On the Death of Mr. Handel
George Frideric Handel died 250 years ago, as Alex Ross ("For the Late Mr Handel") reminded me.* Mr. Ross suggested the video below as a tribute and I thought it was a swell idea.
Perhaps because I am an instrumental musician, my education in the vocal arts lagged by decades and it's only in my middle age that I have developed an appreciation of vocal writing and of singing.
Here's the thing that seems funny to me about Handel: he wrote a great deal of fabulous vocal music — my favorite Handel is virtually all vocal music — but sometimes his vocal writing was awful as vocal writing. Rarely does he write in a characteristic "vocal" way, more often expecting singers to perform music that sounds more instrumental than vocal. Could this be why I find his vocal writing so appealing?
Not only that, but it is frequently clear from the awkward way he sets his English texts that English was not his native language. Next time you listen to your favorite arias from "Messiah", note how peculiar some of the syllabic stresses are.
Nevertheless, despite those things, Handel's vocal music is great music and stirring to listen to. It's also great fun to sing, even when the seams show.
On to the tribute. I've mentioned before that the aria "Ombra Mai Fu", from the opera "Xerxes", is one I find immensely beautiful. In that instance I suggested a performance by my favorite countertenor, Andreas Scholl. I have also mentioned before that I like listening to the singing of the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson.
Therefore, "Ombra Mai Fu", sung by Lorraine Hunt Lieberson:
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* Okay, 250 years and 15 days; I've gotten a little behind on things.
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I welcome comments -- even dissent -- but I will delete without notice irrelevant, rude, psychotic, or incomprehensible comments, particularly those that I deem homophobic, unless they are amusing. The same goes for commercial comments and trackbacks. Sorry, but it's my blog and my decisions are final.
on Thursday, 30 April 2009 at 21.54
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I must allow I find andreas a tad prissy-sounding. give me david daniels any day
(and it was through DD that I first discovered the divooon lorraine hunt lieberson)
on Thursday, 30 April 2009 at 22.27
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As I've mentioned before, I like David Daniels just fine; he's especially good at Handel, too. However, I sometimes have a preference for Scholl. I guess we'll just have to look for DD's "Ombra Mai Fu" next time and get everyone involved.