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.
Atalanta (HWV 35) is a pastoral opera in three acts by
George Frideric Handel composed in 1736. It is based
upon the mythological female athlete, Atalanta, the
libretto (which is in Italian) being derived from the
book La Caccia in Etolia by Belisario Valeriani. The
identity of the librettist is not known. Handel
composed it for the London celebrations of the marriage
in 1736 of Frederick, Prince of Wales, eldest son of
King George II, to Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. The
first performance took place on 12 May 1736 in the
Covent Garden Theatre. It closed with a spectacular
display of fireworks, which was highly popular with the
royal family and the London audience, and the opera and
fireworks display were revived a number of times in the
year of its first performance. An arioso from the
opera, "Care selve", is often heard in recital and on
recordings.
Handel's spring season of 1736 was shorter than usual,
probably because of these difficulties, but when the
wedding of the Prince of Wales was announced he
prepared an opera in celebration. His rival Nicola
Porpora did the same, writing the serenata La festa
d'Imeneo. Neither work was ready for performance by the
day of the wedding itself, 27 April 1736, and Porpora's
work premiered on 4 May. The premiere of Atalanta on 12
May was attended by the King and Queen but not by their
son the Prince of Wales and his new wife.
Atalanta was a more light-hearted and celebratory work
than many of his other opera seria, along the same
lines as his very popular piece Il Pastor Fido which he
had recently revived. The celebrations for the royal
marriage at the end of the piece with an onstage
fireworks display created a sensation.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atalanta_(opera)).
Although originally scored for Violini & Bassi I
created this Interpretation of the Aria "Impara,
ingrata ad esser men crudele" from "Atlanta" (HWV 35
Act 1 No. 4) for French Horn & Piano.
SHEET MUSIC