Handel on the Stage

David Kimbell sets Handel's operas in their biographical and cultural contexts, exploring drama, music and styles of performance.

David Kimbell (Author)

9780521521604, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 24 January 2019

224 pages, 34 music examples
24.5 x 18.8 x 1.1 cm, 0.45 kg

'Not only do the carefully selected examples superbly articulate the points Kimbell wishes to make, but readers are also provided with a range of additional elements to help them follow the argument or fill potential gaps in background knowledge. … This well-written study is an essential read for anyone with an interest in Handel's operas.' Matthew Gardner, Early Music

Of all the great composers of the eighteenth century, Handel was the supreme cosmopolitan, an early and extraordinarily successful example of a freelance composer. For thirty years the opera-house was the principal focus of his creative work and he composed more than forty operas over this period. In this book, David Kimbell sets Handel's operas in their biographical and cultural contexts. He explores the circumstances in which they were composed and performed, the librettos that were prepared for Handel, and what they tell us about his and his audience's values and the music he composed for them. Remarkably no Handel operas were staged for a period of 170 years between 1754 and the 1920s. The final chapter in this book reveals the differences and similarities between how Handel's operas were performed in his time and ours.

Preface
1. Handel and opera – a biographical survey of the circumstances
2. The libretto (1) – argument – dramatis personae
3. The libretto (2) – words for music
4. The music (1) – mastering the medium
5. The music (2) – its role in the drama
6. Aspects of the performance of Handelian opera in his time and in ours
Appendix: an overview of the repertory of the Royal Academy of Music.

Subject Areas: Literature & literary studies [D], Individual composers & musicians, specific bands & groups [AVH], Opera [AVGC9], Romantic music [c 1830 to c 1900 AVGC5], Classical music [c 1750 to c 1830 AVGC4], Music [AV], Individual actors & performers [APB], Theatre: individual actors & directors [ANB], Theatre studies [AN]