Handel: Essential Works for Beginners

[@deVriesOP125]

Händel is so underrated in my opinion. He is always unfairly compared by those high-brows to Bach in how much better Bach was at counterpoint. I think Händel is so much more fun though!

[@bbailey7818]

I'd much rather go out to dinner with Handel than Bach. Also, by the standards of their time, of the two, Handel was the more advanced, more modern, composer.

[@philippecassagne3192]

The same can be said of Vivaldi. Having explored baroque music a long long time, and knowing almost everything from those 3 composers, I got to the conclusion that Handel and Vivaldi are more interesting than Bach (who is nevertheless a great composer too).

[@philippecassagne3192]

@@bbailey7818 Be careful, because it is known that Handel loved to eat a lot ! It was a problem for his sponsors.

[@daviddavenport9350]

And Handel was a marvelous contrapuntist....listen to "He Trusted in God" from Messiah (2nd Part) or "Oh Go Thy Way" from the Utrecht Jubilate and Te Deum...it is equal to Bach's counterpoint

[@jankucera8180]

This is such a good selection of Handel's works! Thanks for including Theodora which is often neglected for unknown reasons. My most favourite of them all is still Acis and Galatea... When I got my first LPs of it, I used to 'sing' the Polyphemos aria 'O ruddier than the cherry, oh sweeter than the berry...' in the bathroom all the time...till I was told NOT TO! I hope I will be forgiven for this little promotion, I would not normally do it in a place like this but there is a special (very sad) reason. You may find a scenic version of 'Acis and Galathea' on youtube, a wonderful live performance that includes puppets. Galatea was sung and played by Patricia Janečková, an extremely talented young soprano, who passed away due to cancer at the age of 25 on 1st October 2023. She must have been 18 or 19 when participating in this performance; I believe it was the only complete opera (a masque, in fact) in which she was recorded. I hope English language purists will forgive if they hear an unusual accent here or there...

[@ColeThomas]

Thank you for doing an introduction to Handel. I already love Dixit Dominus and the Op. 6 Concerti Grossi. I look forward to getting to know his longer works.

[@Tim.Weaver]

🐑As an animal lover, I have always enjoyed that bit in The Messiah where they keep singing "We like sheep!" 😀

[@DaninMaine]

"All we like sheep, we don't like pigs or cows." Alternate lyrics

[@jgesselberty]

So glad you included Theodora. Amazing that it is not performed more often. I got at least one number from Water Music. 43 years ago my wife and I exited the church to the Hornpipe, played on organ. LOL

[@fwiffo1376]

Theodora suffers from the unfortunate position of (a) being a bit of a hard sell for audiences since it contains a lot of slow mournful arias and (b) new productions perpetually being in the shadow of Lorraine Hunt's legendary performance.

[@Bluepale]

I saw Glyndebourne’s staged production of Theodora on cable 20 years ago and fell in love with that work. The staging was very odd… but the music is glorious!!! First time I heard Lorraine Hunt Lieberson too, what a voice!

[@philippecassagne3192]

I suggest you to hear also Lorraine Hunt in Messiah, Giulio Cesare, Susanna, and in Handel recitals : always stunning !

[@DaninMaine]

​@philippecassagne3192 She recorded Ariodante as well and it is glorious!

[@salt_cots]

My own personal experience. Loved the Water Music and Fireworks from early childhood, but then gradually went off baroque music in my late teens. What brought me back to Handel years later (he is now one of my key composers -as Bach is not, oooh...) was "L'Allegro, Il Moderato ed il Penseroso". I happened to attend dress rehearsal of it with the Mark Morris Dance Company. And then there was William Christie's exhilarating "Rodelinda" at Glyndebourne. The two together started me off again. Stanley Sadie, the musicologist, said: "If Giulio Cesare isn't the greatest baroque opera, no, if it isn't the greatest opera before Mozart, then I don't know what is." And then there's the beautiful opera Alcina. A colleague many years ago (who was a teacher of modern languages but ALSO happened to be an editor for the Hallische Händel-Ausgabe!) always told me: don't forget Alcina.

[@aarong5716]

I'll have to check out some of those middle ones. Saul is definitely a great counterpart to Messiah since so much more happens. There's also a Giulio Cesare DVD staged by Glyndbourne/McVicar I've gotten a bunch of enjoyment out of. I haven't heard enough versions to know how it ranks musically, but I like that they actively set out to be colorful and entertaining with stuff like humor and dance routines during the lighter arias.

[@HojotohoWhereverIGo]

There’s a Glyndebourne box set that includes Giulio Cesare, Saul, and Rinaldo. Good stuff!

[@brianthomas2434]

At 16:32 Seine? Of course you meant the Thames. I usually don't have the patience for vocal music. I grew to love Handel from an old Columbia box of E. Power Biggs on the Organ Concertos. Fun! Also I imagine you included the Water Music because it's often coupled with the Royal Fireworks Music.

[@richardfrankel6102]

Yes, indeed! I still remember turning on the radio and hearing the Organ Concerto Opus 4, Number 4. 😮😊

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Who cares, as long as it’s wet?

[@Steve_Stowers]

Yes, the organ concertos are fun. (They were how I learned that organ music COULD be fun.) Also fun are the musical depictions of the 10 Plagues in "Israel in Egypt."

[@andreashimarknygaard4400]

What do you think of the Mendelssohn version of the Dettingen Te Deum? Is it the same case as with the Mozart version of Messiah?

[@mancal5829]

Handel is so much more entertaining than Bach (to me, at least).