Most music lovers have encountered Georg Friedrich
Händel (1685 – 1759) 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...(+)
Most music lovers have encountered Georg Friedrich
Händel (1685 – 1759) 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.
Back in the days before international copyright laws,
any publisher could publish anything they wanted
without fear of legal action. Thus, Jeanne Roger of
Amsterdam published "surrepticious [sic] and incorrect
Copies" of the suites in 1719 without paying or
informing the composer. This led Handel to publish the
works himself in London in 1720. The Suite in G Suite
is one of the grandest and most impressive of the
suites. In six movements, the Suite in G minor is much
more than a standard-issue set of stylized dance
movements. The first movement is an overture in the
French style with a massive opening Adagio, followed by
a fast and brutal Presto, with a pummeling theme played
in thirds, sixths, and octaves. The following movement
is a quietly lyrical Andante with a gently embellished
melody. The next movement is a propulsive, two-voice
Allegro in 3/8 time. The central Sarabande, marked
Andante con moto, is an incredibly simple and affecting
series of three- and four-voice chords with the melody
as the top voice. The Gigue that follows is a hurtling
movement in two virtuoso voices. The climax and
culmination of the Suite in G minor is the monumental
Passacaglia of contrapuntal force majeure.
PARTITION