George Frederick Handel was born in the German city of
Halle on February 23, 1685. His father noted but did
not nurture his musical talent, and he had to sneak a
small keyboard instrument into his attic to practice.
As a child he studied music with Friedrich Wilhelm
Zachow, organist at the Liebfrauenkirche, and for a
time he seemed destined for a career as a church
organist himself. After studying law briefly at the
University of Halle, Handel began serving as organist
on March 13, 1702, at the ...(+)
George Frederick Handel was born in the German city of
Halle on February 23, 1685. His father noted but did
not nurture his musical talent, and he had to sneak a
small keyboard instrument into his attic to practice.
As a child he studied music with Friedrich Wilhelm
Zachow, organist at the Liebfrauenkirche, and for a
time he seemed destined for a career as a church
organist himself. After studying law briefly at the
University of Halle, Handel began serving as organist
on March 13, 1702, at the Domkirche there.
Dissatisfied, he took a post as violinist in the
Hamburg opera orchestra in 1703, and his frustration
with musically provincial northern Germany was perhaps
shown when he fought a duel the following year with the
composer Matheson over the accompaniment to one of
Matheson's operas. In 1706 Handel took off for Italy,
then the font of operatic innovation, and mastered
contemporary trends in Italian serious opera. He
returned to Germany to become court composer in
Hannover, whose rulers were linked by family ties with
the British throne; his patron there, the Elector of
Hannover, became King George I of England. English
audiences took to his 1711 opera Rinaldo, and several
years later Handel jumped at the chance to move to
England permanently. He impressed King George early on
with the Water Music of 1716, written as entertainment
for a royal boat outing.
"Flammende Rose, Zierde der Erden" is the ninth of a
set of nine songs that Handel wrote to the
German-language texts of Barthold Heinrich Brockes from
his collection Irdisches Vergnuegen in Gott
(Contentment on Earth through God). The tone of the
text is religious in an easygoing manner. All of these
songs are in ABA form with vocal declamation that is
lyrical, sometimes melismatic, and never virtuosic. The
instrumentation of the accompaniment is flexible, and
the performers are allowed to choose whichever
instruments are appropriate and available for the
continuo and instrumental obbligato.
This triple-meter song, whose title translates as
"Flaming Roses, Adornment of the Earth, " is marked by
prominent sequences in the obbligato line that
contrasts with the voice throughout the main section.
The middle section is a minor-key excursion without
obbligato.
Although originally written for Voice (Soprano) and
continuo, I created this arrangement for Flute &
Concert (Pedal) Harp.
(by Magatagan, Michael)129x⬇ 84x
