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.
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.
Handel spent most of his time between 1706 and 1710 in
Rome where papal decrees had closed the public
theaters. Opera was an unprofitable medium. The fach
(genre) that would provide him with the most
opportunity to grow and to succeed as a composer was
the Italian cantata. It was a popular genre, due in
part to the constraints of the papal ban, and further
supported by the patronage of foreign visitors and
local aristocrats—even Church officials—who were
eager to hear the considerable talent of Venetian
singers put to good use, even if opera was out of the
question. Performances of cantatas, which in some cases
were actually operas in all ways except by name, were
often presented in the"academies" held in the private
theatres of discerning (and wealthy) patrons of the
arts. These academies were the outgrowth of the scuole
grandi popular in Venice during the previous
century.
A notable manifestation of the flexibility of Handel's
social and musical skills is the fact that he was
engaged to compose music for the Roman Catholic liturgy
within only a few months of his arrival in Rome. He
was, of course, a rather staunch Lutheran, and remained
so all of his life, not even conceding to the
implications by the British monarchs (later in his
life) that he should consider a conversion to the
Church of England. The Latin church-music he composed
in Rome is superb. His lifelong reputation could have
been set on the basis of the stunning "Dixit Dominus"
alone, composed in 1707. But many more equally
compelling works come from those years, including this,
the "Laudate, pueri, Dominum" of 1707. It represents
(perhaps intentionally) a veritable catalogue of
Italian musical forms, all masterfully employed by
Handel. Each movement has a different texture including
ritornello form (first movement), trio sonata texture
("Sit nomen Dominrand "Qui habitare facit"), typical
imitative polyphony ("A solis ortu usque"), concerto
grosso style ("Excelsus super omnes"), homophony ("Quis
sicut Dominus"), continuo aria ("Suscitans a terra"),
and the hybrid style of the final movement with its
predictable return to the music of the first movement
at the words "Sicut erat in principio" ("as it was in
the beginning").
Psalm 113 is the 113th psalm of the Book of Psalms
(Psalm 112 in Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate). It
is very similar to the Song of Hannah. The psalm is
often known by its first two words, Laudate pueri, and
there are many musical settings – including Claudio
Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine of 1610 as well
as this, Handel's Laudate pueri Dominum (HWV 237.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Frideric_Handel).
Although originally written for Mixed Chorus and
Baroque Orchestra, I created this Arrangement of the
"Laudate pueri Dominum" (HWV 237 Psalm 113) for Winds
(Flute, Oboe, French Horn & Bassoon) & Strings (2
Violins, 2 Violas & Cello).
PARTITION