Most music lovers have encountered George Frederick
Handel through holiday-time renditions of the Messiah's
"Hallelujah" chorus. And many of them know and love
that oratorio on Christ's life, death, and
resurrection, as well as a few other greatest hits like
the orchestral Water Music and Royal Fireworks Music,
and perhaps Judas Maccabeus or one of the other English
oratorios. Yet his operas, for which he was widely
known in his own time, are the province mainly of
specialists in Baroque music, ...(+)
Most music lovers have encountered George Frederick
Handel through holiday-time renditions of the Messiah's
"Hallelujah" chorus. And many of them know and love
that oratorio on Christ's life, death, and
resurrection, as well as a few other greatest hits like
the orchestral Water Music and Royal Fireworks Music,
and perhaps Judas Maccabeus or one of the other English
oratorios. Yet his operas, for which he was widely
known in his own time, are the province mainly of
specialists in Baroque music, and the events of his
life, even though they reflected some of the most
important musical issues of the day, have never become
as familiar as the careers of Bach or Mozart. Perhaps
the single word that best describes his life and music
is "cosmopolitan": he was a German composer, trained in
Italy, who spent most of his life in England
The six chamber duets for soprano and alto selected for
this volume were written in 1710–12 in Hanover (HWV
178, 185, 197) and 1740–45 in London (HWV 181, 190,
186). They are musically demanding and structured
contrapuntally: the earlier works are stricter, more
scholarly and more elaborate in terms of counterpoint
but masterly in their craftsmanship. The later ones are
composed somewhat freer, but more compact.
Although originally composed for voice duet and
keyboard, I created this interpretation of the Duetto
VII (HWV 197) for Double-Reed (Oboe & English Horn) &
Strings (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).
