大象传媒

This week Donald Macleod focuses on Handel the organist. Today, Handel gets out of the opera business for good, and his new oratorio gets a warm reception - in frosty conditions.

When Handel鈥檚 collaborator Charles Jennens tried to interest him in 鈥渁 collection from Scripture鈥� - Messiah, he called it - the composer wasn鈥檛 initially interested. But when Jennens steered him in the direction of the writer whose work was probably, after the Bible, the most widely read and admired in this country, John Milton, Handel responded with enthusiasm. The initial proposal was for a work based on two of Milton鈥檚 poems, L鈥橝llegro (the cheerful man) and Il Penseroso (the pensive man), to which Jennens then added text for a third character, Il Moderato 鈥� the moderate man. If this plotless concoction sounds like an unpromising basis for a composer of Handel鈥檚 dramatic flair to build on, the end result - the oratorio L鈥橝llegro, Il Penseroso ed Il Moderato - is full of simply wonderful, poetic music that evokes the landscapes and pastoral moods of Handel鈥檚 adoptive country. There was nothing pastoral about the conditions of the premi猫re. Because the winter of 1739-40 was unusually severe, the initial run of performances had to be pushed back from New Year to mid-February. Even then, it was so cold in the theatre at Lincoln鈥檚 Inn Fields that a newspaper ad was placed to reassure punters that the venue had been 鈥渟ecur鈥檇 against the cold by having curtains placed before every door, and constant fires being ordered to be kept in the House 鈥榯ill the time of the Performance.鈥� Following the great success of L鈥橝llegro, Il penseroso ed Il moderato came a pair of operatic flops, Imeneo and Deidamia, after which Handel devoted himself more or less exclusively to oratorio 鈥� producing first Messiah, about which he had had a change of heart, then Samson, inspired by another Milton poem, Samson Agonistes. As was Handel鈥檚 usual practice, both L鈥橝llegro and Samson were provided with fine organ concerti, written specially for the occasion.

L鈥橝llegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato (Pt 1, 鈥楬aste thee, nymph, and bring with thee鈥�)
Jeremy Ovenden, tenor
Gabrieli Consort and Players
Paul McCreesh, conductor

Organ Concerto in B flat, Op 7 No 1 (HWV 306)
William Whitehead, organ
Gabrieli Players
Paul McCreesh, conductor

L鈥橝llegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato (Pt 3, duet: 鈥楢s steals the morn upon the night鈥�)
Gillian Webster, soprano
Jeremy Ovenden, tenor
Gabrieli Players
Paul McCreesh, conductor

Samson, HWV 57 (Pt 2, 鈥楻eturn, O God of Hosts!鈥�)
The Sixteen
The Symphony of Harmony and Invention
Harry Christophers, conductor

Organ Concerto in A, Op 7 No 2 (HWV 307)
Ton Koopman, organ
Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra