Handel's Oratorios and Eighteenth-Century Thought

Ruth Smith sheds new light on Handel's oratorio librettists and explores literature, music, aesthetics, politics and religion to reveal his texts as conduits for eighteenth-century thought.

Ruth Smith (Author)

9780521023702, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 20 October 2005

500 pages, 4 tables
23 x 15.3 x 3.5 cm, 0.757 kg

'… highly interesting and suggestive book.' British Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies

In this wide-ranging and challenging book, Ruth Smith shows that the words to Handel's oratorios reflect the events and ideas of their time and have far greater meaning than has hitherto been realized. She explores literature, music, aesthetics, politics and religion to reveal Handel's works as conduits for eighteenth-century thought and sensibility. She provides a full picure of Handel's librettists and shows how their oratorio texts express key moral-political preoccupations and engage with contemporary ideological debate. British identity, the need for national unity, the conduct of war, the role of government, the authority of the Bible, the purpose of literature, the effect of art - these and many more concerns are addressed in the librettos. The book thus enriches our understanding of Handel, his times, and the relationships between music and its intellectual contexts.

Introduction
Part I. English Origins of English Oratario: 1. Artistic norms
2. The purpose of art
3. Music, morals and religion
4. The biblical sublime
5. The survival of the epic
6. The defence of Christianity
7. Towards oratorio
Part II. The Patriot Libretto from the Excise Bill to the Jew Bill: Israelite Oratarios and English Politics: 8. Political events and political thought
9. Allegorical politics
10. Moral politics
11. Esther to Athalia
12. In time of war
13. Images of government
14. The conflict of public and private interests
15. Coda: the end of Handel's Israelite oratorios
Appendices
Notes
Index.

Subject Areas: Western "classical" music [AVGC]