Page 117 - ESSENTIAL LISTENING TO MUSIC

George Frideric Handel (Figure 6.8) was born in the town of Halle, Germany, in 1685, and died in London in 1759. Although his father demanded that he become a lawyer, young Handel managed to cultivate his interest in music, sometimes secretly in the attic. At the age of eighteen, he left for the city of Hamburg, where he took a job as second violinist in the orchestra of the city opera. But because the musical world around 1700 was domi- nated by things Italian, he soon set off for Italy to learn his trade and broaden his horizons. After a decade in Italy, Handel returned to North Germany to accept the post of court music director for the Elector of Hanover, but on the condition that he be given an immediate leave of absence to visit London. Arriving in London in 1710, Handel conveniently “forgot” about his obligation to the Hanoverian court. London became the site of his musical activity and the place where he won fame and fortune.
Figure 6.8
Thomas Hudson’s portrait (1749) of Handel with the score of Messiah visible in the composer’s left hand. Handel had a quick temper, could swear in four languages, and liked to eat.
London in the early eighteenth century was the largest and richest city in Europe, boasting a population of 500,000. It was the capital city not only of a country but also of a burgeoning empire of international commerce and trade. London may not have possessed the rich cultural heritage of Rome or Paris, but it offered opportunity for financial gain, in art as well as commerce. As a friend of Handel then said, “In France and Italy there is something to learn, but in London there is something to earn.”
As fate would have it, Handel’s continental employer, the Elector of Hanover, became King George I of England in 1714, when this Hanoverian acceded to the throne on the extinction of the Stuart line. (A direct descendant of those same Hanoverians, Queen Elizabeth II, sits on the throne of England today.) Fortunately for Handel, the new German-speaking king bore his truant musician no grudge and called on Handel frequently to compose festival music to entertain the court or provide a “soundtrack” for its events. For these occasions, Handel produced such works as Water Music (1717), Music for the Royal Fireworks (1749), and the Coronation Service (1727) for King George II and Queen Caroline, parts of which have been used at the coronation of every English monarch since then.
Handel and Opera
Handel emigrated from Germany to England not for the chance to entertain the king, and certainly not for the cuisine or the climate. Rather, he went to London to make money producing Italian opera. With the rare exception of a work such as Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (see Chapter 5), there was no opera in London at this time. The legacy of Shakespeare in England remained strong, and the oc- casional sonic interlude was about as much music as English audiences toler- ated in their spoken plays. Handel aimed to change this. London audiences, he reasoned, were daily growing wealthier and more cosmopolitan, and would welcome the “high art” of imported Italian opera, the way New Yorkers wel- come Gucci handbags and Armani shoes today. Guaranteeing himself a healthy
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Lebrecht Music and Arts
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