It is my tradition to use the Christmas season to focus on "seasonally appropriate" material, and we continue this practice with a hearing of Messiah, one of the great masterpieces of musical literature.
I've been listening to a lot of "Christmas music" here the last few days (owing to an immense amount of overtime that I've been working), and I've heard at least one live broadcast of the music that serves as tonight's centerpiece, along with airings of various excerpts. One has to admit, it's hard to go an entire Christmas season without hearing at least a portion of Handel's Messiah. But even as I've heard it elsewhere, I have to follow my heart, especially as this is a beautiful recording of the masterpiece. (Remember, two recordings of the same piece of music from the Baroque era can be quite different, and this is no different, with some lovely embelishings and florishes on the part of both orchestra and soloists.)
After hearing the Messiah, we now turn to other seasonally appropriate fare, and whom else could provide this but the master himself, J.S. Bach. Careful consideration and thoughtful listening might reveal the differences in style between Handel and Bach in such a back-to-back listening as we have here. Bach was essentially a working composer, with many of his compositions being for practical uses, and the compositional structure fitting the need. Handel, meanwhile, wrote for the sake of performance (he turned to oratorio when the Italian operas that he had been writing went out of style), and his compositions freely invite the ornamental flourishes that were quite common in Baroque music at the time, but would be clearly innapropriate for Bach's church music. Bach's music also allowed for a certain amount of individual variation, but of a different manner, being more compositional and less "ornamental". This is not meant to suggest that Handel's work was less substantial than that of Bach, but rather that each wrote to fit the environment in which the music would be heard. Really, they are quite similar (both were noted keyboard performers). Consider it to be similar to the difference between reverence and joy. One can have joy in reverence, and one can be reverent while joyful. Yet the two emotions are different. So is the music of Bach and Handel.
Ok, funny comparison there. But without having done the extensive musicological research that would allow me to write a quality research paper, this is the best I can do.
Merry Christmas!
Composer's name is listed where notable (i.e. Classical Performance, Jazz Performance).
For more information on any of the rock, pop and Jazz music featured on this program, I frequently utilize AllMusic , an excellent free database holding a huge plethora of information about music and the artists that make it.
| Composer | Performer | Title | Genre | Label | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
George Frideric Handel |
Margaret Price (sop), Yvonne Minton (contralto), Alexander Young (ten), Justino Diaz (bass), Amor Artis Chorale, the English Chamber Orchestra, Johannes Somary, cond., Colin Tilney, harpsichord and organ |
Messiah |
Classical, Baroque, Oratorio for chorus with soloists and orchestra |
Vanguard Classics/Omega Record Group, 1990 |
Recorded in 1970. Handel wrote the piece over the course of 3 weeks in August and September of 1741, using a libretto by Charles Jennens (who also provided Handel with librettos for Saul and Belshazzar), and it was premiered in Dublin, Ireland on 4/13/1742. The work was at times controversial for being a "sacred" work meant to be played in a standard concert setting (as opposed to a church), and for a short time the word "Messiah" was actually removed from the title (it was referred to as "The Sacred Oratorio"), but the original title was restored by 1749. Interestingly, the liner notes make note of the fact that the remastering for CD did not use artificial equalization, which has become something of a controversy within the music industry. |
Johann Sebastian Bach |
Joan Sutherland (sop), Helen Watts (contralto), Wilfred Brown (ten), Thomas Hensley (bass), Geraint Jones Singers and Orchestra, Geraint Jones, cond. |
Cantata: Herz und Mund und Tat Und Leben (BWV 147) |
Classical, Baroque, Cantata for chorus with soloists and orchestra |
EMI, 1958 |
Initially written in 1716 during his Weimar period, but rewritten and extended for a performance in Leipzig in July, 1723, and adapted to fit the gospel of the day (Mary's visit to Elizabeth). This is actually a double cantata, which was the practice in Leipzig at the time; the first part was performed between gospel and sermon, the second during communion. The chorale which closes both parts is one of Bach's more well known melodies, Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring. |
Teri Dunn, Matthew White, John Tessier, Steven Pitkanen, the Aradia Ensemble, Kevin Mallon, dir. |
Cantata: Schwingt Freudig Euch Empor (Ring Out Joyfully to the Stars on High), BWV 36 |
Classical, Baroque, Cantata for chorus with soloists and orchestra |
Naxos, 2000 |
A minimalist performance of this cantata, with only four voices, oboe, strings and continuo. This is a more standard-length cantata (as opposed to our previous cantata), a 1731 rearrangement of a 1725 secular cantata of Bach's for the First Sunday of Advent. |
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Last Update: December 24, 2007
Email: saxman@siu.edu