George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (1685 – 1759)
was a German-British Baroque composer well known for
his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and
organ concertos. Handel received his training in Halle
and worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy before
settling in London in 1712, where he spent the bulk of
his career and became a naturalised British subject in
1727. He was strongly influenced both by the
middle-German polyphonic choral tradition and by
composers of the Italian Bar...(+)
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (1685 – 1759)
was a German-British Baroque composer well known for
his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and
organ concertos. Handel received his training in Halle
and worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy before
settling in London in 1712, where he spent the bulk of
his career and became a naturalised British subject in
1727. He was strongly influenced both by the
middle-German polyphonic choral tradition and by
composers of the Italian Baroque. In turn, Handel's
music forms one of the peaks of the "high baroque"
style, bringing Italian opera to its highest
development, creating the genres of English oratorio
and organ concerto, and introducing a new style into
English church music. He is consistently recognized as
one of the greatest composers of his age.
After spending some of his early career composing
operas and other pieces in Italy, he settled in London,
where in 1711 he had brought Italian opera for the
first time with his opera Rinaldo. A tremendous
success, Rinaldo created a craze in London for Italian
opera seria, a form focused overwhelmingly on solo
arias for the star virtuoso singers. In 1719, Handel
was appointed music director of an organisation called
the Royal Academy of Music (unconnected with the
present day London conservatoire), a company under
royal charter to produce Italian operas in London.
Handel was not only to compose operas for the company
but hire the star singers, supervise the orchestra and
musicians, and adapt operas from Italy for London
performance.
Faramondo, HWV 39, is an opera in three acts by George
Frideric Handel to an Italian libretto adapted from
Apostolo Zeno's Faramondo. The story is loosely based
upon the legend of Pharamond, a mythological King of
the Franks, circa 420 AD, and the early history of
France. The opera had its first performance at the
King's Theatre, London, on 3 January 1738.
Handel, after spending some of his early career
composing operas and other pieces in Italy, settled in
London, where in 1711 he had brought Italian opera for
the first time with his opera Rinaldo. An enormous
success, Rinaldo created a craze in London for Italian
opera seria, a form focused overwhelmingly on solo
arias for the star virtuoso singers. He had presented
new operas in London for years with great success. One
of the major attractions in Handel's operas was the
star castrato Senesino, whose relationship with the
composer was often stormy and who eventually left
Handel's company to appear with the rival Opera of the
Nobility, set up in 1733. Handel moved to a different
theatre, Covent Garden, and engaged different singers,
but there were neither sufficient audience for opera in
London nor aristocratic supporters to back two opera
houses at once, and both opera companies found
themselves in difficulty. In 1737 the Opera of the
Nobility collapsed into bankruptcy and what was left of
its performers and resources combined with Handel's
Covent Garden opera company, which returned to the
King's Theatre, Haymarket, where his earlier operas had
been presented.
None of Handel's three new operas in the 1736-37 season
repeated the success of his earlier works, and he
suffered a breakdown in his health, as reported by his
friend Lord Shaftesbury: "Great fatigue and
disappointment, affected him so much, that he was this
Spring struck with the Palsy, which took entirely away,
the use of 4 fingers of his right hand; and totally
disabled him from Playing: And when the heats of the
Summer 1737 came on, the Disorder seemed at times to
affect his Understanding."
Before composing new operas for the 1737-38 season,
Handel went to "take the waters" at Aix-la Chapelle,
where he made a complete recovery, so much so that it
seemed to the nuns who operated the spa there to have
been a miracle.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faramondo).
Although originally scored for Violini, Viola, & Bassi
I created this Interpretation of the Aria "Voglio che
sia l'indegno vittima del tuo sdegno" from "Faramondo"
(HWV 39 Act 3 No. 4) for Flute & Strings (2 Violins,
Viola & Cello).
