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Handel At Cannons
George Frideric Handel was the house composer at Cannons from August 1717 until February 1719. The Chandos Anthems and other important works by Handel were conceived, written or first performed at Cannons. Cannons was a large house in Middlesex, the seat of James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos who was a patron of Handel. The duke, a flute player, had a private orchestra, consisting of 24 instrumentalists. Johann Christoph Pepusch was the Master of Music at Cannons from 1716 and he saw the size of the musical establishment at first expand and then decline in the 1720s in response to Brydges' losses in the South Sea Bubble, a financial crash which took place in 1720. Handel's move to Cannons Handel settled in England in 1712, but appears not to have maintained his own household in London until 1723. He attracted the patronage of noblemen such as Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, and he was based at Burlington House before becoming Cannons' resident composer from 1717 to 1718. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music, Baroque composer well known for his opera#Baroque era, operas, oratorios, anthems, concerto grosso, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training in Halle (Saale), Halle and worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London in 1712, where he spent the bulk of his career and Handel's Naturalisation Act 1727, became a naturalised British subject in 1727. He was strongly influenced both by the middle-German polyphony, polyphonic choral tradition and by composers of the Italian Baroque. In turn, Handel's music forms one of the peaks of the "high baroque" style, bringing Italian opera to its highest development, creating the genres of English oratorio and organ concerto, and introducing a new style into English church music. He is consistently recognized as one of the greatest composers of his age. Handel started three c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Psalms
The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived from the Greek translation, (), meaning "instrumental music" and, by extension, "the words accompanying the music". The book is an anthology of individual Hebrew religious hymns, with 150 in the Jewish and Western Christian tradition and more in the Eastern Christian churches. Many are linked to the name of David, but modern mainstream scholarship rejects his authorship, instead attributing the composition of the psalms to various authors writing between the 9th and 5th centuries BC. In the Quran, the Arabic word ‘Zabur’ is used for the Psalms of David in the Hebrew Bible. Structure Benedictions The Book of Psalms is divided into five sections, each closing with a doxology (i.e., a benediction). These divisions were probably intro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Arbuthnot
John Arbuthnot FRS (''baptised'' 29 April 1667 – 27 February 1735), often known simply as Dr Arbuthnot, was a Scottish physician, satirist and polymath in London. He is best remembered for his contributions to mathematics, his membership in the Scriblerus Club (where he inspired both Jonathan Swift's ''Gulliver's Travels'' book III and Alexander Pope's ''Peri Bathous, Or the Art of Sinking in Poetry'', ''Memoirs of Martin Scriblerus,'' and possibly ''The Dunciad''), and for inventing the figure of John Bull. Biography In his mid-life, Arbuthnot, complaining of the work of Edmund Curll, among others, who commissioned and invented a biography as soon as an author died, said, "Biography is one of the new terrors of death," and so a biography of Arbuthnot is made difficult by his own reluctance to leave records. Alexander Pope noted to Joseph Spence that Arbuthnot allowed his infant children to play with, and even burn, his writings. Throughout his professional life, Arbu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Racine
Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western tradition and world literature. Racine was primarily a tragedian, producing such "examples of neoclassical perfection" as ''Phèdre'', ''Andromaque'', and ''Athalie''. He did write one comedy, '' Les Plaideurs'', and a muted tragedy, ''Esther'' for the young. Racine's plays displayed his mastery of the dodecasyllabic (12 syllable) French alexandrine. His writing is renowned for its elegance, purity, speed, and fury, and for what American poet Robert Lowell described as a "diamond-edge", and the "glory of its hard, electric rage". Racine's dramaturgy is marked by his psychological insight, the prevailing passion of his characters, and the nakedness of both plot and stage. Biography Racine was born on 21 December 1639 in La Ferté-Milon ( Aisne) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oratorio
An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is musical theatre, while oratorio is strictly a concert piece – though oratorios are sometimes staged as operas, and operas are sometimes presented in concert form. In an oratorio, the choir often plays a central role, and there is generally little or no interaction between the characters, and no props or elaborate costumes. A particularly important difference is in the typical subject matter of the text. Opera tends to deal with history and mythology, including age-old devices of romance, deception, and murder, whereas the plot of an oratorio often deals with sacred topics, making it appropriate for performance in the church. Protestant composers took their stories from the Bible, while Catholic composers looked to the lives of saints, as w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Esther (Handel)
''Esther'' ( HWV 50) is an oratorio by George Frideric Handel. It is generally acknowledged to be the first English oratorio. Handel set a libretto after the Old Testament drama by Jean Racine. The work was originally composed in 1718, but was heavily revised into a full oratorio in 1732. Masque (1718, revised 1720) ''Esther'' began in 1718 as a masque, or chamber drama (HWV 50a), composed early in Handel's English career, and before the body of his success as an opera composer. It was first composed and performed at Cannons, where the Duke of Chandos employed Handel from 1716 - 1718 as resident composer writing for his patron's singers and small orchestra. Little is known about this first version of ''Esther''. The version which survives is of a revision in 1720, also probably intended for private performance at Cannons, where the very wealthy Duke of Chandos employed a group of musicians and singers, and where '' Acis and Galatea'', Handel's first non-religious vocal work in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
As Pants The Hart (Handel)
''As pants the hart'' (HWV 251) is an anthem composed by George Frideric Handel for the Chapel Royal of Anne, Queen of Great Britain, Queen Anne and subsequently revised. There are five versions of the work (indicated by the letters ''a'' to ''e''), the first being completed in 1713, and the final in 1738. HWV 251a was the first anthem Handel composed for the Chapel Royal. The 1713 version is an early example of Handel setting words in English, which was his third language. The anthem takes its title from the first line, the incipit, of Psalm 42. The rest of the text – it is the same for all of Handel's versions of the anthem – is also taken from the psalm, and has been attributed to John Arbuthnot. Arbuthnot clearly based his work on earlier translations, as the text opens with lines from Tate and Brady’s metre (poetry), metrical version, but reverts at verse two to the Book of Common Prayer, Prayer Book version. Handel met with royal favour in 1713 and received a major c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alto
The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: ''altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by either low women's or high men's voices. In vocal classification these are usually called contralto and male alto or countertenor. Such confusion of "high" and "low" persists in instrumental terminology. Alto flute and alto trombone are respectively lower and higher than the standard instruments of the family (the standard instrument of the trombone family being the tenor trombone), though both play in ranges within the alto clef. Alto recorder, however, is an octave higher, and is defined by its relationship to tenor and soprano recorders; alto clarinet is a fifth lower than B-flat clarinet, already an 'alto' instrument. There is even a contra-alto clarinet, (an octave lower than the alto clarinet), with a range B♭0 – D4. Etymo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its number of translations. He has been seen as one of the earliest proponents of the English novel, and helped to popularise the form in Britain with others such as Aphra Behn and Samuel Richardson. Defoe wrote many political tracts, was often in trouble with the authorities, and spent a period in prison. Intellectuals and political leaders paid attention to his fresh ideas and sometimes consulted him. Defoe was a prolific and versatile writer, producing more than three hundred works—books, pamphlets, and journals — on diverse topics, including politics, crime, religion, marriage, psychology, and the supernatural. He was also a pioneer of business journalism and economic journalism. Early life Daniel Foe (his original name) was probabl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Goetze And Gwynn
Goetze and Gwynn is an organ builder in England which has a specialism in restoring pre-Victorian British organs. Company Dominic Gwynn started organ building with Hendrik ten Bruggencate in Northampton in 1976, before going into partnership with Martin Goetze in 1980. Initially located in Northampton, the company relocated in 1985 to the Welbeck Estate near Worksop in north Nottinghamshire. A third partner, Edward Bennett, joined in 1985. Martin Goetze died on 23 August 2015. The company continues to restore and produce organs, but according to its website its focus has shifted somewhat from the original directors' emphasis on re-creating the musical culture of the past. Reconstructions The company has produced organs in Tudor style based on the remains of two Tudor organ soundboards discovered in Suffolk. Two of these instruments are managed by the Royal College of Organists. Restorations Among the organs they have restored are: *Great Budworth ** The organ of St Mary and A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manual (music)
A manual is a musical keyboard designed to be played with the hands, on an instrument such as a pipe organ, harpsichord, clavichord, electronic organ, melodica, or synthesizer. The term "manual" is used with regard to any hand keyboard on these instruments to distinguish it from the pedalboard, which is a keyboard that the organist plays with their feet. It is proper to use "manual" rather than "keyboard", then, when referring to the hand keyboards on any instrument that has a pedalboard. Music written to be played only on the manuals (instead of using the pedals) can be designated by manualiter (first attested in 1511, but particularly common in the 17th and 18th centuries). Overview Organs and synthesizers can, and usually do, have more than one manual; most home instruments have two manuals, while most larger organs have two or three. Elaborate pipe organs and theater organs can have four or more manuals. The manuals are set into the organ console (or "keydesk"). The lay ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis Laguerre
Louis Laguerre (1663 – 20 April 1721) was a French decorative painter mainly working in England. Born in Versailles in 1663 and trained at the Paris Academy under Charles Le Brun, he came to England in 1683, where he first worked with Antonio Verrio, and then on his own. He rivalled with Sir James Thornhill in the field of history painting, primarily decorating the great houses of the nobility. His wall paintings can be found in Blenheim Palace, Marlborough House, Petworth House, Burghley House, Fetcham Park House and Chatsworth House. In the 1980s, a restoration project revealed work by Laguerre at Frogmore House also. His subject matter included English victories over the armies of Louis XIV; at Hampton Court Palace he carried out work for William III of England, for whom he depicted the Labours of Hercules. Laguerre painted religious subjects at St Lawrence's Church, Whitchurch, London. In 1731 Alexander Pope wrote, On painted ceilings you devoutly stare Where sprawl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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