Judas Maccabaeus

Front Cover
Courier Corporation, Jan 1, 1997 - Music - 231 pages

Beethoven said of Handel that he of all composers knew best how to achieve grand effects with simple means. Those magnificent moments are nowhere more evident than in Handel's great oratorios, perennial favorites with audiences and musicians alike. "Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians" says of Handel: ." . . in oratorio he brought the level of artistry to a higher plane than his contemporaries."
"Judas Maccabaeus" was first performed in London at Covent Garden in 1747 and was an instant success. The subject of the oratorio the triumph of the Jewish warrior-hero Judas Maccabaeus over the invading enemies of the Israelites was deliberately chosen to appeal to the patriotic sympathies of eighteenth-century Londoners immediately after the crushing of the Jacobite rebellion in April 1746.
Although political overtones had some role in the oratorio's initial success, it is the beauty, dramatic power, and brilliant originality of the arias, duets, and choruses that have kept this work constantly in the active repertoire. This is religious music on a grand scale in a work that has greatly influenced major choral music into the twentieth century. Now all music lovers can enjoy the full score of this splendid masterwork, reprinted here in an authoritative, inexpensive edition.
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About the author (1997)

George Frideric Handel was born in Halle, Germany on February 23, 1685. As a youth, he became an accomplished harpsichordist and organist, studied violin and oboe, and mastered composing for the organ, the oboe, and the violin by the time he was 10 years old. In 1704, he made his debut as an opera composer with Almira. During his stay in Italy from 1706 to 1710, he composed several operas including Rodrigo and Agrippina and several dramatic chamber works, which helped establish his early success. In London, Handel composed Rinaldo, which was released during the 1710-1711 London opera season and became his breakthrough work. After Handel released Rinaldo, he spent the next few years writing and performing for English royalty, including Queen Anne and King George I. In 1719, he accepted the position of Master of the Orchestra at the Royal Academy of Music, the first Italian opera company in London. He became a naturalized British citizen in 1726. He eventually formed his own company, calling it the New Royal Academy of Music in 1727. When Italian opera fell out of style in London, he started creating oratorios Handel's musical output was prodigious. He wrote 46 operas including Julius Caesar and Berenice; 33 oratorios including The Messiah; 100 Italian solo cantatas; and numerous orchestral works. In 1751 Handel suffered a sight impairment that led to total blindness by 1753. Nonetheless, he continued to conduct performances of his works. He died April 14, 1759 at the age of 74.

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