{"id":6454,"date":"2016-05-30T22:02:14","date_gmt":"2016-05-31T02:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=6454"},"modified":"2018-08-24T14:01:18","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T18:01:18","slug":"handels-fireworks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=6454","title":{"rendered":"Handel\u2019s Fireworks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"16-05-31<\/a><\/p>\n

Well, I have no short\u00adage of record\u00adings of this, one of the most pop\u00adu\u00adlar works of baroque music. I have per\u00adfor\u00admances con\u00adduct\u00aded by Fen\u00adnell, Gar\u00addiner, Hog\u00adwood, Mar\u00adriner, Maier, Pin\u00adnock, Savall, Stokows\u00adki, and War\u00adchal, and I\u2019ve prob\u00ada\u00adbly heard a dozen oth\u00aders. Most lis\u00adten\u00aders divide them into two cat\u00ade\u00adgories: 1) record\u00adings using orig\u00adi\u00adnal peri\u00adod instru\u00adments, or an approx\u00adi\u00adma\u00adtion there\u00adof; 2) record\u00adings using twen\u00adti\u00adeth cen\u00adtu\u00adry instru\u00adments in a stan\u00addard con\u00adcert for\u00admat. I\u2019m not going to sneer at the lat\u00adter group. Han\u00addel was as prag\u00admat\u00adic a show\u00adman as music ever pro\u00adduced, and he would have been per\u00adfect\u00adly hap\u00adpy hear\u00ading Stokowski\u2019s won\u00adder\u00adful and total\u00adly inau\u00adthen\u00adtic ver\u00adsion, though he might have told Mar\u00adriner to give his per\u00adfor\u00admance a lit\u00adtle more zetz<\/em>. But on the whole, I pre\u00adfer the peri\u00adod instru\u00adment ver\u00adsions, and of those, I\u2019d pick Jor\u00addi Saval\u00adl\u2019s for my desert island music col\u00adlec\u00adtion. This ver\u00adsion has zetz-aplenty.<\/span><\/p>\n

Han\u00addel actu\u00adal\u00adly pro\u00adduced two very spe\u00adcif\u00adic ver\u00adsions. One was for 24 oboes, 12 bas\u00adsoons and a con\u00adtra\u00adbas\u00adsoon, nine nat\u00adur\u00adal trum\u00adpets, nine nat\u00adur\u00adal horns, three pairs of ket\u00adtle\u00addrums, and side drums play\u00ading ad libi\u00adtum<\/em>. This was the one intend\u00aded for the orig\u00adi\u00adnal out\u00addoor per\u00adfor\u00admance on April 27, 1749, in a Lon\u00addon park south of the Thames, to accom\u00adpa\u00adny the fire\u00adworks cel\u00ade\u00adbrat\u00ading the end of the War of Aus\u00adtri\u00adan Suc\u00adces\u00adsion and the sign\u00ading of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. Despite the rain, and the damp\u00adened fire\u00adworks set\u00adting fire to part of the pavil\u00adion, it was a pop\u00adu\u00adlar suc\u00adcess, and caused a three hour traf\u00adfic jam on the Lon\u00addon Bridge. This was the noisy, dirty, exu\u00adber\u00adant Lon\u00addon of which Samuel John\u00adson said \u201cYou find no man, at all intel\u00adlec\u00adtu\u00adal, who is will\u00ading to leave Lon\u00addon. No, Sir, when a man is tired of Lon\u00addon, he is tired of life; for there is in Lon\u00addon all that life can afford.<\/em>\u201d The music cap\u00adtures this mood exact\u00adly. The pro\u00adduc\u00aders had cau\u00adtioned Han\u00addel that the King did not like stringed instru\u00adments, so he grudg\u00ading\u00adly omit\u00adted them. For a lat\u00ader, indoor per\u00adfor\u00admance, Han\u00addel changed the arrange\u00adment to add vio\u00adlins, vio\u00adlas, cel\u00adlos and dou\u00adble bass\u00ades. Mod\u00adern per\u00adfor\u00admances, whether on \u201cauthen\u00adtic\u201d instru\u00adments or not, usu\u00adal\u00adly use this ver\u00adsion. But Han\u00addel sel\u00addom had to kow\u00adtow, as most com\u00adposers did, to the demands of aris\u00adto\u00adcrat\u00adic patron\u00adage. He was the first com\u00adpos\u00ader to build a gen\u00aduine\u00adly com\u00admer\u00adcial and pop\u00adu\u00adlar music busi\u00adness, answer\u00ading to the tastes of Lon\u00addon\u2019s cos\u00admopoli\u00adtan pub\u00adlic and not to church and court. His operas and ora\u00adto\u00adrios, for exam\u00adple, where often on Old Tes\u00adta\u00adment themes because they could appeal to both Chris\u00adt\u00adian and Jew\u00adish audiences.<\/span><\/p>\n

This was one of the first works of baroque music that I heard as a child, and I was mes\u00admer\u00adized by the catchy melodies, and the way the var\u00adi\u00adous instru\u00admen\u00adtal parts called and answered each oth\u00ader, and wove togeth\u00ader like the snakes in a celtic orm. After count\u00adless hear\u00adings, it still gives me pleasure.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you would like to see a rather quaint trib\u00adute to Han\u00addel, dig up the 1942 Rank Stu\u00addios biopic The Great Mr. <\/em><\/span>Han\u00addel<\/em>, direct\u00aded by Nor\u00adman Walk\u00ader and star\u00adring William Lawson.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Handel<\/a>

Han\u00addel (cen\u00adter left) on the Thames with King George and entourage.<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, I have no short\u00adage of record\u00adings of this, one of the most pop\u00adu\u00adlar works of baroque music. I have per\u00adfor\u00admances con\u00adduct\u00aded by Fen\u00adnell, Gar\u00addiner, Hog\u00adwood, Mar\u00adriner, Maier, Pin\u00adnock, Savall, Stokows\u00adki, and War\u00adchal, and I\u2019ve prob\u00ada\u00adbly heard a dozen oth\u00aders. Most listeners \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[947,952],"tags":[1113,1114],"class_list":["post-6454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-c-listening","category-ck-listening-2016","tag-handel","tag-handels-fireworks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6454"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9477,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6454\/revisions\/9477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}