Georg Friedrich Händel (1685 – 1759) was a German,
later British, baroque composer who spent the bulk of
his career in London, becoming well known for his
operas, oratorios, anthems, and organ concertos. Handel
received important training in Halle and worked as a
composer in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London
in 1712; he became a naturalised British subject in
1727. He was strongly influenced both by the great
composers of the Italian Baroque and by the
middle-German polyphonic chora...(+)
Georg Friedrich Händel (1685 – 1759) was a German,
later British, baroque composer who spent the bulk of
his career in London, becoming well known for his
operas, oratorios, anthems, and organ concertos. Handel
received important training in Halle and worked as a
composer in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London
in 1712; he became a naturalised British subject in
1727. He was strongly influenced both by the great
composers of the Italian Baroque and by the
middle-German polyphonic choral tradition.
Within fifteen years, Handel had started three
commercial opera companies to supply the English
nobility with Italian opera. Musicologist Winton Dean
writes that his operas show that "Handel was not only a
great composer; he was a dramatic genius of the first
order." As Alexander's Feast (1736) was well received,
Handel made a transition to English choral works. After
his success with Messiah (1742) he never composed an
Italian opera again. Almost blind, and having lived in
England for nearly fifty years, he died in 1759, a
respected and rich man. His funeral was given full
state honours, and he was buried in Westminster Abbey
in London.
Born the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach and
Domenico Scarlatti, Handel is regarded as one of the
greatest composers of the Baroque era, with works such
as Water Music, Music for the Royal Fireworks and
Messiah remaining steadfastly popular. One of his four
Coronation Anthems, Zadok the Priest (1727), composed
for the coronation of George II, has been performed at
every subsequent British coronation, traditionally
during the sovereign's anointing. Another of his
English oratorios, Solomon (1748), has also remained
popular, with the Sinfonia that opens act 3 (known more
commonly as "The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba")
featuring at the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony.
Handel composed more than forty operas in over thirty
years, and since the late 1960s, with the revival of
baroque music and historically informed musical
performance, interest in Handel's operas has grown.
Händel and fugues? The connection is not the first
thing to cross peoples minds when thinking of baroque
keyboard music. Yet Handel, besides writing keyboard
fugues as parts of larger works, also turned out
separate fugues beginning from his days in Hamburg.
These interpretations combine the well-known Six Fugues
(HWV 605–610) with two isolated fugues (HWV 611 and
612). Handel later reused some of these fugues in his
concerti grossi, the oratorio “Israel in Egypt”,
and in a trio sonata, where they have become far more
familiar today than the originals. Handel’s fugues
were largely notated without ornaments.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Frideric_Handel).
Although originally written for Harpsichord, I created
this Interpretation of the Fugue in G Major (HWV 606)
for String Quartet (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).
