Essays on Handel and Italian Opera

Reinhard Strohm examines the relationship between Handel's great operas and the earlier European Baroque tradition.

Reinhard Strohm (Author)

9780521088350, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 30 October 2008

316 pages
23.2 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.47 kg

In this valuable collection of essays, published to coincide with the tercentenary of Handel's birth, Reinhard Strohm examines the relationship between Handel's great operas and the earlier European Baroque tradition, focusing on the Italian school, to which they are so crucially indebted. Handel's immediate heritage included the figures of Scarlatti, Gasparini and Vivaldi; this book establishes that context, concentrating on contemporary operatic practice, and proceeds to analyse three of Handel's best-known works. It shows how they elaborate and develop the style and method of the Italian operatic theatre, embracing previous traditions and synthesizing them with a new and exciting accentuation.

1. Heritage
2. Operatic Practice
3. Answers to the past.

Subject Areas: Music [AV]