Handel as Orpheus
eBook - PDF

Handel as Orpheus

Voice and Desire in the Chamber Cantatas

  1. 445 pages
  2. English
  3. PDF
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

Handel as Orpheus

Voice and Desire in the Chamber Cantatas

About this book

Handel wrote over 100 cantatas, compositions for voice and instruments that describe the joy and pain of love. In Handel as Orpheus, the first comprehensive study of the cantatas, Ellen Harris investigates their place in Handel's life as well as their extraordinary beauty.

The cantatas were written between 1706 and 1723--from the time Handel left his home in Germany, through the years he spent in Florence and Rome, and into the early part of his London career. In this period he lived as a guest in aristocratic homes, and composed these chamber works for his patrons and hosts, primarily for private entertainments. In both Italy and England his patrons moved in circles in which same-sex desire was commonplace--a fact that is not without significance, Harris reveals, for the cantatas exhibit a clear homosexual subtext.

Addressing questions about style and form, dating, the relation of music to text, rhythmic and tonal devices, and voicing, Handel as Orpheus is an invaluable resource for the study and enjoyment of the cantatas, which have too long been neglected. This innovative study brings greater understanding of Handel, especially his development as a composer, and new insight into the role of sexuality in artistic expression.

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Information

Publisher
Harvard University Press
Year
2004
Print ISBN
9780674015982
9780674006171
eBook ISBN
9780674273450
Topic
Media & Performing Arts
Subtopic
Classical Music

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. Acknowledgments
  7. Note on the Musical Examples
  8. Prologue: “The Ways of the World”
  9. Chapter 1. Code Names and Assumed Identities
  10. Chapter 2. Women’s Voices/Men’s Voices
  11. Chapter 3. Pastoral Lovers
  12. Chapter 4. Cantata Couples and Love Triangles
  13. Chapter 5. Silence and Secrecy
  14. Chapter 6. Culmination of the Private
  15. Epilogue: “True Representation”
  16. Appendix 1: Cantata Chronology
  17. Appendix 2: Texts and Translations of the Continuo Cantatas
  18. Bibliographic Abbreviations
  19. Notes
  20. Title Index of Handel’s Cantatas, Duets, and Trios
  21. General Index

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Yes, you can access Handel as Orpheus by Ellen T. Harris in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Media & Performing Arts & Classical Music. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.