Georg Friedrich Händel
Text in englischer Sprache verfügbarMost music lovers have encountered George Frederick Handel 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. Handel was born in the German city of Halle on February 23, 1685. His father noted but did not nurture his musical talent, and he had to sneak a small keyboard instrument into his attic to practice. As a child he studied music with Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, organist at the Liebfrauenkirche, and for a time he seemed destined for a career as a church organist himself. After studying law briefly at the University of Halle, Handel began serving as organist on March 13, 1702, at the Domkirche there. Dissatisfied, he took a post as violinist in the Hamburg opera orchestra in 1703, and his frustration with musically provincial northern Germany was perhaps shown when he fought a duel the following year with the composer Matheson over the accompaniment to one of Matheson's operas. In 1706 Handel took off for Italy, then the font of operatic innovation, and mastered contemporary trends in Italian serious opera. He returned to Germany to become court composer in Hannover, whose rulers were linked by family ties with the British throne; his patron there, the Elector of Hannover, became King George I of England. English audiences took to his 1711 opera Rinaldo, and several years later Handel jumped at the chance to move to England permanently. He impressed King George early on with the Water Music of 1716, written as entertainment for a royal boat outing. Through the 1720s Handel composed Italian operatic masterpieces for London stages: Ottone, Serse (Xerxes), and other works often based on classical stories. His popularity was dented, though, by new English-language works of a less formal character, and in the 1730s and 1740s Handel turned to the oratorio, a grand form that attracted England's new middle-class audiences. Not only Messiah but also Israel in Egypt, Samson, Saul, and many other works established him as a venerated elder of English music. The oratorios displayed to maximum effect Handel's melodic gift and the sense of timing he brought to big choral numbers. Among the most popular of all the oratorios was Judas Maccabeus, composed in 32 days in 1746. Handel presented the oratorio six times during its first season and about 40 times before his death 12 years later, conducting it 30 times himself. In 1737, Handel suffered a stroke, which caused both temporary paralysis in his right arm and some loss of his mental faculties, but he recovered sufficiently to carry on most normal activity. He was urged to write an autobiography, but never did. Blind in old age, he continued to compose. He died in London on April 14, 1759. Beethoven thought Handel the greatest of all his predecessors; he once said, "I would bare my head and kneel at his grave."
© Rovi Staff /TiVo Mehr lesen
Most music lovers have encountered George Frederick Handel 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.
Handel was born in the German city of Halle on February 23, 1685. His father noted but did not nurture his musical talent, and he had to sneak a small keyboard instrument into his attic to practice. As a child he studied music with Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, organist at the Liebfrauenkirche, and for a time he seemed destined for a career as a church organist himself. After studying law briefly at the University of Halle, Handel began serving as organist on March 13, 1702, at the Domkirche there. Dissatisfied, he took a post as violinist in the Hamburg opera orchestra in 1703, and his frustration with musically provincial northern Germany was perhaps shown when he fought a duel the following year with the composer Matheson over the accompaniment to one of Matheson's operas. In 1706 Handel took off for Italy, then the font of operatic innovation, and mastered contemporary trends in Italian serious opera. He returned to Germany to become court composer in Hannover, whose rulers were linked by family ties with the British throne; his patron there, the Elector of Hannover, became King George I of England. English audiences took to his 1711 opera Rinaldo, and several years later Handel jumped at the chance to move to England permanently. He impressed King George early on with the Water Music of 1716, written as entertainment for a royal boat outing.
Through the 1720s Handel composed Italian operatic masterpieces for London stages: Ottone, Serse (Xerxes), and other works often based on classical stories. His popularity was dented, though, by new English-language works of a less formal character, and in the 1730s and 1740s Handel turned to the oratorio, a grand form that attracted England's new middle-class audiences. Not only Messiah but also Israel in Egypt, Samson, Saul, and many other works established him as a venerated elder of English music. The oratorios displayed to maximum effect Handel's melodic gift and the sense of timing he brought to big choral numbers. Among the most popular of all the oratorios was Judas Maccabeus, composed in 32 days in 1746. Handel presented the oratorio six times during its first season and about 40 times before his death 12 years later, conducting it 30 times himself. In 1737, Handel suffered a stroke, which caused both temporary paralysis in his right arm and some loss of his mental faculties, but he recovered sufficiently to carry on most normal activity. He was urged to write an autobiography, but never did. Blind in old age, he continued to compose. He died in London on April 14, 1759. Beethoven thought Handel the greatest of all his predecessors; he once said, "I would bare my head and kneel at his grave."
© Rovi Staff /TiVo
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Handel: Jephtha
Georg Friedrich Händel
Klassik - Erschienen bei Coro am 01.09.2014
5 de DiapasonJephtha (1751) was Handel's last oratorio. It does not have quite the dramatic sweep of Messiah or Israel in Egypt, but it contains many moments equal ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: L'Allegro, Il Penseroso ed il Moderato, 1740
Georg Friedrich Händel
Klassik - Erschienen bei Winged Lion am 04.05.2015
Gramophone Editor's Choice5 Sterne Fono Forum KlassikHandel's L'Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato was composed in 1740, and musically it shares much with Messiah, from a couple of years later. It has ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Organ Concertos Op. 4
Georg Friedrich Händel
Klassik - Erschienen bei Passacaille am 10.02.2008
Discothèque Idéale Qobuz16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Concerti grossi
Georg Friedrich Händel
Klassik - Erschienen bei Challenge Classics am 09.08.2005
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Esther (1718 version)
Georg Friedrich Händel
Klassik - Erschienen bei Coro am 22.10.1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Enemies in Love
Georg Friedrich Händel
Klassik - Erschienen bei Ëvoe Music am 09.02.2018
Die Barockoper ist längst etabliert im heutigen Repertoire. Eine Hypothek bleiben freilich die vielfach vergilbten Libretti. Aber die musikalischen Af ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Messiah...Refreshed!
Georg Friedrich Händel
Klassik - Erschienen bei Signum Records am 03.04.2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno - Wigmore Hall Live
Georg Friedrich Händel
Oper - Erschienen bei Wigmore Hall Live am 04.01.2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Trio Sonatas for Two Violins and Basso Continuo
Georg Friedrich Händel
Klassik - Erschienen bei Avie Records am 04.03.2016
The music's authenticity has been questioned, but it is impressively played and may be unfamiliar even to Handel lovers. © TiVo ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Messiah
Georg Friedrich Händel
Klassik - Erschienen bei Coro am 01.06.1987
Boston's Handel and Haydn Society gave the first complete performance of Messiah in the U.S. in 1818 and has done the work hundreds of times since the ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Handel Choruses
Georg Friedrich Händel
Klassik - Erschienen bei Coro am 02.10.2020
The "greatest hits" album is generally the province of traditional symphony orchestras and large popular choruses; ensembles from the historical perfo ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Power of Love (Arias from Handel operas)
Georg Friedrich Händel
Vokalmusik (weltlich und geistlich) - Erschienen bei Avie Records am 02.10.2015
A rising operatic star, soprano Amanda Forsythe is a specialist in Baroque vocal music, and her lively performances of arias by George Frederick Hande ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Trio Sonatas Op. 2
Georg Friedrich Händel
Klassik - Erschienen bei Avie Records am 03.11.2003
George Frideric Handel's Trio Sonatas, Op. 2, were between 10 and 30 years old when they first appeared in a bootleg edition under the imprint of Esti ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel's Memories - A selection from Grand Concertos op. 6
Georg Friedrich Händel
Klassik - Erschienen bei Challenge Classics am 11.05.2012
"Memories" is not an exact word for the contents of Handel's 12 Grand Concertos, Op. 6. These are Italian-style concerti grossi, perhaps written to pa ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel Harpsichord Suites, Vol. 2 HWV 430-433
Georg Friedrich Händel
Klassik - Erschienen bei Arabesque Recordings am 16.12.2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Messiah - Händel
Georg Friedrich Händel
Vokalmusik (weltlich und geistlich) - Erschienen bei Naxos Sweden - Proprius Records am 03.11.2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Keyboard Suites Nos. 1 - 8
Georg Friedrich Händel
Klassik - Erschienen bei Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga Musica am 01.01.1982
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Julius Caesar (Giulio George Frideric Handel
Georg Friedrich Händel
Oper - Erschienen bei Opera d'Oro am 23.03.1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Cantate 01
Georg Friedrich Händel
Klassik - Erschienen bei Ayros am 14.05.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Alexander's Feast
Georg Friedrich Händel
Klassik - Erschienen bei Coro am 20.04.1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
50 Must-Have Handel Masterpieces
Georg Friedrich Händel
Klassik - Erschienen bei Cobra Entertainment LLC. am 17.07.2012
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo