Achsah Guibbory
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199557165
- eISBN:
- 9780191595004
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199557165.003.0010
- Subject:
- Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature
This Epilogue briefly summarizes the complex, contradictory attitudes toward Jews, Judaism, and the Hebrew Bible, which was a tool of both the powerful and the powerless and whose narratives proved ...
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This Epilogue briefly summarizes the complex, contradictory attitudes toward Jews, Judaism, and the Hebrew Bible, which was a tool of both the powerful and the powerless and whose narratives proved foundational to English Protestant Christianity. ‘Israel’ could mean many different things, and the claim to be the true Israel, God's chosen, was contested. The preoccupation with the connection between England (and later America) and Israel—and with redefining who or what is ‘Israel’—continued long after the seventeenth century. It can be seen in Handel's music, the later phenomenon of British Israelism, the settlement of New England, the American Revolution, and even Emma Lazarus's poem on the Statue of Liberty.Less
This Epilogue briefly summarizes the complex, contradictory attitudes toward Jews, Judaism, and the Hebrew Bible, which was a tool of both the powerful and the powerless and whose narratives proved foundational to English Protestant Christianity. ‘Israel’ could mean many different things, and the claim to be the true Israel, God's chosen, was contested. The preoccupation with the connection between England (and later America) and Israel—and with redefining who or what is ‘Israel’—continued long after the seventeenth century. It can be seen in Handel's music, the later phenomenon of British Israelism, the settlement of New England, the American Revolution, and even Emma Lazarus's poem on the Statue of Liberty.
Kevin C. Karnes
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195368666
- eISBN:
- 9780199867547
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195368666.003.0007
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter considers the nationalist underpinnings of late-century musicology by examining the diverse and even contradictory cultural associations that Adler forged through the medium of his work. ...
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This chapter considers the nationalist underpinnings of late-century musicology by examining the diverse and even contradictory cultural associations that Adler forged through the medium of his work. In his publications on the medieval origins of harmony, Adler distanced himself from attempts to claim exclusively Germanic origins for polyphonic phenomena. But in essays on Bach, Handel, and Mozart, penned in the mid-1880s, he indulged a brand of cultural chauvinism associated with Wagner and his followers. In his work on the Monuments of Music in Austria series of editions, Adler embraced a supranational vision of Austrian cultural identity endorsed by Habsburg officialdom, yet in his 1904 monograph on Wagner he declined to engage the composer's most inflammatory statements on race and identity. Each of these cases illuminates Adler's response to a specific crisis that shook his society, and together they testify to the difficulties of defining the German in the late-century musicological discourse.Less
This chapter considers the nationalist underpinnings of late-century musicology by examining the diverse and even contradictory cultural associations that Adler forged through the medium of his work. In his publications on the medieval origins of harmony, Adler distanced himself from attempts to claim exclusively Germanic origins for polyphonic phenomena. But in essays on Bach, Handel, and Mozart, penned in the mid-1880s, he indulged a brand of cultural chauvinism associated with Wagner and his followers. In his work on the Monuments of Music in Austria series of editions, Adler embraced a supranational vision of Austrian cultural identity endorsed by Habsburg officialdom, yet in his 1904 monograph on Wagner he declined to engage the composer's most inflammatory statements on race and identity. Each of these cases illuminates Adler's response to a specific crisis that shook his society, and together they testify to the difficulties of defining the German in the late-century musicological discourse.
Katharine Ellis
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195365856
- eISBN:
- 9780199867738
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195365856.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter focuses on a period when the expansion of early music activity began to cause adverse comment: was it a reactionary threat to living composers? Developments in music publishing attest to ...
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This chapter focuses on a period when the expansion of early music activity began to cause adverse comment: was it a reactionary threat to living composers? Developments in music publishing attest to a burgeoning domestic and performance market; the performed repertory both diversifies and becomes more selective, with keyboard and other instrumental music appearing more frequently (but provoking gender-related protest) on the concert stage; amid expressions of self-doubt about musical richness nationwide and the quality of new composition, there are concerted attempts to create a musical France via amateur and orphéon performance of early choral masterworks. The chapter extends from the demise of La Moskova's “Palestrinian” society and the end of the July Monarchy, beyond the Franco-Prussian War, to the eve of stable Republican government in France. Change is most clearly signalled in new Second-Empire educational ventures in sacred music (the École Niedermeyer, with its focus on plainchant, Palestrina, and Bach; the rise of “Palestrinian” maîtrises at Langres, Rouen, Moulins, and Autun); transition is evident in continued attention to democratization, in repeated attempts to rehabilitate “la musique française” and in the increasingly nationalist rhetorics of historical and critical writings on early music.Less
This chapter focuses on a period when the expansion of early music activity began to cause adverse comment: was it a reactionary threat to living composers? Developments in music publishing attest to a burgeoning domestic and performance market; the performed repertory both diversifies and becomes more selective, with keyboard and other instrumental music appearing more frequently (but provoking gender-related protest) on the concert stage; amid expressions of self-doubt about musical richness nationwide and the quality of new composition, there are concerted attempts to create a musical France via amateur and orphéon performance of early choral masterworks. The chapter extends from the demise of La Moskova's “Palestrinian” society and the end of the July Monarchy, beyond the Franco-Prussian War, to the eve of stable Republican government in France. Change is most clearly signalled in new Second-Empire educational ventures in sacred music (the École Niedermeyer, with its focus on plainchant, Palestrina, and Bach; the rise of “Palestrinian” maîtrises at Langres, Rouen, Moulins, and Autun); transition is evident in continued attention to democratization, in repeated attempts to rehabilitate “la musique française” and in the increasingly nationalist rhetorics of historical and critical writings on early music.
Katharine Ellis
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195365856
- eISBN:
- 9780199867738
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195365856.003.0007
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter examines how the politicized nature of Handel's reception in the late 1860s caused enthusiasm for his choral music to reach a nationalist peak at Bach's expense shortly after war ended. ...
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This chapter examines how the politicized nature of Handel's reception in the late 1860s caused enthusiasm for his choral music to reach a nationalist peak at Bach's expense shortly after war ended. Presented as a quasi-Latin and quasi-Republican figure, Handel the oratorio composer appeared accessible, macho, indomitable, and expressive of social cohesion. The chapter centers on debates about France's relatively weak musical capital in comparison with Protestant countries, especially an ascendant Germany. The state of the nationwide orphéon tradition, seemingly in crisis with musically illiterate participants and a simplistic repertory, fuelled calls to overhaul France's choral traditions. The chapter examines this short-lived, almost expedient, revival of Handel ode and oratorio as an example of cosmopolitan nationalism intensified by the experience of defeat. It offers telling evidence of a French need for a masculine musical culture and of their inability to find such a combination of brute strength and stylistic accessibility among native composers. It closes with an account of the post-Handelian return to Bach's choral music and the ideologies underpinning it.Less
This chapter examines how the politicized nature of Handel's reception in the late 1860s caused enthusiasm for his choral music to reach a nationalist peak at Bach's expense shortly after war ended. Presented as a quasi-Latin and quasi-Republican figure, Handel the oratorio composer appeared accessible, macho, indomitable, and expressive of social cohesion. The chapter centers on debates about France's relatively weak musical capital in comparison with Protestant countries, especially an ascendant Germany. The state of the nationwide orphéon tradition, seemingly in crisis with musically illiterate participants and a simplistic repertory, fuelled calls to overhaul France's choral traditions. The chapter examines this short-lived, almost expedient, revival of Handel ode and oratorio as an example of cosmopolitan nationalism intensified by the experience of defeat. It offers telling evidence of a French need for a masculine musical culture and of their inability to find such a combination of brute strength and stylistic accessibility among native composers. It closes with an account of the post-Handelian return to Bach's choral music and the ideologies underpinning it.
Wm. A. Little
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195394382
- eISBN:
- 9780199863556
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195394382.003.0009
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western, Performing Practice/Studies
This chapter focuses on Mendelssohn's employment of the organ in performing Handel's oratorios. In Germany, Mendelssohn was the first to introduce the organ into performances of Handel's oratorios, ...
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This chapter focuses on Mendelssohn's employment of the organ in performing Handel's oratorios. In Germany, Mendelssohn was the first to introduce the organ into performances of Handel's oratorios, and in doing so, particularly when those performances took place in a church, the ecclesiastical aura of the venue was inescapable. Moreover, it should be stressed that all performances of Handel's oratorios that Mendelssohn conducted after 1838 took place in churches, and it would have been pointless, as well as historically incorrect, for him not to utilize the organ. Once Mendelssohn began to incorporate the organ into the orchestral accompaniment of Handel's oratorios, the public rapidly came to expect the organ to play a major role in their production.Less
This chapter focuses on Mendelssohn's employment of the organ in performing Handel's oratorios. In Germany, Mendelssohn was the first to introduce the organ into performances of Handel's oratorios, and in doing so, particularly when those performances took place in a church, the ecclesiastical aura of the venue was inescapable. Moreover, it should be stressed that all performances of Handel's oratorios that Mendelssohn conducted after 1838 took place in churches, and it would have been pointless, as well as historically incorrect, for him not to utilize the organ. Once Mendelssohn began to incorporate the organ into the orchestral accompaniment of Handel's oratorios, the public rapidly came to expect the organ to play a major role in their production.
Roger Parker
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520244184
- eISBN:
- 9780520931787
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520244184.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Opera performances are often radically inventive. Composers' revisions, singers' improvisations, and stage directors' re-imaginings continually challenge our visions of canonical works. But do they ...
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Opera performances are often radically inventive. Composers' revisions, singers' improvisations, and stage directors' re-imaginings continually challenge our visions of canonical works. But do they go far enough? This book spans almost the entire history of opera and re-examines attitudes toward some of our best-loved musical works. It looks at opera's history of multiple visions and revisions and asks a simple question: what exactly is opera? The book considers works by Handel, Mozart, Donizetti, Verdi, Wagner, Puccini, and Berio in order to challenge what many regard as sacrosanct: the opera's musical text. Scholarly tradition favors the idea of great operatic texts permanently inscribed in the canon. The book considers examples ranging from Cecilia Bartoli's much-criticized insistence on using Mozart's alternative arias in the Marriage of Figaro to Luciano Berio's new ending to Puccini's unfinished Turandot, and argues that opera is an inherently mutable form, and that all of us—performers, listeners, scholars—should celebrate operatic revisions as a way of opening works to contemporary needs and new pleasures.Less
Opera performances are often radically inventive. Composers' revisions, singers' improvisations, and stage directors' re-imaginings continually challenge our visions of canonical works. But do they go far enough? This book spans almost the entire history of opera and re-examines attitudes toward some of our best-loved musical works. It looks at opera's history of multiple visions and revisions and asks a simple question: what exactly is opera? The book considers works by Handel, Mozart, Donizetti, Verdi, Wagner, Puccini, and Berio in order to challenge what many regard as sacrosanct: the opera's musical text. Scholarly tradition favors the idea of great operatic texts permanently inscribed in the canon. The book considers examples ranging from Cecilia Bartoli's much-criticized insistence on using Mozart's alternative arias in the Marriage of Figaro to Luciano Berio's new ending to Puccini's unfinished Turandot, and argues that opera is an inherently mutable form, and that all of us—performers, listeners, scholars—should celebrate operatic revisions as a way of opening works to contemporary needs and new pleasures.
Ellen Rosand
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520249349
- eISBN:
- 9780520933279
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520249349.003.0009
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter places Monteverdi, the dramatist, within the context of the history of opera, as initiator of and participant in the grand tradition that links him with such figures as Handel and ...
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This chapter places Monteverdi, the dramatist, within the context of the history of opera, as initiator of and participant in the grand tradition that links him with such figures as Handel and Mozart, and especially his co-nazionale—and near namesake—at the other end of that tradition, Giuseppe Verdi. Although the modern Monteverdi revival came long after his death, Verdi, by the example of his last operas, may have prepared the way for that new appreciation, reaffirming the dramatic power of music which his Venetian predecessor had first demonstrated over three centuries earlier.Less
This chapter places Monteverdi, the dramatist, within the context of the history of opera, as initiator of and participant in the grand tradition that links him with such figures as Handel and Mozart, and especially his co-nazionale—and near namesake—at the other end of that tradition, Giuseppe Verdi. Although the modern Monteverdi revival came long after his death, Verdi, by the example of his last operas, may have prepared the way for that new appreciation, reaffirming the dramatic power of music which his Venetian predecessor had first demonstrated over three centuries earlier.
Michael Marissen
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780300194586
- eISBN:
- 9780300206999
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300194586.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Across North America, “Messiah Sing-Ins”—performances of Handel's oratorio with the audience joining in the choruses—are a musical and social highlight of the winter holiday season. Christians, Jews, ...
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Across North America, “Messiah Sing-Ins”—performances of Handel's oratorio with the audience joining in the choruses—are a musical and social highlight of the winter holiday season. Christians, Jews, and others come together to delight in one of the consummate masterpieces of Western music. Little do they know that Handel and his librettist Charles Jennens's work, compiled and adapted from various passages in the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer, appears to have been designed, in part, to rejoice over God's purported punishment of Judaism for its failure to accept Jesus as the Messiah. In a final insult, the innocently blissful audience traditionally stands to cheer “Hallelujah!” in a chorus that expresses a powerful Christian triumphalism at the “dashing to pieces” of God's enemies, among them “the people of Israel.” Using previously unidentified historical source materials, this book investigates what went into the creation of Messiah, showing how even the most widely cherished artworks can mask hateful sentiments of anti-Judaism or anti-Semitism.Less
Across North America, “Messiah Sing-Ins”—performances of Handel's oratorio with the audience joining in the choruses—are a musical and social highlight of the winter holiday season. Christians, Jews, and others come together to delight in one of the consummate masterpieces of Western music. Little do they know that Handel and his librettist Charles Jennens's work, compiled and adapted from various passages in the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer, appears to have been designed, in part, to rejoice over God's purported punishment of Judaism for its failure to accept Jesus as the Messiah. In a final insult, the innocently blissful audience traditionally stands to cheer “Hallelujah!” in a chorus that expresses a powerful Christian triumphalism at the “dashing to pieces” of God's enemies, among them “the people of Israel.” Using previously unidentified historical source materials, this book investigates what went into the creation of Messiah, showing how even the most widely cherished artworks can mask hateful sentiments of anti-Judaism or anti-Semitism.
John J. Sheinbaum
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780226593241
- eISBN:
- 9780226593418
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226593418.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Philosophy of Music
Over the past two centuries Western culture has valorized a particular kind of “good” music—highly serious, magnificently unified, wondrously deep, stylistically authentic, heroically created, and ...
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Over the past two centuries Western culture has valorized a particular kind of “good” music—highly serious, magnificently unified, wondrously deep, stylistically authentic, heroically created, and strikingly original—and has marginalized music that does not live up to those ideals. These standards encompass ethical assumptions about the functions of music, concepts of authorship and creativity, and relationships among aspects of the music itself. This book explores these traditional models for valuing music. By engaging with examples such as Handel oratorios, Beethoven and Mahler symphonies, jazz improvisations, the Beatles, progressive rock, and Bruce Springsteen, Good Music argues that metaphors of perfection do justice neither to the perceived strengths nor the assumed weaknesses of the music. Instead, an alternative, transformed model of appreciation is proposed where abstract notions of virtue need not dictate our understanding. Good music can, with pride, be playful rather than serious, diverse rather than unified, engaging to both body and mind, in dialogue with manifold styles and genres, and collaborative to the core. We can widen the scope of what music we value and reconsider the conventional rituals surrounding it, while retaining the joys of making music, listening closely, and caring passionately.Less
Over the past two centuries Western culture has valorized a particular kind of “good” music—highly serious, magnificently unified, wondrously deep, stylistically authentic, heroically created, and strikingly original—and has marginalized music that does not live up to those ideals. These standards encompass ethical assumptions about the functions of music, concepts of authorship and creativity, and relationships among aspects of the music itself. This book explores these traditional models for valuing music. By engaging with examples such as Handel oratorios, Beethoven and Mahler symphonies, jazz improvisations, the Beatles, progressive rock, and Bruce Springsteen, Good Music argues that metaphors of perfection do justice neither to the perceived strengths nor the assumed weaknesses of the music. Instead, an alternative, transformed model of appreciation is proposed where abstract notions of virtue need not dictate our understanding. Good music can, with pride, be playful rather than serious, diverse rather than unified, engaging to both body and mind, in dialogue with manifold styles and genres, and collaborative to the core. We can widen the scope of what music we value and reconsider the conventional rituals surrounding it, while retaining the joys of making music, listening closely, and caring passionately.
Roger Nichols
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195320169
- eISBN:
- 9780199852086
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195320169.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Due to their grandness of scale and the importance they have in the sight of the English and their ancient origin, the Birmingham Music Festivals deserve to be noticed. There, as on the banks of the ...
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Due to their grandness of scale and the importance they have in the sight of the English and their ancient origin, the Birmingham Music Festivals deserve to be noticed. There, as on the banks of the Rhine, a festival consists of a series of concerts lasting several days. The Birmingham Festival is a philanthropic institution. Its purpose is to support the city's general hospital, which was founded in 1765. The city found it was unable to meet the growing costs of the hospital and so, in 1768, it had the idea of putting on a festival in St Paul's Chapel, which raised 800 pounds. The concert included the Handel oratorios L’Allegro, Il Penseroso, Alexander's Feast and Messiah. The Birmingham Town Hall is one of the best large halls in existence. The Festival orchestra is made up of 28 first violins, 26 seconds, 20 violas, 17 cellos and 17 double basses.Less
Due to their grandness of scale and the importance they have in the sight of the English and their ancient origin, the Birmingham Music Festivals deserve to be noticed. There, as on the banks of the Rhine, a festival consists of a series of concerts lasting several days. The Birmingham Festival is a philanthropic institution. Its purpose is to support the city's general hospital, which was founded in 1765. The city found it was unable to meet the growing costs of the hospital and so, in 1768, it had the idea of putting on a festival in St Paul's Chapel, which raised 800 pounds. The concert included the Handel oratorios L’Allegro, Il Penseroso, Alexander's Feast and Messiah. The Birmingham Town Hall is one of the best large halls in existence. The Festival orchestra is made up of 28 first violins, 26 seconds, 20 violas, 17 cellos and 17 double basses.
Christine Gerrard
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198183884
- eISBN:
- 9780191714122
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198183884.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature
During his lifetime Aaron Hill was one of the most lively cultural patrons and brokers on the London literary scene — an image hard to square with the company of undistinguished scribblers to which ...
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During his lifetime Aaron Hill was one of the most lively cultural patrons and brokers on the London literary scene — an image hard to square with the company of undistinguished scribblers to which Pope relegated him in the Dunciad. This book aims to correct the distorted picture of the Augustan cultural scene which Pope passed down to posterity. Hill deliberately confronted Pope in his attempt to free poetry's sublime and visionary potential from the stale platitudes of neo-classical convention. An early champion of women poets, he also enjoyed close relationships with Eliza Haywood and Martha Fowke, and brought his three writing daughters Urania, Astrea, and Minerva into close contact with his lifelong friend the novelist Samuel Richardson. In 1711 Hill, as stage manager and librettist, introduced Handel to the English stage, as well as lobbying tirelessly for innovation in the 18th-century theatre. His entrepreneurial energies, directed at both commercial and cultural projects, mirror the zeitgeist of early Hanoverian Britain.Less
During his lifetime Aaron Hill was one of the most lively cultural patrons and brokers on the London literary scene — an image hard to square with the company of undistinguished scribblers to which Pope relegated him in the Dunciad. This book aims to correct the distorted picture of the Augustan cultural scene which Pope passed down to posterity. Hill deliberately confronted Pope in his attempt to free poetry's sublime and visionary potential from the stale platitudes of neo-classical convention. An early champion of women poets, he also enjoyed close relationships with Eliza Haywood and Martha Fowke, and brought his three writing daughters Urania, Astrea, and Minerva into close contact with his lifelong friend the novelist Samuel Richardson. In 1711 Hill, as stage manager and librettist, introduced Handel to the English stage, as well as lobbying tirelessly for innovation in the 18th-century theatre. His entrepreneurial energies, directed at both commercial and cultural projects, mirror the zeitgeist of early Hanoverian Britain.
Des O’Rawe
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780719099663
- eISBN:
- 9781526104137
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719099663.003.0005
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter discusses William Klein’s filmmaking in relation to his photography, and how he has used documentary forms to investigate the relations between time and movement, image and montage. The ...
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This chapter discusses William Klein’s filmmaking in relation to his photography, and how he has used documentary forms to investigate the relations between time and movement, image and montage. The chapter also looks at how Klein negotiates his identity as an American in Paris who has, nevertheless, remained artistically and politically attached to the USA, especially New York City. Some of Klein’s most iconic street photographs were taken in 1950s, in the streets of his childhood, and – as the chapter elucidates – much of his documentary filmmaking has involved expeditions into American culture in the second half of the twentieth century. In examining the various aesthetic and cultural issues provoked by Klein’s films, it also suggests a correspondence between his work and Roland Barthes’ intellectual project.Less
This chapter discusses William Klein’s filmmaking in relation to his photography, and how he has used documentary forms to investigate the relations between time and movement, image and montage. The chapter also looks at how Klein negotiates his identity as an American in Paris who has, nevertheless, remained artistically and politically attached to the USA, especially New York City. Some of Klein’s most iconic street photographs were taken in 1950s, in the streets of his childhood, and – as the chapter elucidates – much of his documentary filmmaking has involved expeditions into American culture in the second half of the twentieth century. In examining the various aesthetic and cultural issues provoked by Klein’s films, it also suggests a correspondence between his work and Roland Barthes’ intellectual project.
Deborah W. Rooke
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199279289
- eISBN:
- 9780191738050
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199279289.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Handel's Israelite oratorios are today little known among non-specialists, but in their own day they were unique, pioneering and extremely popular. Dating from the period 1732–52, they combine the ...
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Handel's Israelite oratorios are today little known among non-specialists, but in their own day they were unique, pioneering and extremely popular. Dating from the period 1732–52, they combine the musical conventions of Italian opera with dramatic plots in English that are adaptations of Old Testament narratives. They are thus a form of biblical interpretation, but to date, there has been no thoroughgoing study of the theological ideas or the attitudes towards the biblical text that might be conveyed in the oratorios' libretti. This book therefore aims to fill that gap from an interdisciplinary perspective. Combining the insights of present-day biblical studies with those of Handelian studies, it examines the libretti of ten oratorios—Esther, Deborah, Athalia, Saul, Samson, Joseph and his Brethren, Judas Macchabaeus, Solomon, Susanna, and Jephtha—and evaluates the relationship between each libretto and the biblical story on which it is based. It comments on each biblical text from a modern scholarly perspective, and then compares the modern interpretation with the version of the biblical narrative that appears in the relevant libretto. Where the libretto is based on a prior dramatic or literary adaptation of the biblical narrative, the book also discusses the prior adaptation and how it relates to both the biblical text and the corresponding oratorio libretto. In this way the distinctive nuances of the oratorio libretti are highlighted, and each libretto is then analysed and interpreted in the light of eighteenth-century religion, scholarship, culture, and politics. The result is a fascinating exploration not only of the oratorio libretti but also of how culture and context determines the nature of biblical interpretation.Less
Handel's Israelite oratorios are today little known among non-specialists, but in their own day they were unique, pioneering and extremely popular. Dating from the period 1732–52, they combine the musical conventions of Italian opera with dramatic plots in English that are adaptations of Old Testament narratives. They are thus a form of biblical interpretation, but to date, there has been no thoroughgoing study of the theological ideas or the attitudes towards the biblical text that might be conveyed in the oratorios' libretti. This book therefore aims to fill that gap from an interdisciplinary perspective. Combining the insights of present-day biblical studies with those of Handelian studies, it examines the libretti of ten oratorios—Esther, Deborah, Athalia, Saul, Samson, Joseph and his Brethren, Judas Macchabaeus, Solomon, Susanna, and Jephtha—and evaluates the relationship between each libretto and the biblical story on which it is based. It comments on each biblical text from a modern scholarly perspective, and then compares the modern interpretation with the version of the biblical narrative that appears in the relevant libretto. Where the libretto is based on a prior dramatic or literary adaptation of the biblical narrative, the book also discusses the prior adaptation and how it relates to both the biblical text and the corresponding oratorio libretto. In this way the distinctive nuances of the oratorio libretti are highlighted, and each libretto is then analysed and interpreted in the light of eighteenth-century religion, scholarship, culture, and politics. The result is a fascinating exploration not only of the oratorio libretti but also of how culture and context determines the nature of biblical interpretation.
T. C. W. BLANNING
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198227458
- eISBN:
- 9780191678707
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198227458.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History, Cultural History
This chapter discusses the great Händel Commemoration and how it exemplified the consolidation of a national culture of great power and durability. This posthumous apotheosis reveals a good deal ...
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This chapter discusses the great Händel Commemoration and how it exemplified the consolidation of a national culture of great power and durability. This posthumous apotheosis reveals a good deal about the development of British culture in the 18th century. In addition, it explains that the Protestant Reformation greatly intensified nationalism. Religious independence was then underpinned by a surge of cultural nationalism. Under Queen Elizabeth, resolutely Protestant and impeccably English, cultural achievement was married to political success to form a powerful source of legitimation. This chapter examines the sources of England’s wealth, particularly the advance of commerce which made the strongest and most widespread impression. Next, it discusses the country’s fourth national asset — liberty. It then explores the life of King George III.Less
This chapter discusses the great Händel Commemoration and how it exemplified the consolidation of a national culture of great power and durability. This posthumous apotheosis reveals a good deal about the development of British culture in the 18th century. In addition, it explains that the Protestant Reformation greatly intensified nationalism. Religious independence was then underpinned by a surge of cultural nationalism. Under Queen Elizabeth, resolutely Protestant and impeccably English, cultural achievement was married to political success to form a powerful source of legitimation. This chapter examines the sources of England’s wealth, particularly the advance of commerce which made the strongest and most widespread impression. Next, it discusses the country’s fourth national asset — liberty. It then explores the life of King George III.
Emma Major
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199699377
- eISBN:
- 9780191738029
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199699377.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature, Women's Literature
This chapter focuses on debates in the 1760s about Methodism and the Church of England. Although Methodism was still officially part of the Church until 1795, many Anglicans felt unhappy with the ...
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This chapter focuses on debates in the 1760s about Methodism and the Church of England. Although Methodism was still officially part of the Church until 1795, many Anglicans felt unhappy with the religious enthusiasm and physicality associated with Methodist worship. Women became important in helping the Church define itself against Methodism, and appeared extensively in anti-Methodist satire of the period. These debates highlighted ways in which Anglican women were members of a public, established Church, and Anglican women’s duties were described as public in opposition to the privacy and melancholia of Methodist worship. The chapter looks at anti-Methodist prints by Hogarth alongside anti-Methodist plays by Samuel Foote and others; here, drawing on old anti-Roman Catholic satire, Methodist women are caricatured as nuns and prostitutes. The actual female communities established by the Countess of Huntingdon and Sarah Scott are then explored in relation to Scott’s fiction and correspondence.Less
This chapter focuses on debates in the 1760s about Methodism and the Church of England. Although Methodism was still officially part of the Church until 1795, many Anglicans felt unhappy with the religious enthusiasm and physicality associated with Methodist worship. Women became important in helping the Church define itself against Methodism, and appeared extensively in anti-Methodist satire of the period. These debates highlighted ways in which Anglican women were members of a public, established Church, and Anglican women’s duties were described as public in opposition to the privacy and melancholia of Methodist worship. The chapter looks at anti-Methodist prints by Hogarth alongside anti-Methodist plays by Samuel Foote and others; here, drawing on old anti-Roman Catholic satire, Methodist women are caricatured as nuns and prostitutes. The actual female communities established by the Countess of Huntingdon and Sarah Scott are then explored in relation to Scott’s fiction and correspondence.
CHRISTINE GERRARD
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198183884
- eISBN:
- 9780191714122
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198183884.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature
This chapter discusses Aaron Hill's early life from 1685-1711. He has mastered the art of self-invention at an early age, publishing a lavish oriental travelogue at age 24 with a subscription list of ...
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This chapter discusses Aaron Hill's early life from 1685-1711. He has mastered the art of self-invention at an early age, publishing a lavish oriental travelogue at age 24 with a subscription list of 424 names vaunting his contacts with the rich and powerful. In 1708, Hill networked to establish a literary career for himself in London and collaborated with Nahum Tate on the Celebrated Speeches of Ajax and Ulysses, promoted as rhetorical guidebook for youth, and launched the British Apollo, a question-and-answer journal modelled on John Dunton's Athenian Mercury. At age 26, as director of opera at the Queen's Theatre in the Haymaker, Hill co-wrote and staged Rinaldo, Handel's first original opera for the English stage. In the published libretto, Hill presented himself as a well-travelled musical connoisseur familiar with European operatic vogues, intent on making ‘the English OPERA more splendid than her MOTHER, the Italian’.Less
This chapter discusses Aaron Hill's early life from 1685-1711. He has mastered the art of self-invention at an early age, publishing a lavish oriental travelogue at age 24 with a subscription list of 424 names vaunting his contacts with the rich and powerful. In 1708, Hill networked to establish a literary career for himself in London and collaborated with Nahum Tate on the Celebrated Speeches of Ajax and Ulysses, promoted as rhetorical guidebook for youth, and launched the British Apollo, a question-and-answer journal modelled on John Dunton's Athenian Mercury. At age 26, as director of opera at the Queen's Theatre in the Haymaker, Hill co-wrote and staged Rinaldo, Handel's first original opera for the English stage. In the published libretto, Hill presented himself as a well-travelled musical connoisseur familiar with European operatic vogues, intent on making ‘the English OPERA more splendid than her MOTHER, the Italian’.
Bernard D. Sherman
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195169454
- eISBN:
- 9780199865017
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195169454.003.0014
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
George Frideric Handel was the first composer in history whose works never fell out of the concert repertory. But despite the reverence for him, only a little of his music was actually performed in ...
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George Frideric Handel was the first composer in history whose works never fell out of the concert repertory. But despite the reverence for him, only a little of his music was actually performed in the 19th century. Messiah was one of them, of course, sung with increasingly gargantuan choruses and orchestras, and so were Samson, Israel in Egypt, and Judas Maccabeus. But such masterpieces as Theodora, Giulio Cesare, Jephtha, Orlando, and L’Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato occupied few beyond the occasional scholar. The coincidence of the Handel revival with the historical-performance movement has raised a number of issues. A more basic issue is the works themselves. When certain works by a widely revered composer are almost never played, one might be forgiven for suspecting that these works are of lesser quality. Such suspicions have faded in recent decades, but doubts about the stageworthiness of the operas persist. This chapter presents an interview with Nicholas McGegan on Handel, use of countertenors for the operatic roles written by Handel for castrati, early music singing in Handel, improvisation with Baroque orchestras, ornamentation in Handel’s works, harmony, rubato, Handel’s rhythmic notation, technical perfection, period pronunciation in English-language oratorios, and overdotting.Less
George Frideric Handel was the first composer in history whose works never fell out of the concert repertory. But despite the reverence for him, only a little of his music was actually performed in the 19th century. Messiah was one of them, of course, sung with increasingly gargantuan choruses and orchestras, and so were Samson, Israel in Egypt, and Judas Maccabeus. But such masterpieces as Theodora, Giulio Cesare, Jephtha, Orlando, and L’Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato occupied few beyond the occasional scholar. The coincidence of the Handel revival with the historical-performance movement has raised a number of issues. A more basic issue is the works themselves. When certain works by a widely revered composer are almost never played, one might be forgiven for suspecting that these works are of lesser quality. Such suspicions have faded in recent decades, but doubts about the stageworthiness of the operas persist. This chapter presents an interview with Nicholas McGegan on Handel, use of countertenors for the operatic roles written by Handel for castrati, early music singing in Handel, improvisation with Baroque orchestras, ornamentation in Handel’s works, harmony, rubato, Handel’s rhythmic notation, technical perfection, period pronunciation in English-language oratorios, and overdotting.
IAN BOSTRIDGE
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198207108
- eISBN:
- 9780191677496
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198207108.003.0014
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This chapter examines the elements of magic and witchcraft in the career of English composer George Frideric Handel. It looks at the theme of ...
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This chapter examines the elements of magic and witchcraft in the career of English composer George Frideric Handel. It looks at the theme of enchantment discussions about Handel and in Handel's works themselves and investigates how Handel as a public figure and as composer fitted into the Whig project. It suggests that beyond its marginal existence at the fringes of intellectual life, the language of witchcraft cropped up in new areas of social existence and became increasingly a metaphor, but retained some elements of literal force.Less
This chapter examines the elements of magic and witchcraft in the career of English composer George Frideric Handel. It looks at the theme of enchantment discussions about Handel and in Handel's works themselves and investigates how Handel as a public figure and as composer fitted into the Whig project. It suggests that beyond its marginal existence at the fringes of intellectual life, the language of witchcraft cropped up in new areas of social existence and became increasingly a metaphor, but retained some elements of literal force.
Philip V. Bohlman
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780520234949
- eISBN:
- 9780520966444
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520234949.003.0012
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
Music, especially sacred song, was also a critical subject in Herder’s professional life as a theologian and pastor in Weimar, the center of the German Enlightenment. Chapter 6 is an epistolary ...
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Music, especially sacred song, was also a critical subject in Herder’s professional life as a theologian and pastor in Weimar, the center of the German Enlightenment. Chapter 6 is an epistolary essay, in which Herder circulates thoughts about the ways in which song shapes the history, character, and national traits of a people. Beginning with Classical Greek and Roman vocal and poetic traditions, Herder traces the role of sacred song through different national traditions to the modern publications of song in England and the German lands. He concludes with a set of exegetical reflections on Handel’s Messiah as the epitome of sacred music.Less
Music, especially sacred song, was also a critical subject in Herder’s professional life as a theologian and pastor in Weimar, the center of the German Enlightenment. Chapter 6 is an epistolary essay, in which Herder circulates thoughts about the ways in which song shapes the history, character, and national traits of a people. Beginning with Classical Greek and Roman vocal and poetic traditions, Herder traces the role of sacred song through different national traditions to the modern publications of song in England and the German lands. He concludes with a set of exegetical reflections on Handel’s Messiah as the epitome of sacred music.
David Kimbell
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199279678
- eISBN:
- 9780191707261
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199279678.003.0010
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter examines the vogue in 17th- and 18th-century opera for dramatizing the episode of Xerxes at the Hellespont. Thus, one of the most important ways in which people were educated about the ...
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This chapter examines the vogue in 17th- and 18th-century opera for dramatizing the episode of Xerxes at the Hellespont. Thus, one of the most important ways in which people were educated about the Persian Wars at this time was through the imaginative fictions sung by the stars of this hugely popular form of musical theatre. The chapter considers the reason for this trend, as well as the way in which transformations of the familiar story illustrate the changing tastes in adapting history to the exigencies of the operatic stage. The discussion centres on Minato's libretto Il Xerse as set by the leading Venetian composer Cavalli (1654), the remarkable Xerxes in Abydos by J. P. Förtsch (1688), who was a leading figure in the first German-language opera house at Hamburg, Bononcini's Xerse (1694), and Handel's Serse (1738).Less
This chapter examines the vogue in 17th- and 18th-century opera for dramatizing the episode of Xerxes at the Hellespont. Thus, one of the most important ways in which people were educated about the Persian Wars at this time was through the imaginative fictions sung by the stars of this hugely popular form of musical theatre. The chapter considers the reason for this trend, as well as the way in which transformations of the familiar story illustrate the changing tastes in adapting history to the exigencies of the operatic stage. The discussion centres on Minato's libretto Il Xerse as set by the leading Venetian composer Cavalli (1654), the remarkable Xerxes in Abydos by J. P. Förtsch (1688), who was a leading figure in the first German-language opera house at Hamburg, Bononcini's Xerse (1694), and Handel's Serse (1738).
