Handel as Orpheus : voice and desire in the chamber cantatas / Ellen T. Harris.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Harris, Ellen T., author.

Contributor:

American Council of Learned Societies.

Series:

ACLS Humanities E-Book.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cantatas--History and criticism.

Cantatas.

Homosexuality and music.

Handel, George Frideric, 1685-1759. Cantatas.

Handel, George Frideric.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 430 p. ) ill., music ;

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, [2001]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Handel wrote over 100 cantatas, compositions for voice and instruments that describe the joy and pain of love. In Handel as Orpheus, the first comprehensive study of the cantatas, Ellen Harris investigates their place in Handel's life as well as their extraordinary beauty. The cantatas were written between 1706 and 1723--from the time Handel left his home in Germany, through the years he spent in Florence and Rome, and into the early part of his London career. In this period he lived as a guest in aristocratic homes, and composed these chamber works for his patrons and hosts, primarily for private entertainments. In both Italy and England his patrons moved in circles in which same-sex desire was commonplace--a fact that is not without significance, Harris reveals, for the cantatas exhibit a clear homosexual subtext. Addressing questions about style and form, dating, the relation of music to text, rhythmic and tonal devices, and voicing, Handel as Orpheus is an invaluable resource for the study and enjoyment of the cantatas, which have too long been neglected. This innovative study brings greater understanding of Handel, especially his development as a composer, and new insight into the role of sexuality in artistic expression.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Note on the Musical Examples

Prologue: “The Ways of the World”

1. Code Names and Assumed Identities

2. Women’s Voices/Men’s Voices

3. Pastoral Lovers

4. Cantata Couples and Love Triangles

5. Silence and Secrecy

6. Culmination of the Private

Epilogue: “True Representation”

Appendix 1: Cantata Chronology

Appendix 2: Texts and Translations of the Continuo Cantatas

Bibliographic Abbreviations

Notes

Title Index of Handel’s Cantatas, Duets, and Trios

General Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780674273450

0674273451

OCLC:

1285171005