George Frideric Handel (1685 - 1759) was a German-born
British Baroque composer, famous for his operas,
oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born
in 1685, in a family indifferent to music. He received
critical musical training in Halle, Hamburg and Italy
before settling in London (1712) and becoming a
naturalised British subject in 1727. By then he was
strongly influenced by the great composers of the
Italian Baroque and the middle-German polyphonic choral
tradition.
The ...(+)
George Frideric Handel (1685 - 1759) was a German-born
British Baroque composer, famous for his operas,
oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born
in 1685, in a family indifferent to music. He received
critical musical training in Halle, Hamburg and Italy
before settling in London (1712) and becoming a
naturalised British subject in 1727. By then he was
strongly influenced by the great composers of the
Italian Baroque and the middle-German polyphonic choral
tradition.
The opening Sonata of "My song shall be alway" will
probably be immediately familiar, as it was used in its
entirety in the Concerto grosso in G major, Op 3 No 3.
(The second section is based on an idea from Handel’s
Birthday Ode to Queen Anne.) In the first vocal number
(all the texts are selected from Psalm 89) Handel
ingeniously combines two ideas from earlier works: the
orchestral introduction is taken from a chorale setting
in the Brockes Passion, while the choral intonation in
octaves on the words ‘The heav’ns shall praise thy
wondrous works’ is derived from the ‘De torrente’
movement in Dixit Dominus. The solo tenor enters with
an accompanied recitative, of which there are only a
few examples in the anthems, and continues with a more
orthodox solo dominated by angular rhythms in the
accompaniment. This, and two other movements of the
anthem, are reworkings of movements in the
‘Caroline’ Te Deum in D major (HWV280) of 1714. (In
some sources of the anthem a trio follows at this
point, but it is almost certainly an interpolation by
another composer.) Handel sets ‘The heav’ns are
thine’ as a contemplative duet for alto and bass,
perhaps surprisingly, but it has an appropriate sense
of awe and makes an excellent contrast to the rhythmic
vigour of the chorus ‘Righteousness and equity’
that follows. The last solo, ‘Blessed is the
people’, and the short concluding chorus are the
other movements derived from the Te Deum.
Although originally written for Orchestra, I created
this arrangement for Clarinet Quartet (3 Bb Clarinets &
Bass Clarinet).
PARTITION