It's all about the classical music composers and their works from the last 400 years and much more about music. Hier erfahren Sie alles über die klassischen Komponisten und ihre Meisterwerke der letzten vierhundert Jahre und vieles mehr über Klassische Musik.
Showing posts with label Georg Friedrich Haendel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Georg Friedrich Haendel. Show all posts
During the opening measures of the famous chorus, members of the audience glanced around anxiously, checking to see who would be first to rise to their feet. Then someone in the balcony stood, and someone else, and suddenly the whole audience rose to its feet, as is traditional for the ‘Hallelujah’ Chorus.
The reasons for this tradition are somewhat apocryphal: one version is that at the first London performance in 1743, the audience “together with the King”, were so moved by the ‘Hallelujah’ Chorus that they spontaneously rose to their feet. An alternative explanation is that King George II was so tone-deaf that he thought the performance had finished, and the orchestra was playing the National Anthem: once the King stood, everyone present was obliged to stand too. Whatever the reason, there is something really special about standing for such an uplifting and triumphant piece of music.
For me ‘Messiah’ will forever be associated with the beginning of the Christmas season. When I was at school, it formed an integral part of the concert which ended the Autumn term, along with the service of nine lessons and carols at the church next door to my school. I must have sung Handel’s ‘Messiah’ at least 10 times, for the tradition of performing it at Christmas continued when I joined my university choir.
Background
‘Messiah’ was composed in 1741, with a text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible and the version of the Psalms included with the Book of Common Prayer. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742 and received its London premiere nearly a year later. Initially it received a modest public reception, despite Handel’s established reputation in England, where he had lived since 1712, but gradually the oratorio gained in popularity and it is now one of the best-known, much-loved and most frequently performed choral works in Western music.
The Story
The work is organised in three sections: Part 1 tells the story of the birth of Christ and includes all the familiar elements of the Christmas story. Part 2 is concerned with Christ’s passion and death, his resurrection and ascension, and ends with the joyous ‘Hallelujah’ chorus. It is this aspect of the work which makes it just as applicable for performance at Easter as well as at Christmas (in fact, its premiere in Dublin took place 19 days after Easter 1742). Part 3 returns to the theme of resurrection and represents the real core of the work as Christ’s resurrection is connected to our own redemption and sense of hope, beautifully affirmed in one of the work’s most famous arias, ‘I Know that My Redeemer Liveth’. And I suppose the best thing about ‘Messiah’ really is all the memorable ‘tunes’ – from ‘Ev’ry Valley Shall be Exalted’ to ‘The Trumpet Shall Sound’, ‘I Know My Redeemer Liveth’ to the charming duet between tenor and alto ‘O Death Where is Thy Sting’. Then there are the choruses: ‘And the Glory of the Lord’, ‘All We Like Sheep’, ‘For Unto Us a Child is Born, ‘Hallelujah’, and the wonderful fugue of the final chorus. In between all this are some beautiful solos, recitatives, which serve to move the narrative forward, and delightful orchestral interludes.
Handel brings the text to life with light and shade, storms and sunshine, fugue and counterpoint, and a huge variety of textures and “word painting”, the technique of having the melody mimic the literal meaning of the libretto. Because of the skilful way in which Handel organises the material, and the universal, redemptive message of the text, Messiah remains a work which is uplifting and life-affirming, regardless of how it is performed.
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Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1759)
《Messiah》oratorio, HWV 56 (1741)
[Edition of the 1752 version I]
Part 1 - chorus: "For unto us a Child is born"
The Choir of King's College, Cambridge
The Brandenburg Consort
Stephen Cleobury (conductor)
Messiah (HWV 56) is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel. The text was compiled from the King James Bible and the Coverdale Psalter by Charles Jennens. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742 and received its London premiere nearly a year later. After an initially modest public reception, the oratorio gained in popularity, eventually becoming one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in Western music.
Megaron Choir is in my humble opinion one of the best European youth choirs. Their energy, virtuosity, and competence are beyond rational understanding.
Megaron Chamber Choir was founded in October 2003 on the initiative of Damijan Močnik, composer and conductor, and united former students of the Diocesan Classical Gymnasium at St. Stanislav’s Institution in Ljubljana, who had before been active in various choral ensembles and received music education in one or more of the five choirs at the Diocesan Classical Gymnasium. As such, Megaron Chamber Choir represents the peak of the choir pyramid of St. Stanislav’s Institution. In the sixteen years since its founding, Megaron Chamber Choir has evolved into a high-quality choir performing regularly in Slovenia as well as in Austria, Italy, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Poland, USA, and Canada, and thus earning a reputation at home as well as abroad.
More: https://kzmegaron.com/about/
Christmas is upon us, which means it’s time to rediscover all those favourite festive pieces of music.
Find out how classical music does Christmas, from traditional carols to obscure gems you may not yet have heard...
The Nutcracker – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
The Nutcracker is something of a Christmas tradition. The festive tale of a toy soldier that comes to life has endured over the years and been subject to some radical retellings. But it’s Tchaikovsky’s music at the centre that makes the beloved ballet that little bit more special.
The Nutcracker at the Royal Opera House. Picture: Royal Ballet/Tristram Kenton
Troika – Sergei Prokofiev
Taken from his Lieutenant Kijé, Prokofiev’s festive sleigh-ride of a piece is not only a mainstay in Christmas concerts around the world, but on hit radio stations too. English musician, Greg Lake, samples the Russian composer’s melody in his 1975 Christmas song, ‘I Believe in Father Christmas’.
Written in 1927, Victor Hely-Hutchinson’s festive shindig of a piece takes the listener on a tour of some of the best-loved Christmas carols including ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’, ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’ and ‘The First Noël’.
L’Enfance du Christ – Hector Berlioz
Berlioz wrote the oratorio L’Enfance du Christ from 1854. It’s a huge work, which took four years to compose, and depicts not just the childhood of Christ but also Herod’s mass murder of infants in Judea, which led to the fleeing of Mary, Joseph and Jesus. The best-known section, ‘The Shepherds’ Farewell’, is a glorious blend of warm woodwind sounds, sublime choral harmonies and sensitive orchestral accompaniment.
Christmas Greeting – Edward Elgar
While not one of Elgar’s best-known works, this delicate little Christmas song showcases his pastoral roots. Descriptions of the English countryside and calls of ‘Noël!’ make this an underrated festive gem.
Christmas Overture – Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Coleridge-Taylor brings together a conglomeration of Christmas melodies and carols in his Christmas Overture. But this work is so much more than just an arrangement of well-known classics for orchestra, as the composer’s cleverly placed integrations show.
It is thought the piece was composed by Coleridge-Taylor for the children’s play, The Forest of Wild Thyme. The work was published posthumously in 1925, 13 years after the composer’s death, age just 37.
Christmas Prelude for Chamber Orchestra – Vítězslava Kaprálová
Czech composer, Vítězslava Kaprálová, wrote the orchestral miniature, Christmas Prelude for Chamber Orchestra, in 1939 for a Christmas program on the Paris PTT Radio. The unusual timbre of the work sets this short orchestral excursion apart from other festive favourites in this list, with the role of the harp beside the chamber orchestra and piano bringing a new colour to the work.
Song for Snow – Florence Price
Written in 1930, this beautiful work by Florence Price for chorus and piano opens with the evocative lyric, ‘The earth is lighter than the sky’. The song’s text comes from a poem of the same name by American author, Elizabeth Coatsworth.
Price’s vocal lines emulate falling snowflakes with an overarching descending melody, and a delicate piano accompaniment. Soft staccato homophony later evokes an icy landscape, before returning to the sweet, laid-back melody.
Sleigh Ride – Leopold Mozart
Leopold Mozart’s Sleigh Ride takes the listener on a quaint though brief trot through a snowy forest on the back of a horse-drawn sleigh. Complete with an almost continuous drone of sleigh bells, ‘Schlittenfahrt’ was written by Leopold shortly before the birth of his son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Alongside the festive percussion instrument, the score also calls for a rattle, a whip, and triangle among the orchestra.
The younger Mozart would quote from his father’s festive work in his own ‘3 German Dances’ a few decades later.
A Ceremony of Carols – Benjamin Britten
This Christmas choral staple is one of Britten’s best-known works. Scored for three-part treble chorus, solo voices and harp, the piece is based on medieval carols.
The work was originally scored for and first performed by the women of the Fleet Street Choir, but Britten quickly decided that the sound of boys’ treble voices were better at reflecting the child-like innocence he wanted to achieve through his setting.
Sleigh Ride – Leroy Anderson
The second Sleigh Ride on our list was written two centuries after Leopold Mozart’s work, but contains just as many sleigh bell passages. Leroy Anderson’s Sleigh Ride, written in 1948, is a light orchestral standard, and was famously written during a heatwave in July.
Like the Mozart work, Anderson employs another unusual instrument in his orchestration – this time, the use of woodblocks to create a horse-like ‘clip-clop’. Towards the end of the piece, a trumpeter is also instructed to make the sound of a horse whinnying using the brass instrument.
The pastoral strains of Corelli’s Christmas Concerto have been a festive mainstay since the work’s publication in 1714. Published as Concerto grosso in G minor, Op. 6, No. 8, the work was published posthumously and gained its Christmas name due to an inscription on the title page reading, ‘Fatto per la notte di Natale (made for the night of Christmas)’.
Corelli uses folk-like tunes, and sounds evoking bagpipes to conjure images of the biblical shepherds attending the manger at the birth of Jesus.
Christmas Oratorio – Johann Sebastian Bach
Written in 1734, J.S. Bach’s popular Christmas work is one of the choral masterpieces of the Baroque era. The Christmas Oratorio was written in six parts, for performance on one of the major feast days during the period between Christmas Day and Epiphany.
Despite this, Bach clearly envisaged the work being heard as one united whole, and the full oratorio can be heard in churches across the world over the festive season.
Messiah – George Frideric Handel
This English-language oratorio by Handel may have been composed for and first performed during Eastertide, but the choral work is a mainstay in Christmas concerts around the world.
Handel confidently announces the birth of Christ with a radiant section of his Messiah that quotes St Luke’s gospel, ‘For Unto Us A Child Is Born’, and the famed ‘Hallelujah’ Chorus, despite being written to proclaim Christ’s Resurrection, is often associated with the Christmas season.
'Silent monks' perform Handel's Hallelujah Chorus in hilarious high school concert
Credit: South Kitsap High School
Oratorio de Noël – Camille Saint-Saëns
Saint-Saëns wrote this oratorio in just one fortnight, submitting the work just 10 days before its premiere performance in 1858. Scored for soloists, chorus, organ, strings and harp, the composer was highly influenced by music from traditional Christmas church liturgies.
The cantata-like work is divided into 10 movements; first a prelude, followed by nine vocal pieces.
Christmas Eve: Orchestral Suite – Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
This sweeping orchestral suite was inspired by Rimsky-Korsakov’s four-act opera, Christmas Eve, written between 1894-95. In turn, his Christmas opera is based on an 1832 story by Russian Novelist, Nikolai Gogol, of the same name.
The magical story takes place in the snowy setting of Dikanka, Ukraine, and characters include the devil, witches, wizards, and spirits of both good and evil nature.
Stella Natalis – Karl Jenkins
Written in 2009, Welsh composer Sir Karl Jenkins’ 12-movement work explores the various themes of Christmastide. Stella Natalis, which translates to ‘star of birth’ or ‘star of origin’, draws inspiration from Bible Psalms, but also Zulu texts, and Hindu gods.
Winter – Antonio Vivaldi
While not strictly a Christmas work, Vivaldi’s fourth season, Winter, is a masterclass in depicting scenery through music. The Italian composer’s writing for violin and orchestra evokes visions of icy surroundings and bitter winds, particularly in the fast and frenzied high-pitched plucking from the strings.
Vivaldi's 'Winter' from the Arctic Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra
Henning Kraggerud and The Arctic Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra.
Christmas Waltz – Tchaikovsky
Like Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky also wrote a work dedicated to the Earth’s seasons. However, unlike Vivaldi’s four, Tchaikovsky wrote twelve movements, one for each of the months of the year. His twelfth movement was his Christmas Waltz, which is often performed on its own.
This dainty work for solo piano has metamorphosed into various orchestral arrangements since its publication, like the one below, and can be heard in concert halls around the world at Christmas time.
Christmas Tree Suite – Franz Liszt
Liszt’s Christmas Tree Suite (Weihnachtsbaum) is made up of 12 pieces for solo piano and is dedicated to his first grandchild, Daniela von Bülow. The suite includes pieces called ‘O Holy Night’, ‘Adeste Fideles’, and ‘Evening Bells’ (Abendglocken).
The work received its premiere on Christmas Day 1881 in Daniela’s hotel room in Rome, where she was staying with her grandfather. Perhaps a Christmas gift, it is regardless an appropriate date for a first performance of this ‘Weihnachts’ work.
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Born February. 23, 1685 in Halle, Germany. Died April 14, 1759 in London, United Kingdom.
The king of opera, Handel’s exceptional
disposition for music was evident from a very early age. A
barber-surgeon and chamberlain for the Duke of Saxe, Handel’s father was
opposed to the solid musical tuition the young musician received in
Halle from Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, (1663-1712). Handel consolidated
his reputation from city to city, from the harpsichord to the organ and
through his encounters with Telemann and Buxtehude before settling in
Hamburg.
After composing two operas, the young composer decided to leave for
Italy to perfect his style and meet Domenico Scarlatti, Corelli and
Pasquini. The composer had his operas performed in Florence, Rome and
Venice. A great traveller, Handel went to Hanover and London where his
opera Rinaldo was a triumph. He took English nationality in 1726 and
composed for the British numerous Italian operas, which were very in
vogue. A victim of plots and conspiracies, Handel skilfully managed to
remain venerated by the British public who made him rich and renowned.
Berlioz noted, “The heavy wigged head of this barrel of pork and bear
named Handel”.
Although Handel composed over forty operas, sometimes conventional
with mediocre librettos, his genius was particularly evident in his
oratorios and keyboard pieces. His sense of the melodic line was
unequalled and thanks to the company of the great singers and castratos
of the time, Handel wrote eminently vocal music with natural curves and
refined, elegant eloquence. His pieces for keyboard displayed this same
art with a sharp sense of counterpoint. A clever man, Handel ingeniously
drew from German, Italian and English styles. He is no doubt the first
great European composer.
