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.
Chandos Anthems, HWV 246–256, is the common name of a
set of anthems written by George Frideric Handel. These
sacred choral compositions number eleven; a twelfth of
disputed authorship is not considered here. The texts
are psalms and combined psalm verses in English. Handel
wrote the anthems as composer in residence at Cannons,
the court of James Brydges, who became the First Duke
of Chandos in 1719. His chapel was not yet finished,
and services were therefore held at St Lawrence in
Whitchurch. The scoring is intimate, in keeping with
the possibilities there. Some of the anthems rely on
earlier works, and some were later revised for other
purposes. The Chandos Anthems are not anthems of the
kind we might today normally think, but rather the kind
of multi-movement, cantata-like sacred devotional
pieces that first began to pop up in England with Henry
Purcell and John Blow in the generation before Handel.
"The Lord is my light" comprises nine sections of
music, beginning with an overture and then alternating
solo arias with rich choruses that, though perhaps not
quite the stunning achievements of the choruses
contained in the great English oratorios yet to come,
nevertheless must be counted among the truly
magnificent examples of high Baroque English choral
writing. The optimistic text of "The Lord is my light"
is extracted verse-by-verse from a handful of Psalms,
Psalm 27 being perhaps most prominent among them,
providing as it does the text for no fewer than four of
the Anthems' eight sections of texted music.
The first of the Overture's two sections plunges forth
dramatically with a series of trill-flourishes in G
minor, while the second offers up the quick-paced,
pseudo-fugal texture normal to overtures of the day.
The text of the first of the solo tenor's three arias,
"The Lord is my light and my salvation," is taken from
the very first verse of Psalm 27. This is a typical
Baroque aria, with a running continuo line and a close
relationship between the melody sung by the tenor and
the music given by the violins as the tenor rests.
The first chorus, "Though --> --> --> an host <-- <--
<-- of men were there laid against me," is energetic
and delightfully articulated. "One thing have I desired
of the Lord," the solo tenor's second and by far his
longest aria, could hardly be gentler or more intimate.
In "I will offer in his dwelling an oblation" Handel
allows the chorus to proclaim its devotion to the Lord,
and to "sing and speak praises" via some delightful,
descending melismas.
Psalm 18 is the source for the declamatory opening of
"For who is God but the Lord?" (soon abandoned in favor
of a wild, rapid crescendo that "shakes the very
foundations"), while the tenor sings strains from Psalm
28 in "The Lord is my strength and my shield." A solo
countertenor takes the spotlight in the aria "It is the
Lord that ruleth the sea."
Handel opens the final chorus, "Sing Praises unto the
Lord" with loose, unhurried choral imitation, supported
by a repeating rhythmic figure in the violins. A full
close in the dominant is made, and then real fugue on
the text "I will remember Thy name from one generation
to another" begins, building and building until the
final "Amen" arrives, complete with plagal cadence, to
draw a climactic conclusion.
No. 10 (HWV 255) "The Lord is my light" is based on
Psalms 18, 20, 27, 28, 29, 30, 34, 45.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandos_Anthems).
Although originally written for Voice (STB), Violins,
Oboes & Basso Continuo (Cello, Bassoon & Bass), I
created this Interpretation of the Chandos Anthem No.
10 in G Minor (HWV 255) for Winds (Flute, Oboe, French
Horn & Bassoon) & Strings (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).
PARTITION