George Frideric Handel, born in Halle, grew up as the
son of a barber-surgeon who wanted his boy to study
law. Young Handel successfully rebelled, and by 1703
was playing violin and keyboard in Hamburg’s opera
orchestra. Handel spent four years it Italy
(1706-1710), where he moved amidst the musical elite of
the day – meeting Corelli, Scarlatti, and Pasquini
– and received the nickname “il caro Sassone”
(the dear Saxon). According to historian Paul Henry
Lang, Handel learned more from ...(+)
George Frideric Handel, born in Halle, grew up as the
son of a barber-surgeon who wanted his boy to study
law. Young Handel successfully rebelled, and by 1703
was playing violin and keyboard in Hamburg’s opera
orchestra. Handel spent four years it Italy
(1706-1710), where he moved amidst the musical elite of
the day – meeting Corelli, Scarlatti, and Pasquini
– and received the nickname “il caro Sassone”
(the dear Saxon). According to historian Paul Henry
Lang, Handel learned more from Italy than its musicians
alone could teach. He learned from the Renaissance
paintings that there is a “disciplined passion [in]
the resolution of powerful conflicts,” and his later
music reflects the search for the auditory equivalent.
For much of his life, Handel lived as an Englishman,
and his greatest works belong to those years, including
the operas Orlando (1733) and Alcina (1735), both
dramatizations of Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso, and the
oratorios Messiah (1741) and Jeptha (1752).
Handel's Suite for keyboard were first published in
Amsterdam in 1719 by Jeanne Roger. But because Handel
received no royalties from Roger, he understandably
decided to publish them himself in London the following
year. Also called Suites de pieces pour le Clavecin,
the suites are most often sets of stylized dances,
occasionally including further additional movements.
Although originally written for Keyboard, I created
this arrangement for Concert (Pedal) Harp.
PARTITION