Johann Sebastian Bach Bach's mother died in 1694, and his father died eight months

later. The 10-year-old Bach moved in with his eldest brother,

Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March [O.S. 21 March] 1685 28
Johann Christoph Bach (16711721), the organist at St.
July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the
Michael's Church in Ohrdruf, Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg.There he
Baroque period. He enriched established German styles
studied, performed, and copied music, including his own
through his mastery of counterpoint, harmonic and motivic
brother's, despite being forbidden to do so because scores
organisation, and his adaptation of rhythms, forms, and
were so valuable and private and blank ledger paper of that
textures from abroad, particularly from Italy and France.
type was costly.He received valuable teaching from his
Bach's compositions include the Brandenburg Concertos, the
brother, who instructed him on the clavichord. J.C. Bach
Goldberg Variations, the Mass in B minor, two Passions, and
exposed him to the works of great composers of the day,
over three hundred cantatas of which approximately two
including South German composers such as Johann Pachelbel
hundred survive. His music is revered for its technical
(under whom Johann Christoph had studied) and Johann
command, artistic beauty, and intellectual depth.
Jakob Froberger; North German composers; Frenchmen, such
While Bach's abilities as an organist were highly respected
as Jean-Baptiste Lully, Louis Marchand, and Marin Marais;
during his lifetime, he was not widely recognized as an
and the Italian clavierist Girolamo Frescobaldi. Also during
important composer until a revival of interest in his music
this time, he was taught theology, Latin, Greek, French, and
during the first half of the 19th century. He is now generally
Italian at the local gymnasium.
regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time

By 3 April 1700, Bach and his schoolfriend Georg Erdmann

Life
who was two years Bach's elderwere enrolled in the
Bach was born in Eisenach, in the duchy of Saxe-Eisenach,
prestigious St. Michael's School in Lneburg, some two
into a great musical family. His father Johann Ambrosius Bach
weeks' travel north of Ohrdruf. Their journey was probably
was the director of the town musicians, and all of his uncles
undertaken mostly on foot. His two years there were critical
were professional musicians. His father probably taught him
in exposing Bach to a wider range of European culture. In
to play the violin and harpsichord, and his brother Johann
addition to singing in the choir, he played the School's three-
Christoph Bach taught him the clavichord and exposed him to
manual organ and harpsichords.He came into contact with
much contemporary music. Apparently at his own initiative,
sons of aristocrats from northern Germany, sent to the highly
Bach attended St. Michael's School in Lneburg for two years.
selective school to prepare for careers in other disciplines.
After graduating he held several musical posts across
Germany: he served as Kapellmeister (director of music) to
While in Lneburg, Bach had access to St. John's Church and
Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Kthen, and as Thomaskantor in
possibly used the church's famous organ from 1553, since it
Leipzig, a position of music director at the main Lutheran
was played by his organ teacher Georg Bhm. Because of his
churches and educator at the Thomasschule. He received the
musical talent, Bach had significant contact with Bhm while
title of "Royal Court Composer" from Augustus III in 1736.
a student in Lneburg, and also took trips to nearby Hamburg
Bach's health and vision declined in 1749, and he died on 28
where he observed "the great North German organist Johann
July 1750
Adam Reincken". Stauffer reports the discovery in 2005 of the
organ tablatures that Bach wrote out when still in his teens of
Childhood (16851703)
works by Reincken and Dieterich Buxtehude, showing "a
Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, the capital of
disciplined, methodical, well-trained teenager deeply
the duchy of Saxe-Eisenach, in present-day Germany, on 21
committed to learning his craft"
March 1685 O.S. (31 March 1685 N.S.). He was the son of
Johann Ambrosius Bach, the director of the town musicians,
Weimar, Arnstadt, and Mhlhausen (170308)
and Maria Elisabeth Lmmerhirt. He was the eighth and
In January 1703, shortly after graduating from St. Michael's
youngest child of Johann Ambrosius, who likely taught him
and being turned down for the post of organist at
violin and basic music theory. His uncles were all professional
Sangerhausen, Bach was appointed court musician in the
musicians, whose posts included church organists, court
chapel of Duke Johann Ernst III in Weimar.His role there is
chamber musicians, and composers. One uncle, Johann
unclear, but it probably included menial, non-musical duties.
Christoph Bach (164593), introduced him to the organ, and
During his seven-month tenure at Weimar, his reputation as a
an older second cousin, Johann Ludwig Bach (16771731),
keyboardist spread so much that he was invited to inspect
was a well-known composer and violinist.
the new organ and give the inaugural recital, at the New
Church (now Bach Church) in Arnstadt, located about 30
kilometres (19 mi) southwest of Weimar. In August 1703, he
became the organist at the New Church, with light duties, a
relatively generous salary, and a fine new organ tuned in a
temperament that allowed music written in a wider range of
keys to be played.
Despite strong family connections and a musically
enthusiastic employer, tension built up between Bach and
the authorities after several years in the post. Bach was
dissatisfied with the standard of singers in the choir. He called
one of them a "Zippel Fagottist" (weenie bassoon player).
Late one evening this student, named Geyersbach, went after
Bach with a stick. Bach filed a complaint against Geyersbach
with the authorities. These acquitted Geyersbach with a
minor reprimand and ordered Bach to be more moderate
regarding the musical qualities he expected from his
students. Some months later Bach upset his employer by a
prolonged absence from Arnstadt: having obtained a leave
permission for four weeks he had been absent for around
four months in 170506 to visit the organist and composer
Dieterich Buxtehude in the northern city of Lbeck. The visit
to Buxtehude involved a 450-kilometre (280 mi) journey each
way, reportedly on foot.
In 1706, Bach applied for a post as organist at the Blasius
Church (also known as St Blasius or as Divi Blasii) in
Mhlhausen. As part of his application, he had a cantata
performed on Easter, 24 April 1707, likely an early version of
his Christ lag in Todes Banden. A month later Bach's
application was accepted and he took up the post in July.The
position included a significantly higher remuneration,
improved conditions, and a better choir. Four months after
arriving at Mhlhausen, Bach married Maria Barbara Bach, his
second cousin. Bach was able to convince the church and
town government at Mhlhausen to fund an expensive
renovation of the organ at the Blasius Church. In 1708 Bach
wrote Gott ist mein Knig, a festive cantata for the
inauguration of the new Council, which was published at the
Council's expense.
Death (1750)
Bach's health declined in 1749; on 2 June, Heinrich von Brhl
wrote to one of the Leipzig burgomasters to request that his
music director, Johann Gottlob Harrer, fill the Thomaskantor
and Director musices posts "upon the eventual ... decease of
Mr. Bach". Bach was becoming blind, so the British eye
surgeon John Taylor twice operated on Bach while visiting
Leipzig in March and April 1750.
On 28 July 1750, Bach died at the age of 65. A contemporary
newspaper reported "the unhappy consequences of the very
unsuccessful eye operation" as the cause of death. Spitta
gives some details. He says that Bach died of "apoplexy", a
stroke. He, along with the newspaper, says that "Medical
treatment associated with the [failed eye] operation had such
bad effects that his health ... was severely shaken" and Bach
was left totally blind. His son Carl Philipp Emanuel and his
pupil Johann Friedrich Agricola co-authored Bach's obituary,
which was published in 1754 in Mizler's Musikalische
Bibliothek.
Bach's estate included five harpsichords, two lute-
harpsichords, three violins, three violas, two cellos, a viola da
gamba, a lute and a spinet, along with 52 "sacred books",
including books by Martin Luther and Josephus. He was
originally buried at Old St. John's Cemetery in Leipzig. His
grave went unmarked for nearly 150 years, but in 1894 his
remains were located and moved to a vault in St. John's
Church. This building was destroyed by Allied bombing during
World War II, so in 1950 Bach's remains were taken to their
present grave in St. Thomas Church. Later research has called
into question whether the remains in the grave are actually
those of Bach.
Musical style
To a large extent, Bach's musical style fits in the conventions
of his day, which is the final stage of the baroque style. When
his contemporaries, such as Handel, Telemann and Vivaldi
wrote concertos he did so too. When they wrote suites, he
did so too. Similar with recitatives followed by da capo arias,
four-part choral music, use of basso continuo etc. The
specifics of his style lie with characteristics such as his skill in
contrapuntal invention and motivic control and his talent for
writing tightly woven music of powerful sonority. From an
early age, he imbued himself with the compositions of his
contemporaries and of prior generations, all of what was
available from European composers, such as the French, the
Italian, and those from all parts of Germany, and there is little
of it that didn't appear in his own music.
Religious music was at the centre of Bach's output for much
of his life. The hundreds of sacred works he created are
usually seen as manifesting not just his craft but a truly
devout relationship with God. He had taught Luther's Small
Catechism as the Thomaskantor in Leipzig, and some of his
pieces represent it. The Lutheran chorale was the basis of
much of his work. In elaborating these hymns into his chorale
preludes, he wrote more cogent and tightly integrated works
than most, even when they were massive and
lengthy.[citation needed] The large-scale structure of every
major Bach sacred vocal work is evidence of subtle, elaborate
planning to create a religiously and musically powerful
expression. For example, the St Matthew Passion, like other
works of its kind, illustrated the Passion with Bible text
reflected in recitatives, arias, choruses, and chorales; but in
crafting this work, Bach created an overall experience that
has been found over the centuries since to be both musically
thrilling and spiritually profound.
Bach published or carefully compiled in manuscript many
collections of pieces that explored the range of artistic and
technical possibilities inherent in almost every genre of his
time except opera. For example, The Well-Tempered Clavier
comprises two books, each of which presents a prelude and
fugue in every major and minor key, displaying a dizzying
variety of structural, contrapuntal and fugal techniques.
Four-part harmony
Four-part harmonies predate Bach, but he lived during a time
when modal music in Western tradition was largely
supplanted in favour of the tonal system. In this system a
piece of music progresses from one chord to the next
according to certain rules, each chord being characterised by
four notes. The principles of four-part harmony cannot only
be found in Bach's four-part choral music, but he also
prescribes it for instance for the figured bass
accompaniment.[83] The new system was at the core of
Bach's style, and his compositions are to a large extent
considered as laying down the rules for the evolving scheme
that would dominate musical expression in the next
centuries. Some examples of this characteristic of Bach's style
and its influence:
When in the 1740s Bach staged his arrangement of
Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, he upgraded the viola part
(that in the original composition plays unisono with
the bass part) to fill out the harmony, thus
conforming the composition to his four-part
harmony style.
When from the 19th century in Russia there was a
discussion about the authenticity of four-part Court
chant settings, compared to earlier Russian
traditions, Bach's four-part Chorale settings, such as
those ending his Chorale cantatas, were considered
as foreign-influenced models: such influence was,
however, deemed unavoidable.
Bach putting his foot down on the tonal system, and
contributing to its shaping, did not imply he was less at ease
with the older modal system, and the genres associated with
it: more than his contemporaries (who had "moved on" to
the tonal system without much exception) Bach often
returned to the then antiquated modi and genres. His
Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue, re-emulating the chromatic
fantasia genre, as used by earlier composers such as Dowland
and Sweelinck, in D dorian mode (comparable to D minor in
the tonal system), is an example of this.
Modulations
Modulations, changing key in the course of a piece, is another
style characteristic where Bach goes beyond what was usual
in his time. Baroque instruments vastly limited modulation
possibilities: keyboard instruments, prior to a workable
system of temperament, limited the keys that could be
modulated to, and wind instruments, especially brass
instruments such as trumpets and horns, about a century
before they were fitted with valves, were tied to the key of
their tuning. Bach pushed the limits: he added "strange
tones" in his organ playing, confusing the singing, according
to an indictment he had to face in Arnstadt,[86] and Louis
Marchand, another early experimenter with modulation,
seems to have avoided confrontation with Bach because the
latter went further than anyone had done before.[87] In the
"Suscepit Israel" of his 1723 Magnificat, he had the trumpets
in E-flat play a melody in the enharmonic scale of C minor.
The major development taking place in Bach's time, and to
which he contributed in no small way, was the development
of a temperament for keyboard instruments that allowed to
use these in all available keys (12 major and 12 minor), and
which allowed modulating without retuning. Already his
Capriccio on the departure of a beloved brother, a very early
work, showed a gusto for modulation incomparable to any
contemporary work this composition has been compared to,
but the full expansion came with The Well-Tempered Clavier,
using all keys, which Bach seems to have been developing
from around 1720, with the Klavierbchlein fr Wilhelm
Friedemann Bach as one of its earliest witnesses.
Ornamentation
The second page of the Klavierbchlein fr Wilhelm
Friedemann Bach is an ornament notation and performance
guide that Bach wrote for his eldest son, who was nine years
old at the time. Bach was generally quite specific on
ornamentation in his compositions (where in his time much
of the ornamentation was not written out by composers,
rather being considered a liberty of the performer),[91] and
his ornamentation was often quite elaborate. For instance,
the "Aria" of the Goldberg Variations has rich ornamentation
in nearly every measure. Bach's dealing with ornamentation
can also be seen in a keyboard arrangement he made of
Marcello's Oboe Concerto: he added written out
ornamentation, which, some centuries later, is played by
oboists when performing the concerto.
Although Bach did not write any opera, he was not averse to
the genre, nor to its ornamented vocal style. In church music,
Italian composers had imitated the operatic vocal style in
genres such as the Neapolitan mass. In Protestant
surroundings, there was more reticence to adopt such style
for liturgical music. For instance, Kuhnau, Bach's predecessor
in Leipzig, had notoriously written against opera and
Italianate virtuoso vocal music. Bach was less imbued; one of
the comments after a performance of his St Matthew Passion
was that it all sounded much like opera
Giving soloist roles to continuo instruments
In concerted playing in Bach's time the basso continuo,
consisting of instruments such as organ, and/or viola da
gamba and harpsichord, usually had the role of
accompaniment: providing the harmonic and rhythmic
foundation of a piece. From the late 1720s, Bach had the
organ play concertante (i.e. as soloist) with the orchestra in
instrumental cantata movements,[94] a decade before
Handel published his first organ concertos.[95] Apart from
the 5th Brandenburg Concerto and the Triple Concerto, which
already had harpsichord soloists in the 1720s, Bach wrote and
arranged his harpsichord concertos in the 1730s,[96] and in
his sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord neither
instrument plays a continuo part: they are treated as equal
soloists, way beyond the figured bass role. In this sense, Bach
played a key role in the development of genres such as the
keyboard concerto
Instrumentation
Bach wrote virtuoso music for specific instruments, as well as
music independent of instrumentation. For instance, the
Sonatas and partitas for solo violin are considered the
pinnacle of what has been written for this instrument, only
within reach of accomplished players: the music fits the
instrument, pushing it to the full scale of its possibilities,
requiring virtuosity of the player, but without bravura.
Notwithstanding that the music and the instrument seem
inseparable, Bach made transcriptions for other instruments
of some pieces of this collection. Similarly, for the cello suites,
the virtuoso music seems tailored for the instrument, the
best of what is on offer for it, yet Bach made an arrangement
for lute of one of these suites. Likewise for much of his most
virtuoso keyboard music. Bach exploited the capabilities of an
instrument to the fullest while keeping the core of such music
independent of the instrument on which it is performed.
In this sense, it is no surprise that Bach's music is easily and
often performed on instruments it was not necessarily
written for, that it is transcribed so often, and that his
melodies turn up in unexpected places such as jazz music.
Apart from that, Bach left a number of compositions without
specified instrumentation: the Canons BWV 10721078 fall in
that category, as well as the bulk of The Musical Offering and
The Art of Fugue
Counterpoint
See also: List of fugal works by Johann Sebastian Bach
Another characteristic of Bach's style is his extensive use of
counterpoint, as opposed to the homophony used, for
instance, in his four-part Chorale settings. Bach's Canons, and
especially his Fugues, are most characteristic of this style,
which Bach did not invent, but his contribution to it was so
fundamental that he defined it to a large extent. Fugues are
as characteristic to Bach's style, as, for instance, the Sonata
form is characteristic to the composers of the Classical
period.
Not only these strictly contrapuntal compositions, but most
of Bach's music is characterised by distinct melodic lines for
each of the voices, where the chords formed by the notes
sounding at a given point follow the rules of four-part
harmony. Forkel, Bach's first biographer, gives this
description of this feature of Bach's music, that sets it apart
from most other music
Structure, lyrics
Bach devoted more attention than his contemporaries to the
structure of compositions. This can be seen in minor
adjustments he made when adopting someone else's
composition, for example, his earliest version of the "Keiser"
St Mark Passion, where he enhances scene transitions,[101]
and in the architecture of his own compositions such as his
Magnificat,[88] and his Leipzig Passions. In the last years of
his life, Bach would revise several of his prior compositions,
often the recasting of such previously composed music in an
enhanced structure being the most visible change, as in the
Mass in B minor. Bach's known preoccupation with structure
led, peaking around the 1970s, to various numerological
analyses of his compositions, although many such over-
interpretations were later rejected, especially when
wandering off in symbolism-ridden hermeneutics.[102][103]
The librettos, that is the lyrics, for his vocal compositions
played an important role for Bach: he sought collaboration
with various text authors for his cantatas and major vocal
compositions, eventually writing or adapting such texts
himself to make them fit in the structure of the composition
he was designing, when he could not lean on the talents of
other text authors. His collaboration with Picander for the St
Matthew Passion libretto is best known, but there was a
similar process to come to a multi-layered structure for his St Antonio Vivaldi
John Passion libretto a few years earlier
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (Italian: [antnjo luto vivaldi]; 4
March 1678 28 July 1741) was an Italian Baroque composer,
SUMMARY
virtuoso violinist, teacher and cleric. Born in Venice, he is
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, born in late
recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and
seventeen century into a reputed musical family at Eisenach,
his influence during his lifetime was widespread across
Germany. He had his early musical training under his father
Europe. He composed many instrumental concertos, for the
and uncle. He lost both his parents at a young age following
violin and a variety of other instruments, as well as sacred
which his eldest brother took him into his household and
choral works and more than forty operas. His best-known
began tutoring him. At fifteen, he was sent to Michaelis
work is a series of violin concertos known as The Four
monastery at Lneburg, where he completed his training.
Seasons.
Bach began his career as a violinist in Weimar and then
shifted to Arstadt as an organist. From there, he went to
Many of his compositions were written for the female music
Mhlhausen and then again to the Court of Weimar, and
ensemble of the Ospedale della Piet, a home for abandoned
subsequently to Kthen before settling at Leipzig. However,
children where Vivaldi (who had been ordained as a Catholic
in most places, his employers were unsympathetic to his
priest) was employed from 1703 to 1715 and from 1723 to
aspirations or talent and therefore he did not get either
1740. Vivaldi also had some success with expensive stagings
money or fame in his lifetime. His music was rediscovered
of his operas in Venice, Mantua and Vienna. After meeting
about fifty years after his death; by then many of his
the Emperor Charles VI, Vivaldi moved to Vienna, hoping for
creations had been lost. Today he is considered as one of the
preferment. However, the Emperor died soon after Vivaldi's
greatest composers of all time.
arrival, and Vivaldi himself died less than a year later in
poverty.
Trivia
At the time of his death, Bachs estate consisted of great
Life
many musical instruments and fifty-two religious books.
Childhood
There was no or little money. When his wife died ten years
Church where Vivaldi was baptised: San Giovanni in Bragora,
later, she was given a paupers funeral.
Sestiere di Castello, Venice
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was born on 4 March 1678 in
To avoid plagiarism
Venice,then the capital of the Republic of Venice. He was
References
baptized immediately after his birth at his home by the
Jump up^ "Bach, Johann Sebastian" entry
midwife, which led to a belief that his life was somehow in
at www.oxforddictionaries.com. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
danger. Though not known for certain, the child's immediate
Jump up^ "bach trumpet" entry p. 157 in Webster's Third
baptism was most likely due either to his poor health or to an
New International Dictionary(unabridged). Merriam-Webster,
earthquake that shook the city that day. In the trauma of the
1981. ISBN 0877792062
earthquake, Vivaldi's mother may have dedicated him to the
^ Jump up to:a b c Wolff (1997), p. 5
priesthood. Vivaldi's official church baptism took place two
Jump up^ Blanning, T. C. W. (2008). The Triumph of Music:
months later.
The Rise of Composers, Musicians and Their Art. p. 272. And
of course the greatest master of harmony and counterpoint of
Vivaldi's parents were Giovanni Battista Vivaldi and Camilla
all time was Johann Sebastian Bach, 'the Homer of music'.
Calicchio, as recorded in the register of San Giovanni in
Jump up to:a b Wolff (2000), pp. 19, 46
Bragora. Vivaldi had eight siblings: Iseppo Santo Vivaldi,
Jump up to:a b "Bach Mass in B Minor BWV 232". The
Iseppo Gaetano Vivaldi, Bonaventura Tomaso Vivaldi,
Baroque Music Site. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
Margarita Gabriela Vivaldi, Cecilia Maria Vivaldi , Gerolama
Jump up to:a b Miles (1962), pp. 8687
Michela Vivaldi, Francesco Gaetano Vivaldi, and Zanetta Anna
Jump up^ Johann Gnther Rrer (editor). Neues vollstndiges
Vivaldi.not in citation given] Giovanni Battista, who was a
Eisenachisches Gesangbuch: Worinnen in ziemlich bequeemer
barber before becoming a professional violinist, taught
und fglicher Ordnung vermittels fnffacher Abteilung so wol
Antonio to play the violin and then toured Venice playing the
die alte als neue doch mehrenteils bekante geistliche
violin with his young son. Antonio was probably taught at an
Kirchenlieder und Psalmen D. Martin Luthers und anderer
early age, judging by the extensive musical knowledge he had
Gottseeligen Mnner befindlich.
acquired by the age of 24, when he started working at the
Ospedale della Piet. Giovanni Battista was one of the
founders of the Sovvegno dei musicisti di Santa Cecilia, an
association of musicians.
The president of the Sovvegno was Giovanni Legrenzi, an
early Baroque composer and the maestro di cappella at St
Mark's Basilica. It is possible that Legrenzi gave the young
Antonio his first lessons in composition. The Luxembourg
scholar Walter Kolneder has discerned the influence of
Legrenzi's style in Vivaldi's early liturgical work Laetatus sum
(RV Anh 31), written in 1691 at the age of thirteen. Vivaldi's
father may have been a composer himself: in 1689, an opera
titled La Fedelt sfortunata was composed by a Giovanni
Battista Rossi the name under which Vivaldi's father had
joined the Sovvegno di Santa Cecilia.
Vivaldi's health was problematic. His symptoms, strettezza di
petto ("tightness of the chest"), have been interpreted as a
form of asthma. This did not prevent him from learning to
play the violin, composing or taking part in musical activities,
although it did stop him from playing wind instruments. In
1693, at the age of fifteen, he began studying to become a
priest. He was ordained in 1703, aged 25, and was soon
nicknamed il Prete Rosso, "The Red Priest".(Rosso is Italian
for "red", and would have referred to the color of his hair, a
family trait.)
Not long after his ordination, in 1704, he was given a
dispensation from celebrating Mass because of his ill health.
Vivaldi only said Mass as a priest a few times and appeared to
have withdrawn from priestly duties, though he remained a
priest.
At the Conservatorio dell'Ospedale della Piet
In September 1703, Vivaldi became maestro di violino
(master of violin) at an orphanage called the Pio Ospedale
della Piet (Devout Hospital of Mercy) in Venice. While Vivaldi
is most famous as a composer, he was regarded as an
exceptional technical violinist as well. The German architect
Johann Friedrich Armand von Uffenbach referred to Vivaldi as
"the famous composer and violinist" and said that "Vivaldi
played a solo accompaniment excellently, and at the
conclusion he added a free fantasy [an improvised cadenza]
which absolutely astounded me, for it is hardly possible that
anyone has ever played, or ever will play, in such a fashion."
Commemorative plaque beside the Ospedale della Piet
Vivaldi was only 25 when he started working at the Ospedale
della Piet. Over the next thirty years he composed most of
his major works while working there. There were four similar
institutions in Venice; their purpose was to give shelter and
education to children who were abandoned or orphaned, or
whose families could not support them. They were financed
by funds provided by the Republic. The boys learned a trade
and had to leave when they reached 15. The girls received a
musical education, and the most talented stayed and became
members of the Ospedale's renowned orchestra and choir.
Shortly after Vivaldi's appointment, the orphans began to
gain appreciation and esteem abroad, too. Vivaldi wrote
concertos, cantatas and sacred vocal music for them.These
sacred works, which number over 60, are varied: they
included solo motets and large-scale choral works for soloists,
double chorus, and orchestra. In 1704, the position of teacher
of viola all'inglese was added to his duties as violin instructor.
The position of maestro di coro, which was at one time filled
by Vivaldi, required a lot of time and work. He had to
compose an oratorio or concerto at every feast and teach the
orphans both music theory and how to play certain
instruments.
His relationship with the board of directors of the Ospedale
was often strained. The board had to take a vote every year
on whether to keep a teacher. The vote on Vivaldi was
seldom unanimous, and went 7 to 6 against him in 1709.After
a year as a freelance musician, he was recalled by the
Ospedale with a unanimous vote in 1711; clearly during his
year's absence the board had realized the importance of his
role. He became responsible for all of the musical activity of
the institution[21] when he was promoted to maestro de'
concerti (music director) in 1716.
In 1705, the first collection (Connor Cassara) of his works was
published by Giuseppe Sala: his Opus 1 is a collection of 12
sonatas for two violins and basso continuo, in a conventional
style. In 1709, a second collection of 12 sonatas for violin and
basso continuo appeared, his Opus 2.A real breakthrough as a
composer came with his first collection of 12 concerti for one,
two, and four violins with strings, L'estro armonico Opus 3,
which was published in Amsterdam in 1711 by Estienne
Roger, dedicated to Grand Prince Ferdinand of Tuscany. The
prince sponsored many musicians including Alessandro
Scarlatti and George Frideric Handel. He was a musician
himself, and Vivaldi probably met him in Venice. L'estro
armonico was a resounding success all over Europe. It was
followed in 1714 by La stravaganza Opus 4, a collection of
concerti for solo violin and strings, dedicated to an old violin
student of Vivaldi's, the Venetian noble Vettor Dolfin.
In February 1711, Vivaldi and his father traveled to Brescia,
where his setting of the Stabat Mater (RV 621) was played as
part of a religious festival. The work seems to have been
written in haste: the string parts are simple, the music of the
first three movements is repeated in the next three, and not
all the text is set. Nevertheless, perhaps in part because of
the forced essentiality of the music, the work is one of his
early masterpieces.
Despite his frequent travels from 1718, the Piet paid him 2
sequins to write two concerti a month for the orchestra and
to rehearse with them at least five times when in Venice. The
Piet's records show that he was paid for 140 concerti
between 1723 and 1733.
Opera impresario
In early 18th-century Venice, opera was the most popular
musical entertainment. It proved most profitable for Vivaldi.
There were several theaters competing for the public's
attention. Vivaldi started his career as an opera composer as
a sideline: his first opera, Ottone in villa (RV 729) was
performed not in Venice, but at the Garzerie Theater in
Vicenza in 1713.[30] The following year, Vivaldi became the
impresario of the Teatro San Angelo in Venice, where his
opera Orlando finto pazzo (RV 727) was performed. The work
was not to the public's taste, and it closed after a couple of
weeks, being replaced with a repeat of a different work
already given the previous year.
In 1715, he presented Nerone fatto Cesare (RV 724, now
lost), with music by seven different composers, of which he
was the leader. The opera contained eleven arias, and was a
success. In the late season, Vivaldi planned to put on an
opera composed entirely by him, Arsilda, regina di Ponto (RV
700), but the state censor blocked the performance. The
main character, Arsilda, falls in love with another woman,
Lisea, who is pretending to be a man. Vivaldi got the censor
to accept the opera the following year, and it was a
resounding success.
At this period, the Piet commissioned several liturgical
works. The most important were two oratorios. Moyses Deus
Pharaonis, (RV 643) is lost. The second, Juditha triumphans
(RV 644), celebrates the victory of the Republic of Venice
against the Turks and the recapture of the island of Corfu.
Composed in 1716, it is one of his sacred masterpieces. All
eleven singing parts were performed by girls of the Piet,
both the female and male roles. Many of the arias include
parts for solo instrumentsrecorders, oboes, violas d'amore,
and mandolinsthat showcased the range of talents of the
girls.
Also in 1716, Vivaldi wrote and produced two more operas,
L'incoronazione di Dario (RV 719) and La costanza trionfante
degli amori e degli odi (RV 706). The latter was so popular
that it performed two years later, re-edited and retitled
Artabano re dei Parti (RV 701, now lost). It was also
performed in Prague in 1732. In the following years, Vivaldi
wrote several operas that were performed all over Italy.
teatro alla moda
His progressive operatic style caused him some trouble with
more conservative musicians, like Benedetto Marcello, a
magistrate and amateur musician who wrote a pamphlet
denouncing him and his operas. The pamphlet, Il teatro alla
moda, attacks Vivaldi without mentioning him directly. The
cover drawing shows a boat (the Sant'Angelo), on the left end
of which stands a little angel wearing a priest's hat and
playing the violin. The Marcello family claimed ownership of
the Teatro Sant'Angelo, and a long legal battle had been
fought with the management for its restitution, without
success. The obscure writing under the picture mentions non-
existent places and names: ALDIVIVA is an anagram of A.
Vivaldi.
In a letter written by Vivaldi to his patron Marchese
Bentivoglio in 1737, he makes reference to his "94 operas".
Only around 50 operas by Vivaldi have been discovered, and
no other documentation of the remaining operas exists.
Although Vivaldi may have exaggerated, in his dual role of
composer and impresario it is plausible that he may either
have written or been responsible for the production of as
many as 94 operas during a career which by then had
spanned almost 25 years. While Vivaldi certainly composed
many operas in his time, he never reached the prominence of
other great composers like Alessandro Scarlatti, Johann
Adolph Hasse, Leonardo Leo, and Baldassare Galuppi, as
evidenced by his inability to keep a production running for
any extended period of time in any major opera house.
Mantua and the Four Seasons
In 1717 or 1718, Vivaldi was offered a new prestigious
position as Maestro di Cappella of the court of prince Philip of
Hesse-Darmstadt, governor of Mantua. He moved there for
three years and produced several operas, among which was
Tito Manlio (RV 738). In 1721, he was in Milan, where he
presented the pastoral drama La Silvia (RV 734, 9 arias
survive). He visited Milan again the following year with the
oratorio L'adorazione delli tre re magi al bambino Ges (RV
645, also lost). In 1722 he moved to Rome, where he
introduced his operas' new style. The new pope Benedict XIII
invited Vivaldi to play for him. In 1725, Vivaldi returned to
Venice, where he produced four operas in the same year.
Caricature by P. L. Ghezzi, Rome (1723)[35]
During this period Vivaldi wrote the Four Seasons, four violin
concertos depicting scenes appropriate for each season.
Three of the concerti are of original conception, while the
first, "Spring", borrows motifs from a Sinfonia in the first act
of his contemporaneous opera Il Giustino. The inspiration for
the concertos was probably the countryside around Mantua.
They were a revolution in musical conception: in them Vivaldi
represented flowing creeks, singing birds (of different
species, each specifically characterized), barking dogs,
buzzing mosquitoes, crying shepherds, storms, drunken
dancers, silent nights, hunting parties from both the hunters'
and the prey's point of view, frozen landscapes, ice-skating
children, and warming winter fires. Each concerto is
associated with a sonnet, possibly by Vivaldi, describing the
scenes depicted in the music. They were published as the first
four concertos in a collection of twelve, Il cimento
dell'armonia e dell'inventione, Opus 8, published in
Amsterdam by Michel-Charles Le Cne in 1725.
During his time in Mantua, Vivaldi became acquainted with
an aspiring young singer Anna Tessieri Gir who was to
become his student, protge, and favorite prima
donna.Anna, along with her older half-sister Paolina, became
part of Vivaldi's entourage and regularly accompanied him on
his many travels. There was speculation about the nature of
Vivaldi's and Giro's relationship, but no evidence to indicate
anything beyond friendship and professional collaboration.
Although Vivaldi's relationship with Anna Gir was
questioned, he adamantly denied any romantic relationship
in a letter to his patron Bentivoglio dated 16 November 1737.
Later life and death
At the height of his career, Vivaldi received commissions from
European nobility and royalty. The serenata (cantata) Gloria e
Imeneo (RV 687) was commissioned in 1725 by the French
ambassador to Venice in celebration of the marriage of Louis
XV. The following year, another serenata, La Sena
festeggiante (RV 694), was written for and premiered at the
French embassy as well, celebrating the birth of the French
royal princesses, Henriette and Louise lisabeth. Vivaldi's
Opus 9, La cetra, was dedicated to Emperor Charles VI. In
1728, Vivaldi met the emperor while the emperor was visiting
Trieste to oversee the construction of a new port. Charles
admired the music of the Red Priest so much that he is said to
have spoken more with the composer during their one
meeting than he spoke to his ministers in over two years. He
gave Vivaldi the title of knight, a gold medal and an invitation
to Vienna. Vivaldi gave Charles a manuscript copy of La cetra,
a set of concerti almost completely different from the set of
the same title published as Opus 9. The printing was probably
delayed, forcing Vivaldi to gather an improvised collection for
the emperor.
Accompanied by his father, Vivaldi traveled to Vienna and
Prague in 1730, where his opera Farnace (RV 711) was
presented. Farnace garnered six revivals later.[33] Some of
his later operas were created in collaboration with two of
Italy's major writers of the time. L'Olimpiade and Catone in
Utica were written by Pietro Metastasio, the major
representative of the Arcadian movement and court poet in
Vienna. La Griselda was rewritten by the young Carlo Goldoni
from an earlier libretto by Apostolo Zeno.
Like many composers of the time, the final years of Vivaldi's
life found him in financial difficulties. His compositions were
no longer held in such high esteem as they once were in
Venice; changing musical tastes quickly made them
outmoded. In response, Vivaldi chose to sell off sizeable
numbers of his manuscripts at paltry prices to finance his
migration to Vienna. The reasons for Vivaldi's departure from
Venice are unclear, but it seems likely that, after the success
of his meeting with Emperor Charles VI, he wished to take up
the position of a composer in the imperial court. On his way
to Vienna, Vivaldi may have stopped in Graz to see Anna Gir.
It is also likely that Vivaldi went to Vienna to stage operas,
especially as he took up residence near the
Krntnertortheater. Shortly after his arrival in Vienna, Charles
VI died, which left the composer without any royal protection
or a steady source of income. Soon afterwards, Vivaldi
became impoverished and died during the night of 27/28 July
1741, aged 63,of "internal infection", in a house owned by
the widow of a Viennese saddlemaker. On 28 July he was
buried in a simple grave in a burial ground that was owned by
the public hospital fund. Vivaldi's funeral took place at St.
Stephen's Cathedral, but the young Joseph Haydn had
nothing to do with this burial, since no music was performed
on that occasion.[44] The cost of his funeral with a
'Kleingelut' was 19 Gulden 45 Kreuzer which was rather
expensive for the lowest class of peal of bells.
He was buried next to Karlskirche, in an area which is now
part of the site of the Technical Institute. The house where he
lived in Vienna has since been destroyed; the Hotel Sacher is
built on part of the site. Memorial plaques have been placed
at both locations, as well as a Vivaldi "star" in the Viennese
Musikmeile and a monument at the Rooseveltplatz.
Only two, possibly three original portraits of Vivaldi are
known to survive: an engraving, an ink sketch and an oil
painting. The engraving, which was the basis of several copies
produced at some later time by other artists, was made in
1725 by Franois Morellon La Cave for the first edition of Il
cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione, and shows Vivaldi
holding a sheet of music. The ink sketch, a caricature, was
done by Ghezzi in 1723 and shows Vivaldi's head and
shoulders in profile. It exists in two versions: a first jotting
kept at the Vatican Library, and a much lesser-known, slightly
more detailed copy recently discovered in Moscow.[46] The
oil painting, which can be seen in the International Museum
and Library of Music of Bologna, is anonymous, and is
thought to be of Vivaldi due to its strong resemblance to the
La Cave engraving.
Style and influence
Vivaldi's music was innovative. He brightened the formal and
rhythmic structure of the concerto, in which he looked for
harmonic contrasts and innovative melodies and themes;
many of his compositions are flamboyantly, almost playfully,
exuberant.
Johann Sebastian Bach was deeply influenced by Vivaldi's
concertos and arias (recalled in his St John Passion, St
Matthew Passion, and cantatas). Bach transcribed six of
Vivaldi's concerti for solo keyboard, three for organ, and one
for four harpsichords, strings, and basso continuo (BWV
1065) based upon the concerto for four violins, two violas,
cello, and basso continuo (RV 580).
Posthumous reputation
During his lifetime, Vivaldi was popular in many countries,
including France, but after his death the composer's
popularity dwindled. After the Baroque period, Vivaldi's
published concerti became relatively unknown and were
largely ignored. Even Vivaldi's most famous work, The Four
Seasons, was unknown in its original edition during the
Classical and Romantic periods.
During the early 20th century, Fritz Kreisler's Concerto in C, in
the Style of Vivaldi (which he passed off as an original Vivaldi
work) helped revive Vivaldi's reputation. This spurred the
French scholar Marc Pincherle to begin an academic study of
Vivaldi's oeuvre. Many Vivaldi manuscripts were
rediscovered, which were acquired by the Turin National
University Library as a result of the generous sponsorship of
Turinese businessmen Roberto Foa and Filippo Giordano, in
memory of their sons. This led to a renewed interest in
Vivaldi by, among others, Mario Rinaldi, Alfredo Casella, Ezra
Pound, Olga Rudge, Desmond Chute, Arturo Toscanini, Arnold
Schering and Louis Kaufman, all of whom were instrumental
in the Vivaldi revival of the 20th century.
In 1926, in a monastery in Piedmont, researchers discovered
fourteen folios of Vivaldi's work that were previously thought
to have been lost during the Napoleonic Wars. Some missing
volumes in the numbered set were discovered in the
collections of the descendants of the Grand Duke Durazzo,
who had acquired the monastery complex in the 18th
century. The volumes contained 300 concertos, 19 operas
and over 100 vocal-instrumental works.[48]
The resurrection of Vivaldi's unpublished works in the 20th
century is mostly due to the efforts of Alfredo Casella, who in
1939 organized the historic Vivaldi Week, in which the
rediscovered Gloria (RV 589) and l'Olimpiade were revived.
Since World War II, Vivaldi's compositions have enjoyed wide
success. Historically informed performances, often on
"original instruments", have increased Vivaldi's fame still
further.
Recent rediscoveries of works by Vivaldi include two psalm
settings of Nisi Dominus (RV 803, in eight movements) and
Dixit Dominus (RV 807, in eleven movements). These were
identified in 2003 and 2005 respectively, by the Australian
scholar Janice Stockigt. The Vivaldi scholar Michael Talbot
described RV 807 as "arguably the best nonoperatic work
from Vivaldi's pen to come to light since... ...the 1920s".[49]
Vivaldi's lost 1730 opera Argippo (RV 697) was rediscovered
in 2006 by the harpsichordist and conductor Ondej Macek,
whose Hofmusici orchestra performed the work at Prague
Castle on 3 May 2008, its first performance since 1730.
Works
A composition by Vivaldi is identified by RV number, which
refers to its place in the "Ryom-Verzeichnis" or "Rpertoire
des oeuvres d'Antonio Vivaldi", a catalog created in the 20th
century by the musicologist Peter Ryom.
Le quattro stagioni (The Four Seasons) of 1723 is his most
famous work. Part of Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione
("The Contest between Harmony and Invention"), it depicts
moods and scenes from each of the four seasons. This work
has been described as an outstanding instance of pre-19th
century program music.
Vivaldi wrote more than 500 other concertos. About 350 of
these are for solo instrument and strings, of which 230 are for
violin, the others being for bassoon, cello, oboe, flute, viola
d'amore, recorder, lute, or mandolin. About forty concertos
are for two instruments and strings and about thirty are for
three or more instruments and strings.
As well as about 46 operas, Vivaldi composed a large body of
sacred choral music. Other works include sinfonias, about 90
sonatas and chamber music.
Some sonatas for flute, published as Il Pastor Fido, have been
erroneously attributed to Vivaldi, but were composed by
Nicolas Chdeville.
Catalogs of Vivaldi works
Vivaldi's works attracted cataloging efforts befitting a major
composer. Scholarly work intended to increase the accuracy
and variety of Vivaldi performances also supported new
discoveries which made old catalogs incomplete. Works still
in circulation today may be numbered under several different
systems (some earlier catalogs are mentioned here).
Because the simply consecutive Complete Edition (CE)
numbers did not reflect the individual works (Opus numbers)
into which compositions were grouped, Fanna numbers were
often used in conjunction with CE numbers. Combined
Complete Edition (CE)/Fanna numbering was especially
common in the work of Italian groups driving the mid-20th
century revival of Vivaldi, such as Gli Accademici di Milano
under Piero Santi. For example, the Bassoon Concerto in B
major, "La Notte" RV 501, became CE 12, F. VIII,1
Despite the awkwardness of having to overlay Fanna
numbers onto the Complete Edition number for meaningful
grouping of Vivaldi's oeuvre, these numbers displaced the
older Pincherle numbers as the (re-)discovery of more
manuscripts had rendered older catalogs obsolete.
This cataloging work was led by the Istituto Italiano Antonio
Vivaldi, where Gian Francesco Malipiero was both the
director and the editor of the published scores (Edizioni G.
Ricordi). His work built on that of Antonio Fanna, a Venetian
businessman and the Institute's founder, and thus formed a
bridge to the scholarly catalog dominant today.
Compositions by Vivaldi are identified today by RV number,
the number assigned by Danish musicologist Peter Ryom in
works published mostly in the 1970s, such as the "Ryom-
Verzeichnis" or "Rpertoire des oeuvres d'Antonio Vivaldi".
Like the Complete Edition before it, the RV does not typically
assign its single, consecutive numbers to "adjacent" works
that occupy one of the composer's single opus numbers. Its
goal as a modern catalog is to index the manuscripts and
sources that establish the existence and nature of all known
works. These several numbering systems are cross-
referenced at classical.net.
Summary
Born on March 4, 1678, in Venice, Italy, Antonio Vivaldi was
ordained as a priest though he instead chose to follow his
passion for music. A prolific composer who created hundreds
of works, he became renowned for his concertos in Baroque
style, becoming a highly influential innovator in form and
pattern. He was also known for his operas, including Argippo
and Bajazet. He died on July 28, 1741.
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (/hndl/;[a] born
Georg Friedrich Hndel,[b] German pronunciation: [hndl];
23 February 1685 (O.S.) [(N.S.) 5 March] 14 April 1759)[2][c]
was a German, later British, baroque composer who spent
the bulk of his career in London, becoming well known for his
operas, oratorios, anthems, and organ concertos. Handel
received important training in Halle and worked as a
composer in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London in
1712; he became a naturalised British subject in 1727.[4] He
was strongly influenced both by the great composers of the
Italian Baroque and by the middle-German polyphonic choral
tradition.
Within fifteen years, Handel had started three commercial
opera companies to supply the English nobility with Italian
opera. Musicologist Winton Dean writes that his operas show
that "Handel was not only a great composer; he was a
dramatic genius of the first order."[5] As Alexander's Feast
(1736) was well received, Handel made a transition to English
choral works. After his success with Messiah (1742) he never
composed an Italian opera again. Almost blind, and having
lived in England for nearly fifty years, he died in 1759, a
respected and rich man. His funeral was given full state
honours, and he was buried in Westminster Abbey in London.
Born the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach and Domenico
Scarlatti, Handel is regarded as one of the greatest composers
of the Baroque era, with works such as Water Music, Music
for the Royal Fireworks and Messiah remaining steadfastly
popular.[6] One of his four Coronation Anthems, Zadok the
Priest (1727), composed for the coronation of George II, has
been performed at every subsequent British coronation,
traditionally during the sovereign's anointing. Handel
composed more than forty operas in over thirty years, and
since the late 1960s, with the revival of baroque music and
historically informed musical performance, interest in
Handel's operas has grown.
Halle: Handel's early years
Family
Handel's baptismal registration (Marienbibliothek in Halle)
Handel was born in 1685 in Halle-on-Saal, Duchy of
Magdeburg, to Georg Hndel and Dorothea Taust.[7] His
father, 63 when George Frideric was born, was an eminent
barber-surgeon who served the court of Saxe-Weissenfels
and the Margraviate of Brandenburg.
Georg Hndel (162297) was the son of a coppersmith,
Valentin Hndel who had emigrated from Eisleben in 1608
with his first wife Anna Belching, the daughter of a master
coppersmith. They were Protestants and chose reliably
Protestant Saxony over Silesia, a Hapsburg possession as
religious tensions mounted in the years before the Thirty
Years War.[9] Halle was a relatively prosperous city, home of
a salt-mining industry and center of trade (and member of
the Hanseatic League).[10] The Margrave of Brandenburg
became the administrator of the archiepiscopal territories of
Mainz (including Magdeburg when they converted, and by
the early 17th century held his court in Halle, which attracted
renowned musicians.[d] Even the smaller churches all had
"able organists and fair choirs,"[e] and humanities and the
letters thrived (Shakespeare was performed in the theaters
early in the 17th century).[12] The Thirty Years War brought
extensive destruction to Halle, and by the 1680s it was
impoverished.[9] But since the middle of the war the city was
under the administration of the Duke of Saxony, and soon
after the end of the war he would bring musicians trained in
Dresden to his court in Weissenfels
The arts and music, however, flourished only among the
higher strata (not only in Halle but throughout Germany),[14]
which did not describe Handel's family. Georg Hndel was
born at the beginning of the war, and his father died in 1636,
when Georg was 14, and he was apprenticed to a barber in
Halle[f] When he was 20, he married the widow of the official
barber-surgeon of a suburb of Halle, and inherited his
practice. With this he began the determined process of
becoming self-made; by dint of his "conservative, steady,
thrifty, unadventurous" lifestyle,[16] he guided the five
children he had with Anna who reached adulthood into the
medical profession (except his youngest daughter who
married a government official).[17] In 1682 Anna died. Within
a year he married again, this time to the daughter of a
Lutheran minister, Pastor Georg Taust of the Church of St.
Bartholomew in Giebichtenstein,[18] who himself came from
a long line of Lutheran pastors.[16] Handel was the second
child of this marriage, the first son died still born.[19] Two
younger sisters were born after the birth of George Frideric:
Dorthea Sophia, born 6 October 1687 and Johanna Christiana,
born 10 January 1690
Handel's early education
Halle. Copper engraving, 1686.
Early in his life Handel is reported to have attended the
gymnasium in Halle,[21] where the headmaster, Johann
Praetorius (de), was reputed to be an ardent musician.[22]
Whether Handel remained there or for how long is unknown
but many biographers suggest that he was withdrawn from
school by his father, based on the characterization of him by
Handel's first biographer, John Mainwaring. Mainwaring is
the source for almost all information (little as it is) of Handel's
childhood, and much of that information came from J.C.
Smith, Jr., Handel's confidant and copyist.[23] Whether they
came from Smith or elsewhere, Mainwaring frequently
relates misinformation.[g] It is from Mainwaring that the
portrait of Handel's father as implacably opposed to any
musical education comes. Mainwaring writes that Georg
Hndel was "alarmed" at Handel's very early propensity for
music,[h] "took every measure to oppose it," including
forbidding any musical instrument in the house and
preventing Handel from going to any house where they might
be found.[25] This did nothing to dampen young Handel's
inclination; in fact, it did the reverse. Mainwaring tells the
story of Handel's secret attic spinnet: Handel "found means
to get a little clavichord privately convey'd to a room at the
top of the house. To this room he constantly stole when the
family was asleep".[26] Although both John Hawkins and
Charles Burney credited this tale, Schoelcher found it nearly
"incredible" and a feat of "poetic imagination"[27] and Lang
considers it one of the unproven "romantic stories" that
surrounded Handel's childhood.[28] But Handel had to have
had some experience with the keyboard to have made the
impression in Weissenfels that resulted in his receiving formal
musical training
Musical education
Sometime between the ages of seven and nine, Handel
accompanied his father to Weissenfels where he came under
the notice of one whom Handel thereafter always regarded
throughout life as his benefactor,[30] Duke Johann Adolf I.[i]
Somehow Handel made his way to the court organ, where he
surprised everyone with his playing.[33] Overhearing this
performance and noting the youth of the performer caused
the Duke (whose suggestions were not to be disregarded by a
burgher, especially an ambitious court appointee) to
recommend to Georg Hndel that Handel be given musical
instruction.[34] Handel's father engaged the organist at the
Halle parish church, the young Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, to
instruct Handel. Zachow would be the only teacher that
Handel ever had.Because of his church employment, Zachow
was an organist "of the old school," reveling in fugues, canons
and counterpoint.[30] But he was also familiar with
developments in music across Europe and his own
compositions "embraced the new concerted, dramatic
style."[j] When Zachow discovered the talent of Handel, he
introduced him "to a vast collection of German and Italian
music, which he possessed, sacred and profane, vocal and
instrumental compositions of different schools, different
styles, and of every master."[30] Many traits considered
"Handelian" can be traced back to Zachow's music.[36] At the
same time Handel continued practice on the harpsichord,
learned violin and organ, but according to Burney his special
affection was for the hautbois (oboe).[37] Schoelcher
speculates that his youthful devotion to the instrument
explains the large number of pieces he composed for oboe
With respect to instruction in composition, in addition to
having Handel apply himself to traditional fugue and cantus
firmus work, Zachow, recognizing Handel's precocious
talents, systematically introduced Handel to the variety of
styles and masterworks contained in his extensive library. He
did this by requiring Handel to copy selected scores. "I used
to write like the devil in those days," Handel recalled much
later.[39] Much of this copying was entered into a notebook
that Handel maintained for the rest of his life. Although it has
since disappeared, the notebook has been sufficiently
described to understand what pieces Zachow wished Handel
to study. Among the chief composers represented in this
exercise book were Johann Krieger, an "old master" in the
fugue and prominent organ composer, Johann Caspar Kerll, a
representative of the "southern style" after his teacher
Frescobaldi and imitated later by Handel,[k] Johann Jakob
Froberger, an "internationalist" also closely studied by
Buxtehude and Bach, and Georg Muffat, whose amalgam of
French and Italian styles and his synthesis of musical forms
influenced Handel.[41]
Mainwaring writes that during this time Zachow had begun to
have Handel assume some of his church duties. Zachow,
Mainwaring asserts, was "often" absent, "from his love of
company, and a chearful glass," and Handel therefore
performed on organ frequently.[42] What is more, according
to Mainwaring, Handel began composing at the age of nine
church services for voice and instruments "and from that
time actually did compose a service every week for three
years successively."[43] Mainwaring ends this chapter of
Handel's life by concluding that three or four years had been
enough to allow Handel to surpass Zachow, and Handel had
become "impatient for another situation"; "Berlin was the
place agreed upon."[44] Carelessness with dates or
sequences (and possibly imaginative interpretation by
Mainwaring) makes this period confused.
After the death of Handel's father
Handel's father died on 11 February 1697.[45] It was German
custom for friends and family to compose funeral odes for a
substantial burgher like Georg,[46] and young Handel
discharged his duty with a poem dated 18 February and
signed with his name and (in deference to his father's wishes)
"dedicated to the liberal arts."[47] At the time Handel was
studying either at Halle's Lutheran Gymnasium or the Latin
School.
Mainwaring has Handel traveling to Berlin the next year,
1698.[48] The problem with Mainwaring as an authority for
this date, however, is that he tells of how Handel's father
communicated with the "king"[l] during Handel's stay,
declining the Court's offer to send Handel to Italy on a
stipend[50] and that his father died "after his return from
Berlin."[51] But since Georg Hndel died in 1697, either the
date of the trip or Mainwaring's statements about Handel's
father must be in error. Early biographers solved the problem
by making the year of the trip 1696, then noting that at the
age of 11 Handel would need a guardian, have Handel's
father or friend of the family accompany him, all the while
puzzling over why the elder Handel, who wanted Handel to
become a lawyer, would spend the sum to lead his son
further into the temptation of music as a career.[52]
Schoelcher for example has Handel traveling to Berlin at 11,
meeting both Bononcini and Attilio Ariosti in Berlin and then
returning at the direction of his father.[53] But Ariosti was
not in Berlin before the death of Handel's father.[54] and
Handel could not have met Bononcini in Berlin before
1702.[55] Modern biographers either accept the year as
1698, since most reliable older authorities agree with it,[m]
and discount what Mainwaring says about what took place
during the trip or assume that Mainwaring conflated two or
more visits to Berlin, as he did with Handel's later trips to
Venice
University
Perhaps to fulfill a promise to his father or simply because he
saw himself as "dedicated to the liberal arts," on 10 February
1702 Handel matriculated at the University of Halle.[58] That
university had only recently been foundedin 1694 the
Elector created the school, largely to provide a lecture forum
for the jurist Christian Thomasius who had been expelled
from Leipzig for his liberal views.[12] Handel did not enroll in
the faculty of law, although Handel almost certainly attended
his lectures[59] Thomasius was an intellectual, academic and
religious crusader who was the first German academic to
lecture in German. A firm Lutheran, he nevertheless strongly
advocated the separation of church and state, famously
denouncing the witch trials then prevalent. Lang believes that
Thomasius instilled in Handel a "restpect for the dignity and
freedom of man's mind and the solemn majesty of the law,"
principles that would have drawn him to and kept him in
England for half a century.[60] Handel also there encountered
theologian and professor of Oriental languages August
Hermann Francke, who was particularly solicitous of children,
particularly orphans. The orphanage he founded became a
model for Germany, and undoubtedly influenced Handel's
own charitable impulse, when he assigned the rights of
Messiah to London's Foundling Hospital.
Domkirche in Halle
Shortly after commencing his university education, Handel
(though Lutheran[n]) on 13 March 1702 accepted the position
of organist at the Calvinist Cathedral in Halle, the Domkirche,
replacing J.C. Leporin, for whom he had acted as
assistant.[63] The position, which was a one-year
probationary appointment showed the foundation he had
received from Zachow, for a church organist and cantor was a
highly prestigious office. From it he received 5 thalers a year
and lodgings in the run-down castle of Moritzburg.
Around this same time Handel made the acquaintance of
Telemann. Four years Handel's senior Telemann was studying
law and assisting cantor Johann Kuhnau (Bach's predecessor
at the Thomaskirche there). Telemann recalled forty years
later in an autobiography for Mattheson's Grundlage: "The
writing of the excellent Johann Kuhnau served as a model for
me in fugue and counterpoint; but in fashioning melodic
movements and examining them Handel and I were
constantly occupied, frequently visiting each other as well as
writing letters."
Handel's Halle compositions
Although Mainwaring records that Handel wrote weekly
when assistant to Zachow and as probationary organist at
Domkirche part of his duty was to provide suitable music,[o]
no sacred compositions from his Halle period can now be
identified.[67] Mattheson, however, summarized his opinion
of Handel's church cantatas written in Halle: "Handel in those
days set very, very long arias and sheerly unending cantatas
which, while not possessing the proper knack or correct taste,
were perfect so far as harmony is concerned."[68]
Early chamber works do exist, but it is difficult to date any of
them to Handel's time in Halle. Many historians until recently
followed Chrysander and designated the six trio sonatas for
two oboes and basso continuo as his first known
composition, supposedly written in 1696 (when Handel was
11).[69] Lang doubts the dating based on a handwritten date
of a copy (1700) and stylistic considerations. Lang writes that
the works "show thorough acquaintance with the distilled
sonata style of the Corelli school" and are notable for "the or,
the formal security, and the cleanness of the texture."[70]
Hogwood considers all of the oboe trio sonatas spurious and
even suggests that some parts cannot be performed on
oboe.[71] That authentic manuscript sources do not exist and
that Handel never recycled any material from these works
make their authenticity doubtful.[72] Other early chamber
work were printed in Amsterdam in 1724 as opus 1, but it is
impossible to tell which are early works in their original form,
rather than later re-workings by Handel, a frequent practice
of his.
Later years
George Frideric Handel in 1733, by Balthasar Denner (1685
1749)
In 1749 Handel composed Music for the Royal Fireworks;
12,000 people attended the first performance.[137] In 1750
he arranged a performance of Messiah to benefit the
Foundling Hospital. The performance was considered a great
success and was followed by annual concerts that continued
throughout his life. In recognition of his patronage, Handel
was made a governor of the Hospital the day after his initial
concert. He bequeathed a copy of Messiah to the institution
upon his death.[138] His involvement with the Foundling
Hospital is today commemorated with a permanent
exhibition in London's Foundling Museum, which also holds
the Gerald Coke Handel Collection. In addition to the
Foundling Hospital, Handel also gave to a charity that assisted
impoverished musicians and their families.
In August 1750, on a journey back from Germany to London,
Handel was seriously injured in a carriage accident between
The Hague and Haarlem in the Netherlands.[139] In 1751 one
eye started to fail. The cause was a cataract which was
operated on by the great charlatan Chevalier Taylor. This did
not improve his eyesight, but possibly made it worse.[118] He
was completely blind by 1752. He died in 1759 at home in
Brook Street, at age 74. The last performance he attended
was of Messiah. Handel was buried in Westminster
Abbey.[140] More than three thousand mourners attended
his funeral, which was given full state honours.
Handel never married, and kept his personal life private. His
initial will bequeathed the bulk of his estate to his niece
Johanna, however four codicils distributed much of his estate
to other relations, servants, friends and charities.[141]
Handel owned an art collection that was auctioned
posthumously in 1760.[142] The auction catalogue listed
approximately seventy paintings and ten prints (other
paintings were bequeathed)
Works
Senesino, the famous castrato from Siena
Handel's compositions include 42 operas, 29 oratorios, more
than 120 cantatas, trios and duets, numerous arias, chamber
music, a large number of ecumenical pieces, odes and
serenatas, and 16 organ concerti. His most famous work, the
oratorio Messiah with its "Hallelujah" chorus, is among the
most popular works in choral music and has become the
centrepiece of the Christmas season. The Lobkowicz Palace in
Prague holds Mozart's copy of Messiah, complete with
handwritten annotations. Among the works with opus
numbers published and popularised in his lifetime are the
Organ Concertos Op. 4 and Op. 7, together with the Opus 3
and Opus 6 concerti grossi; the latter incorporate an earlier
organ concerto The Cuckoo and the Nightingale in which
birdsong is imitated in the upper registers of the organ. Also
notable are his sixteen keyboard suites, especially The
Harmonious Blacksmith.
Handel introduced previously uncommon musical
instruments in his works: the viola d'amore and violetta
marina (Orlando), the lute (Ode for St. Cecilia's Day), three
trombones (Saul), clarinets or small high cornetts
(Tamerlano), theorbo, French horn (Water Music), lyrichord,
double bassoon, viola da gamba, carillon (bell chimes),
positive organ, and harp (Giulio Cesare, Alexander's Feast).
centenary of his death, in 1859, was celebrated by a
performance of Messiah at The Crystal Palace, involving 2,765
singers and 460 instrumentalists, who played for an audience
of about 10,000 people.
Recent decades have revived his secular cantatas and what
one might call 'secular oratorios' or 'concert operas'. Of the
former, Ode for St. Cecilia's Day (1739) (set to texts by John
Dryden) and Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne (1713) are
noteworthy. For his secular oratorios, Handel turned to
classical mythology for subjects, producing such works as Acis
and Galatea (1719), Hercules (1745) and Semele (1744).
These works have a close kinship with the sacred oratorios,
particularly in the vocal writing for the English-language texts.
They also share the lyrical and dramatic qualities of Handel's
Italian operas. As such, they are sometimes performed
onstage by small chamber ensembles. With the rediscovery
of his theatrical works, Handel, in addition to his renown as
instrumentalist, orchestral writer, and melodist, is now
perceived as being one of opera's great musical dramatists.
A carved marble statue of Handel, created in 1738 by Louis-
Franois Roubiliac
The original form of his name, Georg Friedrich Hndel, is
generally used in Germany and elsewhere, but he is known as
"Haendel" in France. A different composer, Jacob Handl or
Hndl (15501591) is usually known by the Latin form
Jacobus Gallus that appears in his publications.

Legacy
A Masquerade at the King's Theatre, Haymarket (c. 1724)
Handel's works were collected and preserved by two men: Sir
Samuel Hellier, a country squire whose musical acquisitions
form the nucleus of the Shaw-Hellier Collection,[147] and the
abolitionist Granville Sharp.[148] The catalogue
accompanying the National Portrait Gallery exhibition
marking the tercentenary of the composer's birth calls them
two men of the late eighteenth century "who have left us
solid evidence of the means by which they indulged their
enthusiasm".
After his death, Handel's Italian operas fell into obscurity,
except for selections such as the aria from Serse, "Ombra mai
f". The oratorios continued to be performed but not long
after Handel's death they were thought to need some
modernisation, and Mozart orchestrated a German version of
Messiah and other works. Throughout the 19th century and
first half of the 20th century, particularly in the Anglophone
countries, his reputation rested primarily on his English
oratorios, which were customarily performed by enormous
choruses of amateur singers on solemn occasions. The