GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL
BY: PAUL HENRY LANG

-'I WAS SO IMPRESSED BY WHAT DR. LANG HAS DONE IN HIS NEW AND VERY FRESH APPROACH TO HANDEL, HIS LIFE AND WORKS, THAT I CAN FIND ONLY ONE WORD TO EXPRESS MY FEELING ABOUT IT: MONUMENTAL!' — EUGENE ORMANDY.

-UNIVERSALLY KNOWN AND ADMIRED FOR HIS GREAT ORATORIO MESSIAH, GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL (1695–1759) RANKS AMONG THE GREATEST COMPOSERS OF ALL TIME. OVER A CAREER OF MORE THAN 50 YEARS, MOST OF IT SPENT IN ENGLAND, THE GERMAN-BORN MASTER COMPOSED NUMEROUS OTHER ORATORIOS, OPERAS, CONCERTOS, CHAMBER MUSIC, ORCHESTRAL SUITES, CANTATAS, AND MORE. BUT UNTIL NOW, FAR LESS HAS BEEN KNOWN ABOUT THE MAN 'POSSESSED OF A CENTRAL CALM' BUT WHOSE 'DRIVING FORCE WAS INCALCULABLE.'

-IN THIS IMMENSELY THOROUGH AND READABLE BIOGRAPHY — CONSIDERED BY MANY SCHOLARS THE DEFINITIVE WORK ON HANDEL — RENOWNED MUSICOLOGIST PAUL HENRY LANG PENETRATES THE MYSTERY OF HANDEL`S LIFE TO PAINT A VIVID PORTRAIT OF THE GREAT COMPOSER, WHILE OFFERING EXPERT ANALYSIS OF HANDEL`S MUSIC — ITS SOURCES, NATURE, FORMS, AND INFLUENCE.

-DETAILED, METICULOUSLY RESEARCHED DISCUSSIONS COVER HANDEL`S BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD IN HALLE; HIS EARLY MUSICAL TRAINING AND YEARS AT UNIVERSITY; SOJOURNS IN ITALY AND MEETINGS WITH CORELLI, SCARLATTI, AND OTHER MAJOR COMPOSERS; HANDEL`S ADOPTION OF ENGLAND AS HIS HOME; HIS BUSINESS DEALINGS IN LONDON; HIS SOMEWHAT PUZZLING RELATIONS WITH WOMEN; THE ONSET OF BLINDNESS IN 1751 AND THE END OF HIS ARTISTIC CAREER; HIS DEATH IN 1759 AND BURIAL IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY; AND MANY OTHER ASPECTS OF HIS LONG AND COMPLEX LIFE.

-IN ADDITION TO THE BREADTH OF BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL, DR. LANG OFFERS DETAILED DISCUSSIONS OF HANDEL`S MUSIC, OF BOTH ITS GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS AND THE SPECIFIC FEATURES OF SUCH MASTERWORKS AS THE ORATORIOS MESSIAH, ISRAEL IN EGYPT, SOLOMON AND JUDAS MACCABAEUS; THE OPERAS GIULIO CESARE AND RINALDO; THE ORCHESTRAL SUITES ROYAL FIREWORKS MUSIC AND WATER MUSIC;THE PASTORAL ACIS AND GALATEA; THE ODES ALEXANDER`S FEAST AND ODE FOR ST. CECILIA`S DAY; AND MANY OTHER COMPOSITIONS. PERCEPTIVE, EXTREMELY THOROUGH AND OBVIOUSLY A LABOR OF LOVE, THIS MASTERLY BIOGRAPHY BELONGS IN THE LIBRARY OF EVERY MUSICIAN, MUSIC LOVER, AND STUDENT OF MUSIC AND MUSIC HISTORY.

REPRINT OF THE W. W. NORTON & COMPANY, INC., NEW YORK, 1961.