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I'm still recovering from Handel Week, and trying to catch up on all the listening that I inevitably missed. What a feast of Handel we've had - ingeniously and richly varied with something (one hopes) for every Handel-loving palate: something the gourmand Handel would himself surely have appreciated.

I've enjoyed listening to colleagues' contributions in The Essay, and the various other discussions and debates, but still more to the wealth of music. Performance on 3 has reminded us just how much Handel is being performed in all sorts of venues and by all sorts of groups this year. Choral Evensong on the 15th, which featured the massed choirs of Cambridge in Ely Cathedral recalled to my mind (in rather more refined fashion!) the vast choral festivals of the 19th century, where choirs and orchestras of thousands would gather to sing (and other oratorios) in celebration of the composer and of British organisational might!

We might think we've moved away from that religious/oratorio-dominated view of Handel, but I find the "Top 10" Handelbars particularly intriguing in that regard. Look at the list of 10 (14, because of all the tie-breakers), and you'll see that most of them are English-language, religious pieces. There are just two instrumental works (The Harmonious Blacksmith and the ), and three from opera. Interestingly, one of these is present in an English version: no. 6 is 'Silent worship', really 'Non lo dirò col labbro' from . It was common even in Handel's days for certain popular airs (particularly instrumental minuets) to be 'Englished'. Later in the century, quite a few Italian opera arias were reworked in English, either for circulation as independent songs or to be inserted in composite 'new' 'Handel' oratorios. It's nice to see that practice reflected here. Otherwise, the two operas featured are stalwarts: and . With stalwart singers too: and .

Fortunately (I think!) the feast of Handel is not completely over. We continue throughout the year with the opera cycle. And we've reached that stage where we get to those great, well-known works. Last week it was Giulio Cesare - a work again featuring on Glyndeborne's programme this year. This week, it's , a work that is doubly curious for having a tenor in the important role of Bajazet, and for being substantially re-written before its premiere. Actually the two were probably linked: the tenor Borosini arrived in England after Handel had written the first version, with a different version of the libretto in hand, and Handel evidently took the opportunity to rewrite the work. Most notably and unusually, the new version avoids the standard lieto fine (happy ending) of opera seria, making for a powerful drama indeed. I won't give any more away...

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