Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Part I Background
- Part II The music
- 8 Handel and the aria
- 9 Handel's compositional process
- 10 Handel and the idea of an oratorio
- 11 Handel's sacred music
- 12 Handel's chamber music
- 13 Handel as a concerto composer
- 14 Handel and the keyboard
- Part III The music in performance
- Bibliographical note
- Notes
- List of Handel's works
- Index
9 - Handel's compositional process
from Part II - The music
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 September 2011
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Part I Background
- Part II The music
- 8 Handel and the aria
- 9 Handel's compositional process
- 10 Handel and the idea of an oratorio
- 11 Handel's sacred music
- 12 Handel's chamber music
- 13 Handel as a concerto composer
- 14 Handel and the keyboard
- Part III The music in performance
- Bibliographical note
- Notes
- List of Handel's works
- Index
Summary
For the sheer number of issues that it raises and potentially illuminates, the investigation of Handel's compositional process constitutes a particularly bountiful field of inquiry. It has yielded new insights into Handel's concept of musical style and structure, his approach to text and drama, and his interactions with singers and librettists. As a result of recent studies we can identify many of Handel's creative tendencies: his attempts upon revision to mitigate thematic garrulousness and to achieve a continuous musical surface, his use of ‘cut and paste’ techniques akin to eighteenth-century ars combinatoria, his concern with musical imagery and drama and with the roles of specific singers in the creation of the operas and oratorios. Yet more remains unknown than known about Handel's compositional process, and even the most basic of received views must sometimes be questioned.
Such is the case with one of the traditional models for Handel's compositional procedures, invoked whenever the genesis of a work must be described, which is generally stated roughly as follows: ‘Handel began composing by writing down a skeleton score, drafting the principal melodic lines and bass for arias and choruses (the lines for accompanying instrumental parts were left blank), and writing the recitative texts between the set pieces. At a later stage, he went back and “filled up” the score, providing music for the recitatives and writing out the orchestral parts.’
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Companion to Handel , pp. 122 - 144Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1997