Echoes of Italy
Donald Macleod explores after-echoes of Handel's Italian years in his English works.
Though Saxon by birth, Handel is often claimed by the English as one of their own. But during his early 20s, before England was even a glint in his eye, he spent a spell of three-and-a-half years, from summer 1706 to early 1710, travelling the patchwork of states we now know as Italy. He certainly chose an 'interesting' time to go; the War of the Spanish Succession was in full swing, and its reverberations were felt the length and breadth of the Italian peninsula. For most of the period he was based in Rome, but he also visited Florence, Naples and Venice, fulfilling major commissions in each city. All this week, Donald Macleod charts the composer's Italian progress, with the help of novelist, biographer and avid Handelian, Jonathan Keates.
The last of the week's programmes considers the subsequent reverberations of Handel's Italian experience: the Italian cantata movements immortalized in Messiah; the emergence of one of the composer's best-loved works, Acis and Galatea, from its Italian prototype; Handel's hommage to Corelli in his set of 12 concerti grossi; and the oratorio that framed his musical career - a 'triumph' of recycling.
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George Frideric Handel
N貌, di voi non vo' fidarmi from N貌, di voi non vo' fidarmi, HWV 189
Performers: Laura Claycomb, Anna Maria Panzarella (sopranos), Le Concert D鈥橝str茅e, Emmanuelle Ha茂m (conductor)
- Virgin:5 45524 2.
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George Frideric Handel
So per prova i vostri inganni from N貌, di voi non vo' fidarmi, HWV 189
Performers: Laura Claycomb, Anna Maria Panzarella (sopranos), Le Concert D鈥橝str茅e, Emmanuelle Ha茂m (conductor)
- Virgin:5 45524 2.
- 5.
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George Frideric Handel
All we like sheep from part 2 of Messiah, HWV 56
Performers: Choir of The English Concert, The English Concert, Trevor Pinnock (conductor)
- Archiv:00289 479 0487.
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George Frideric Handel
Fra l ombre e glorrori, from Aci, Galatea e Polifemo
Performers: Christopher Purves (bass), Arcangelo, Jonathan Cohen (conductor)
- Hyperion: CDA67842.
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George Frideric Handel
Happy, happy we! / Wretched lovers from Acis and Galatea
Performers: Nicholas Mulroy (tenor 鈥� Acis), Dunedin Consort & Players , John Butt (direction)
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George Frideric Handel
Concerto Grosso in C minor, op.6 no.8, HWV 326
Performance: Academy of Ancient Music, Andrew Manze (director)
- Harmonia Mundi:HMU 907228.29.
- 21.
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George Frideric Handel
Lascia la spina from Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno HWV 46a
Performers:The London Handel Choir, The London Handel Orchestra, Denys Darlow (conductor)
- Virgin:0946 3 63428 2 5.
- 16.
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George Frideric Handel
Pleasure submits to pain, from The Triumph of Time and Truth,
Performers: The London Handel Choir, The London Handel Orchestra, Denys Darlow (conductor)
- Hyperion: CDD22050.
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- Fri 8 Mar 2013 12:00大象传媒 Radio 3
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