immortal fame, none of his many operas made it into the next century.

The resounding success of the Beggar's Opera led to the collapse of the theatrical enterprise headed by Handel, and he learned a lesson from this situation. The composer realized that the sympathies of democratic circles gravitated towards realistic art, that the pomp and abstraction of the Italian opera seria was identified for them with a dying noble aesthetics.

And he drew attention to the beauty and expressiveness of English folklore, to which a wide audience was so receptive, not appreciating his brilliant arias.

However, the path indicated by the Beggar's Opera was unacceptable to Handel. The “light genre” that defines the appearance of this English “ballad opera” was deeply alien to him. The dramaturgy of this opera relied on the piquant surface of the entertainment theater of the Restoration era. In the musical design there was not a trace of the high culture of the national music school of the 17th century. It has been reduced to an extremely elementary level. Despite the widespread use of musical folklore, “ballad opera” never rose to the level that England reached in the field of literature, painting and dramatic theater. That is why Handel began to look for another way to express his artistic ideas.

"The Beggar's Opera" prompted Handel to search for mass art, but he resolved the problem of truth in music in a completely different way. His guiding star was not the light-genre drama of his time, but the high monumental art of England during the period of its artistic heyday. He moved away from the theater and created a new genre, over which the spirit of Shakespeare, Milton, and Purcell hovered - grandiose dramatic “poems” imbued with the ideas of civic heroism.

Working on the oratorio meant for Handel a way out of a creative impasse and an ideological and artistic crisis. At the same time, the oratorio, closely related to opera in type, provided maximum opportunities for the use of all forms and techniques of operatic writing. It was in the oratorio genre that Handel created works worthy of his genius, truly great works, which define the essence of his style.

The oratorio, which the composer turned to in the 30s and 40s, was not a new genre for him. His first oratorio works date back to his stay in Hamburg and Italy. But it is the oratorios of recent years that can be considered as the artistic completion of Handel’s creative path. Italian opera brought the composer mastery of vocal style and a variety of types of solo singing. Passions and English anthems helped develop the technique of choral writing; instrumental works contributed to the ability to use the colorful and expressive means of the orchestra. Thus, a wealth of experience preceded the creation of oratorios - Handel's best creations.

The selection of topics in the oratorios occurred in full accordance with humane ethical and aesthetic convictions, with the responsible tasks that Handel assigned to art. It was the civil content of Gödel’s oratorios that determined their legendary biblical plots. For almost two centuries the contents of the Old Council were part of the daily life of the English people. The people deliberately contrasted Biblical poetry with the pretentious Latin verses of court poets or the crude products of the “frivolous” restoration era. In the eyes of his contemporaries, Handel’s appeal to biblical themes was perceived as a victory of the popular over the aristocratic, the national over the courtly-cosmopolitan, the serious over the entertaining. By choosing for his oratorios and emphasizing in them the heroic images of biblical legends, Handel came to a hitherto unknown type of mass musical art. He was the first to embody in music the idea of ​​the greatness of the people's struggle, the first to make the hero of a musical-dramatic work not an individual, but the entire people. The theme of sublime love, which dominated contemporary opera, gave way to images of people fighting for their freedom.

The use of biblical stories as subjects for secular music not only expanded the range of these subjects, but also presented new requirements and new social meaning. In the oratorio it was possible to go beyond the love-lyrical intrigue and conventional love vicissitudes generally accepted in modern opera seria. Biblical stories did not allow frivolity, entertainment, or distortion in interpretation, and legends known to everyone from childhood made it possible to bring the content of the oratorios closer to understanding by the general public.

Instead of a string of mythological characters incomprehensible to a democratic audience, Handel introduced into his oratorios the legendary “heroic” images - Samson, Maccabee, Saul, Jeuthaeus - familiar to every Englishman from childhood. Leaders of a struggling people, they personified the freedom-loving ideals of humanity. Handel's high civic pathos is intertwined with the theme of glorifying the beauty of life. In the “luxurious” sunny colors of his oratorios there is not a trace of Puritan asceticism. These huge multi-colored canvases are permeated with the Renaissance spirit. It seems that all the richness and poetry of secular art of many generations was embodied in the music of Handel’s oratorios.

The epic-heroic nature of the images determined the forms and means of their musical embodiment. Handel possessed the skill of an opera composer to a high degree, and he made all the achievements of operatic music the property of the oratorio. But, unlike opera seria, with its reliance on solo singing, the core of the oratorio turned out to be the choir as a form of conveying the thoughts and feelings of the people. It is the choirs that give Handel’s oratorios a majestic, monumental appearance and contribute, as Tchaikovsky wrote, to “the overwhelming effect of strength and power.” Having made the choir the main carrier of the artistic idea, he gave it an unknown early sound.

For centuries, polyphonic singing played the role of the most accessible and widespread form of music-making in all European countries. Handel summarized in his oratorios the traditions of the choral culture of an entire era. But at the same time, he enriched this sphere with the achievements of the new “opera century” and thereby significantly expanded its expressive capabilities.

Possessing a virtuoso technique of choral writing, Handel achieved a variety of sound effects. He freely and flexibly uses choruses in the most contrasting positions: when expressing sorrow and joy, heroic uplift, anger and indignation, when depicting a bright pastoral, rural idyll. Then he brings it to a transparent pianissimo; sometimes Handel wrote choirs in a rich chordal-harmonic structure, combining the voices into a compact, dense mass; the rich possibilities of polyphony serve as a means of enhancing movement and effectiveness. Polyphonic and chordal episodes follow alternately, or both principles are combined

But above all this genre diversity reigns a deep understanding of the unique expressive features of a polyphonic choir. The richest mixture of timbre colors is subject to the dynamics of polyphonic development. The pomp and beauty of sound do not weaken the intensity of musical thought. According to the recollections of contemporaries, when some of Gödel’s choirs performed, the audience rose from their seats as one person, driven by inner excitement. Only the finales of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Solemn Mass exceed the colossal power of Gödel's choral climaxes.

According to Tchaikovsky, “Handel was an inimitable master regarding the teaching of using voices. Without at all forcing choral vocal means, never going beyond the natural limits of vocal registers, he extracted from the choir such excellent mass effects that other composers had never achieved.”

Choirs in Gödel's oratorios are always an active force that directs musical and dramatic development. Therefore, the compositional and dramatic tasks of the choir are extremely important and varied. In oratorios where the main character is the people, the importance of the choir especially increases. This can be seen in the example of the choral epic "Israel in Egypt."

In Samson, the parts of individual heroes and people, that is, arias, duets and choruses, are distributed evenly and complement one another. If in the oratorio “Samson” the choir conveys only the feelings or state of warring peoples, then in “Judas Maccabee” the choir plays a more active role, taking direct part in dramatic events.

Secular music before Handel did not know such a huge scale and expressive power of the influence of the choir. In his choral parts one can hear the solemn, brightly dramatic images of Purcell’s polyphonic anthemas and “odes”. And along with this there is a deep concentration of German vocal and instrumental genres, leading to Schutz’s passions. The polished, graceful ensembles of French decorative opera are reflected in the transparent structure of many of Gödel's choral scenes. Italian opera music also has a huge influence on them. Their magnificent melody, virtuosic brilliance and even “recitativeness” are borrowed directly from musical theater. In the intonation of Handel's choral scenes one can often hear expressions of modern English folklore.

To enhance dramatic expressiveness, Handel also subordinated other elements of musical writing: solo singing, instrumental sound and composition.

Drama and its unfolding in an oratorio are learned only through musical means. According to Romain Rolland, in oratorios “the music serves as its own decoration.” As if making up for the lack of decorative decoration and theatrical performance of the action, the orchestra is given new functions; describe with sounds what is happening, the environment in which events take place

In contrast to the contemporary false-heroic opera, built on a meager alternation of virtuoso arias and dry recitatives, Handel attracted the entire variety of modern musical genres into his oratorios. With the greatest freedom, he used in his oratorios the most viable and interesting features of music from different countries and different styles. Freed from the dramatic conventions and decorative excesses of the seria, he drew extensively on those remarkable achievements that made opera the leading musical genre of the era. Expressive melody, brilliant vocal technique, and complete forms formed the basis of the new ariot style created by Handel.

Handel transfers all the variety of types and types of arias that have developed in the work of various opera schools into the oratorio.

These are large arias of a heroic nature, dramatic and mournful arias, close to operatic lamento, brilliant and virtuosic, in which the voice freely competes with the solo instrument, arias with a pastoral light coloring. Finally, song structures like arietta. There is also a new type of solo singing introduced by Handel - an aria with a choir. The predominant aria da capo does not exclude many other forms: here there is a free deployment of material without repetition, and a two-part aria with a contrasting juxtaposition of two musical images.

In Handel, the aria is inseparable from the compositional whole; it forms an important part of the general line of musical and dramatic development. Using the outer contours of operatic arias in oratorios, Handel gives the content of each solo number an individual character; By subordinating the operatic forms of solo singing to a specific artistic concept, he avoids the schematism of opera seria.

Relief, laconic, extremely rich intonation arias of Handel amaze, according to A. N. Serov, with “brilliant calculation for the most dramatic strings of the human voice.” The composer achieved a remarkable variety of melodic characteristics for his time. Tragic greatness is heard, for example, in the free monologue of the blinded Samson, and the “dance” aria of Delilah seducing him is full of graceful feminine charm. And the rude intonations of the comedy characters of the buffa are already intruding into the aria of the enemy mocking Samson. The bright Mozartian lyrics, the harsh heroics of Gluck and Beethoven, and Haydn's pastoral idyll were accumulated by Handel in his multifaceted vocal images.

He opened up a new instrumental sphere in his oratorios. The instrumental principle in Handel's oratorios as a whole is expressed in an unprecedentedly vivid way for the “pre-symphonic” era. In this one can see connections not only with Purcell, but also with German musical traditions. But it is additionally enriched with features characteristic of his own popular program suites (“Music on the Water” and “Music of Fireworks”). The expressive and figurative power of his orchestral parts is sometimes amazing. Thus, in the oratorio “Israel in Egypt,” the sound-and-image paintings accompanying the outline of the epic narrative (the buzzing of midges, jumping frogs, etc.) seem to reach visible reality. The stunning scene of the destruction of the temple in Samson, the confusion and horror of the enemies buried under it, are expressed to a greater extent by instrumental means. An independent orchestral episode - a major funeral march - embodies the idea of ​​the entire oratorio. Along with the funeral procession in "Saul", this instrumental picture is half a century ahead of the "era of marching", which began with the mass genres of revolutionary France.

Handel transferred into his instrumental “frescoes” the principle of contrasting comparisons, masterfully developed in French opera of the 17th century. “Architectural-ensemble” techniques, which in court performances were used for purely decorative purposes, were put at the service of dramatic expressiveness in Handel’s oratorios. An example is the chiaroscuro effect in “Messiah,” when the polyphonic F minor chorus with its transparent, quiet sound depicts the people wandering in the darkness, and then gives way to the fanfare operatic intonations of the major chorus, glorifying the light. Or in "Samson", where the mournful scene of mourning for the deceased hero is unexpectedly framed by solemn, jubilant music, personifying the victory of the people. The emotional impact of these contrasting "intrusions" is worthy of comparison with the dazzling music of Beethoven.

The beauty, clarity and intelligibility of the artistic idea gave Handel's oratorios - for all their professional complexity - a truly mass character. With the appearance of "Samson", "Messiah", "Israel in Egypt", "Judas Maccabee" an amazing turning point occurred in the composer's life. The English public, which had hitherto treated Handel's work with cold indifference or subjected it to satirical ridicule, greeted his oratorios with unbridled delight and proclaimed him a national composer.

Features of the style of the instrumental genre.

Handel's instrumental music is interesting for its multi-genre, lively spontaneity and fullness of feelings. The main property of the style of Gödel's instrumental music is vital, purposeful energy, shaded by lyrical images of high nobility. Like Bach, this brilliant master of instrumental writing had his say in any genre. Strict polyphonic forms, dance suites, variations for salon harpsichord, concertos for orchestra, sonatas for strings, music for organ - all this is part of Handel's instrumental heritage.

The abundance of song melodies and dance rhythms in Handel's instrumental pieces reveals their closeness to everyday folk art. More than once, the specificity of musical images determined the program content of a particular piece. The composer himself more than once substituted words for instrumental fugues, individual parts of sonatas or concertos and then turned them into pages of vocal or operatic music. Even more often, he rearranged arias from their operas and oratorios for various instrumental ensembles and individual instruments.

Handel’s instrumental works reflect not only the inner experiences of the artist himself, but also phenomena of the external world, among which there are often works inspired by nature. Others are related to vocal and dramatic works. When creating instrumental works, the composer did not set himself any special creative tasks. He wrote for oboe, harpsichord, organ or orchestra in the manner, forms and genres generally accepted for his time. However, Handel is very far from conforming to established patterns, for example in the suite.

Handel's instrumental work is generally divided into three groups. The first is for keyboard instruments, harpsichord and organ. The second group is chamber music for solo instruments accompanied by cymbal and small ensembles, the so-called sonatas and trio sonatas.

Keyboard and organ music owe their existence to a large extent to Handel's artistic activity.; performances, improvisations on the harpsichord and organ had a direct impact on the formation of the style, the nature of musical images, and development methods in works of this genre. The keyboard creativity is represented by a large number of small dance pieces. But the main fund of the composer's keyboard music consists of three collections of suites. The first collection of eight suites was published in 1720 under the direction of Handel himself, carefully prepared and corrected by the author. All other publications were carried out not only without the participation, but often without the desire of Handel himself.

In his interpretation of the suite, Handel directs his main attention to cyclicity, that is, the organization of diverse material and individual pieces into a single integral composition. For this reason, he often deviates from the traditional scheme of the suite, changes the order of dances, or even completely replaces them with non-dance pieces. Sometimes he acted in a completely original way, ending the cycle not with a final gigue, but with an aria with variations, or after a quick gig he staged a solemn passacaglia. Handel composes the suites, applying with equal skill the principle of figurative contrast and unification of pieces by varying the general melodic and rhythmic turns. All this was done to correspond to the design and content of the suite.

The third group consists of orchestral works: the famous concerto grossi (concert for orchestra), “Water Music”, “Firework Music”, symphonies and overtures from his own operas and oratorios.

In the cyclic composition concerto grossi, as in the suites, the number of parts is arbitrary, ranging from three to six. Unlike Bach's concertos, where the principle of contrast is strictly observed, in Handel one can find consecutive fast or slow pieces. In his orchestral pieces, Handel, as in his keyboard and organ pieces, relied on genre themes and made extensive use of images and musical elements of everyday art.

Innovation was most clearly manifested in the creation of new program works performed in the open air, in which the main role belonged to wind instruments. "Music on the Water" consists of a whole series of miniature plays. Victoriously - sonorous fanfares alternate with thoughtful cantilenas, with graceful dance movements, a cheerful roll call of trumpets and horns sets off the typically Gödel thoughtful pathos. Festive, sparkling music, permeated with popular everyday intonations and vivid visual associations, is a rare type of mass instrumental art that anticipated the music of the period of the French Revolution. They contain undoubted features of new popular genres that will serve as the most important decoration of folk festivals.