Most music lovers have encountered Georg Friedrich
Händel (1685 – 1759) 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...(+)
Most music lovers have encountered Georg Friedrich
Händel (1685 – 1759) 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 published his first volume of Suites for
keyboard in London in 1720. The works had already been
published without his permission in Amsterdam the
previous year and Handel published them himself in
London to protect his royalties. Also called Suites de
pieces pour le Clavecin, the suites most often are sets
of stylized dances. The Suite in F major, however, is
not a set of dances, but rather a stylized church
sonata in four movements: Adagio, Allegro, Adagio, and
Fuga. The opening Adagio is a thoughtful and expansive
movement with an exquisitely embellished melody above
wide-ranging modulations starting in F major, but
ending in A minor. The following Allegro is a rapid,
racing movement in F major with few modulations. The
following Adagio is a dramatic movement in D minor with
a highly expressive melody above widely spaced chords.
The closing Fuga Allegro is in four independent voices
with an aggressive subject.
PARTITION