George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (1685 – 1759)
was a German-British Baroque composer well known for
his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and
organ concertos. Handel received his training in Halle
and worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy before
settling in London in 1712, where he spent the bulk of
his career and became a naturalised British subject in
1727. He was strongly influenced both by the
middle-German polyphonic choral tradition and by
composers of the Italian Bar...(+)
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (1685 – 1759)
was a German-British Baroque composer well known for
his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and
organ concertos. Handel received his training in Halle
and worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy before
settling in London in 1712, where he spent the bulk of
his career and became a naturalised British subject in
1727. He was strongly influenced both by the
middle-German polyphonic choral tradition and by
composers of the Italian Baroque. In turn, Handel's
music forms one of the peaks of the "high baroque"
style, bringing Italian opera to its highest
development, creating the genres of English oratorio
and organ concerto, and introducing a new style into
English church music. He is consistently recognized as
one of the greatest composers of his age.
After spending some of his early career composing
operas and other pieces in Italy, he settled in London,
where in 1711 he had brought Italian opera for the
first time with his opera Rinaldo. A tremendous
success, Rinaldo created a craze in London for Italian
opera seria, a form focused overwhelmingly on solo
arias for the star virtuoso singers. In 1719, Handel
was appointed music director of an organisation called
the Royal Academy of Music (unconnected with the
present day London conservatoire), a company under
royal charter to produce Italian operas in London.
Handel was not only to compose operas for the company
but hire the star singers, supervise the orchestra and
musicians, and adapt operas from Italy for London
performance.
By means of their high degree of consistency and
maturity, Handel's chamber duets constitute a highlight
of this genre. The chamber duets and trios (Duos and
Trios II) were written in 1710–12 in Hanover. They
are musically demanding and structured contrapuntally:
the earlier works are stricter, more scholarly and more
elaborate in terms of counterpoint but masterly in
their craftsmanship. The later ones are composed
somewhat freer, but more compact.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aci,_Galatea_e_Polifemo)
.
Although originally scored for Soprano, Alto & Bass, I
created this Interpretation of the Duetto "Tanti strali
al sen mi scocchi" from "Duos and Trios II" (HWV 197
No. 12) for String Trio (Violin, Viola & Cello).
SHEET MUSIC