Handel

In Short

This book offers a rigorous, scholarly examination of George Frideric Handel’s life and artistic evolution. Eschewing hagiography, it follows the composer from his formative years in Germany through his transformative Italian period to his enduring struggle for artistic dominance in London. It serves as both a biography and a technical critique, dissecting the development of his operas, oratorios, and instrumental works. It remains a vital reference for its commitment to placing Handel within the broader currents of musical history, refusing to let the composer’s monumental reputation obscure his very human labor.

The Story

The narrative follows a man driven by a singular, often exhausting, creative force. Handel’s journey begins in the vibrant but chaotic theatrical world of Hamburg, where he navigates the influence of French and Italian models, learning his craft alongside figures like Reinhard Keiser. This early period is marked by an intuitive grasp of musical architecture and a restless energy that soon drives him toward Italy. In Venice and Florence, he encounters the refined, often stifling, world of the Italian aristocracy, honing his ability to weave drama into song.

His arrival in London, however, marks the true crucible of his career. Here, Handel enters an arena characterized by deep-seated national rivalries and the capricious tastes of an aristocratic public. He is forced into direct competition with rivals like Bononcini, enduring theatrical "jousts" where the audience’s preference for spectacle often outweighs musical merit. The narrative captures the intensity of this era: the fierce rivalries between prima donnas, the pamphlets written against him, and the constant threat of bankruptcy. Handel’s response is not withdrawal, but a series of artistic triumphs, such as Giulio Cesare and Tamerlano, which demonstrate his mastery of the musical drama.

The arc of his life is one of resilience against mounting adversity. When public taste shifts and the operatic form faces decline, he pivots to the oratorio. Even here, success is not guaranteed. He endures the hostility of a "hateful cabal" that orchestrates social events to drain his audiences, leading him into financial ruin and physical collapse. Yet, the book paints a portrait of a man who possesses a near-miraculous capacity to recover. His later years are defined by the creation of some of his most profound works, including Belshazzar and Hercules. By the time the narrative closes, the reader sees Handel not as a static statue in Westminster Abbey, but as a living, breathing artist who, despite bouts of prostration and the weight of his own ambition, consistently finds his way back to the music. The closing chapters argue that his true genius lies in his "evocatory" power—his ability to paint emotions, souls, and situations with such vividness that his music becomes a form of theater, regardless of whether it is performed on a stage or in a concert hall.

How It Unfolds

The Hamburg apprenticeship The narrative establishes the young composer’s immersion in a musical culture where French orchestration and Italian vocal styles collide. This period highlights the influence of local contemporaries like Keiser and the struggle to move beyond amateur theatrical conventions.

The Italian transit Handel seeks out the centers of European musical innovation, navigating the patronage of the Medici in Florence. This phase emphasizes his rapid assimilation of Italian styles and his growing confidence in writing for the voice.

The London theater wars The move to England plunges him into a high-stakes, cutthroat environment dominated by star performers and fickle aristocratic patrons. The narrative details the exhausting public duels between composers and the volatile rivalries of lead singers like Faustina and Cuzzoni.

The shift to oratorio Faced with the decline of his operatic ventures and the organized hostility of London elites, Handel pivots to the dramatic oratorio. This section explores his transition toward deeper, more tragic subjects, such as the biblical and mythological themes found in his later masterpieces.

The recovery and legacy The final movement chronicles his periodic struggles with health and financial collapse, culminating in his enduring popularity. The book concludes by challenging the "pompous, rigid" traditions that long falsified his work, advocating for performances that honor the dramatic and picturesque nature of his genius.

The People

The book is centered on the figure of Handel, defined by his "force of energy and genius" and an almost stubborn independence. He is constantly pitted against forces—the "hateful cabal" of London aristocrats, the competing Italian composers like Bononcini, and the prima donnas who turn his opera house into a stage for their own ego. These antagonists want either to control him or to see him eclipsed. In contrast, figures like the Prince of Tuscany appear as well-intentioned but ultimately unreliable patrons who lack the depth to truly foster his progress. The singers, particularly Faustina and Cuzzoni, serve as both catalysts for his success and agents of his professional chaos, their rivalries often overshadowing the music itself. By the end, Handel emerges as a man who has outlasted his rivals, but only through a painful process of self-reckoning and the sheer, relentless application of his talent.

In Its Own Voice

Describing the delicate, ethereal nature of his precursor Purcell, the author writes:

Everything of his is of extreme elegance, refinement, ease, slightly exsangue.

In a discussion on the evocative, almost cinematic quality of Handel's compositions, the author notes:

He who is satisfied with listening to this music without seeing what it expresses--who judges this art as a purely formal art, who does not feel his expressive and suggestive power, occasionally so far as hallucination, will never understand it.

Highlighting the unfortunate way tradition has obscured the vitality of the music, the author comments:

By the exclusion of and systematic contempt for all the operas of Handel, by an elimination of nearly all the dramatic oratorios, the most powerful and the freshest... there has been established that tradition which makes Handel a church musician after the style of Louis XIV.

What It's Really About

At its core, this book is an argument against the ossification of musical genius. It posits that Handel’s work is inherently dramatic and picturesque, and that it has been crippled by later generations who insisted on viewing him through a rigid, "monumental" lens. The central question is how an artist can maintain his creative integrity in a world that demands commodified spectacle. It probes the tension between the artist’s individual vision and the "cabals" and "fashions" of the public. Ultimately, it is a meditation on the survival of art: how the most vibrant, human, and "popular" music can be misunderstood or buried, and the arduous, solitary effort required to keep that work alive and correctly interpreted for a new age.

Why Read It Today

Readers who appreciate music history grounded in the realities of the professional world will find this volume compelling. It is not an abstract or flowery biography; it is a clinical look at the economics and interpersonal friction that produced some of Western music’s most celebrated works. You will likely appreciate the author’s sharp, analytical tone, which refuses to romanticize the "giant."

The book does present challenges. As a work translated from an earlier era of scholarship, some of the phrasing is dense, and the focus on the minutiae of long-forgotten theatrical disputes may feel exhaustive to a casual reader. Furthermore, the text assumes a level of familiarity with eighteenth-century musical forms that might require occasional research for the uninitiated. However, the reward is a clear-eyed view of Handel as a man of "impetuosity" and physical exhaustion—a human figure rather than a gilded icon. What stays with you is the author’s insistence on the "expressive and suggestive power" of the music, which serves as a powerful corrective to the "pompous" and "stolid" performances that often dominate our modern ears. For those who want to move past the conventional, one-dimensional understanding of Handel, this book provides the necessary scaffolding to hear the music as it was intended: alive, dramatic, and deeply felt.