Handel Georg Friedrich - biography, facts from life, photographs, background information. George Frideric Handel. The main stages of the creative path. Overview of creative genres

The life and creative path of G. F. Handel.

G. F. Handel (1685 - 1759) - German Baroque composer. Born in Halle near Leipzig, he lived the first half of his life in Germany, and the second half - from 1716 - in England. Handel died in London and was buried in Westminster Abbey (the burial vault of the English kings, statesmen, famous people: Newton, Darwin, Dickens). In England, Handel is considered the English national composer.

At an early age, Handel discovers large musical abilities. Already at the age of 7, Handel captivated the Duke of Saxony with his organ playing. However, the child’s musical interests encounter opposition from his father, who dreamed of his son’s legal career. Therefore, Handel enters the university to study law and at the same time serves as an organist in the church.

At the age of 18, Handel moved to Hamburg, a city that had the first opera house in Germany, competing with theaters in France and Italy. It was opera that attracted Handel. In Hamburg, Handel’s first oratorio “Passion according to the Gospel of John” appeared, the first operas were “Almira”, “Nero”.

In 1705, Handel went to Italy, a stay in which was of great importance for the formation of Handel's style. In Italy it was finally decided creative direction composer, his commitment to Italian opera seria. Handel's operas receive enthusiastic recognition from the Italians ("Rodrigo", "Agrippina"). Handel also writes oratorios and secular cantatas, in which he hones his vocal skill to Italian texts.

In 1710, the composer went to London, where in 1716 he finally settled. In London he devotes a lot of time to studying the choral art of England. As a result, 12 anthems appear - English psalms for choir, soloists and orchestra based on biblical texts. In 1717, Handel wrote “Water Music” - 3 orchestral suites to be performed during the Royal Navy parade on the Thames.

In 1720, the Royal Academy of Music opera house (from 1732 Covent Garden) was opened in London, with Handel becoming its musical director. Period from 1720 to 1727 is the culmination of Handel's career as an opera composer. Handel composed several operas a year. However, Italian opera increasingly began to experience crisis phenomena. English society began to experience an urgent need for national art. And although Handel's London operas were distributed throughout Europe as masterpieces, the decline in the prestige of Italian opera is reflected in his work. In 1728, the Royal Academy of Music had to be closed. However, Handel, without despair, goes to Italy, recruits a new troupe and opens the season of the Second Opera Academy. New operas appear: “Roland”, “Ariodante”, “Alcina”, etc., in which Handel updates the interpretation of the opera seria - he introduces ballet, strengthens the role of the choir, and makes the musical language simpler and more expressive. However, the struggle for the opera house ends in defeat - the Second Opera Academy closes in 1737. The composer takes the collapse of the Academy hard, falls ill (depression, paralysis) and does not work for almost 8 months.

After the failure of the opera Deidalia (1741), Handel abandoned composing operas and focused on oratorio. In the period from 1738 to 1740. His biblical oratorios were written: “Saul”, “Israel in Egypt”, “Samson”, “Messiah”, etc. The oratorio “Messiah” after its premiere in Dublin met with sharp criticism from the clergy.

At the end of his life, Handel achieves lasting fame. Among the works written in recent years, “Music for Fireworks”, intended for performance in the open air, stands out. In 1750, Handel began composing a new oratorio, “Jeuthae.” But here he is struck by misfortune - he goes blind. Blind, he finishes the oratorio. In 1759 Handel dies.

Characteristics of Handel's creative style.

Spiritual themes are of great importance - images of the Old and New Testaments (oratorios “Samson”, “Messiah”, “Judas Maccabee”). In them, Handel was attracted by the epic scope and heroic nature of many images (biblical images in the heroic, civil aspect).

Handel's music does not convey psychologically subtle nuances, and great feelings that the composer embodies with such strength and power that it makes one remember the works of Shakespeare (Handel, like Beethoven, is often called the “Shakespeare of the masses”). Hence the main features of his style:

monumentality, breadth (appeal to large forms - opera, cantata, oratorio)

optimistic, life-affirming beginning

universal human level of creativity.

Handel devoted over 30 years of his life to opera (over 40 operas). But only in the oratorio genre did Handel create truly great works (32 oratorios). Handel drew plots for his oratorios from various sources: historical, ancient, biblical. His biblical oratorios received the greatest popularity: “Saul”, “Israel in Egypt”, “Samson”, “Messiah”, “Judas Maccabee”. Handel intended his oratorios for theater and stage performance. Wanting to emphasize the secular nature of his oratorios, he began to perform them on the concert stage, thereby creating a new tradition of performing biblical oratorios. In the oratorios, Handel's attention is focused not on the individual fate of the hero, as in the opera, not on his lyrical experiences, but on the life of an entire people. Unlike the opera seria, with its reliance on solo singing, the core of the oratorio turned out to be the choir as a form of conveying the thoughts and feelings of the people. Shape solo singing in an oratorio, as in an opera, there is an aria. Handel introduces a new type of solo singing - an aria with a choir.

The musical art of the Classical era is filled with figurative and semantic content. Personalities.

Classicism - figurative environment

Throughout the 15th -18th centuries. an attempt to revive antiquity declared itself, each time revealing its new facets. At different periods this desire took different forms. On early stages musical classicism coexisted with the period of powerful flourishing of the baroque, used many baroque means and was not able to be realized in that period to the same extent as, for example, in literature (J.B. Molière, P. Corneille, J. Racine).

Classicism 18th century. formed in France during the period of collapse absolute monarchy, the promotion of the third estate and the pre-revolutionary ideas of the Enlightenment. These ideas had a significant influence on the development of art in France and other countries Western Europe. Classicism was based on the belief in the rationality of existence, in the presence of a single, universal order that governs the course of things in nature and life, and the harmony of human nature. Reason served as the main criterion in the knowledge of beauty. The theoretical basis of the Enlightenment movement was materialism, atheism, rationalism, criticism, pragmatism, and optimism. French educators deified nature and the “natural order of things” and considered it necessary to liken it social life. These ideas were consistent with the aesthetics of Classicism. Art called upon a person to cultivate a sense of civic duty, and not to indulge in fun and pleasure. These ideas sometimes took paradoxical forms. The Enlightenment people assigned the role of an illustrator of morality and often banal and sentimental everyday truths to the visual arts and demanded categorical didacticism in the implementation of educational functions. The pervasiveness of literature meant that paintings could be retold like a novel. The titles of the works of the most consistent "enlightenment" J.-B. are indicative. Dream: “Broken Eggs”, “Punished Son”, “Two Educations” - they really made me want to retell the plot. It is characteristic that the artists themselves, including Greuze, wrote lengthy letters with detailed comments and explanations of the subjects of their paintings. In music, these principles also found their refraction - moreover, here they played a progressive role. Musical images became visible and concrete. Many musical themes are so clear that they can be “narrated.” The juxtaposition of relief, contrasting themes-images, their collision and interaction formed the basis musical dramaturgy sonata Allegro - highest achievement musical classicism.

The aesthetics of classicism contains a sum of mandatory rules that a work of art must meet. The most important of them are the requirements for a balance of beauty and truth, logical clarity of design, harmony and completeness of composition, and a clear distinction between genres. In Dramatic Art, the principles of “three unities” (“unity of time”, “unity of place”, “unity of action”) were mandatory. Another norm of classicism, embodied in music, concerns figurative content. Plots, literary or generalized, must end with the victory of good over evil, the triumph of light forces, and the affirmation of an optimistic, bright beginning. Images musical works should be prominent and defined: heroic, suffering, jubilant, fatal, gallant, comic, etc.

Classicism received its most vivid embodiment in the second half of the 18th century. in the works of Viennese classics. The formation of the Vienna Classical School occurred during the years of rapid development of the German and Austrian enlightenment. German poetry is flourishing and philosophy is highly developed. In Austria, during the period of the so-called “enlightened absolutism” of Joseph II, the ground was created for the spread of advanced ideas. Major artists and the thinkers of the era - Herder, Goethe, Schiller, Lessing, Kant, Hegel put forward new humanistic ideals. This had a significant impact on the formation of the worldview of composers of the Viennese classical school. Musicians, forced to be lackeys for the aristocratic nobility or serve in churches, necessarily satisfying the often backward tastes of crowned and titled rulers, acutely felt the injustice and absurdity of the current state of affairs. Prominent representatives of classicism were the composers of the Mannheim school: K.V. Gluck, L. Boccherini, K.D. von Dittersdorf, L. Cherubini. The pinnacle of musical classicism is the work of the Viennese classics - W.A. Mozart, J. Haydn and L.V. Beethoven.

The aesthetics of classicism, implying harmony and completeness of the composition, its balance and rationality, led to intensive development musical forms. This gave new meaning to a number of genres that existed at the beginning of this period. In instrumental music, sonata, symphony, instrumental concert of the last third of the 18th century. - these are absolutely not the same sonatas, symphonies, concerts that we find in Baroque music. They have different forms, different vocabulary, different figurative meaning and other logic. The most important achievement of this stage was the establishment of symphonism as a carrier of figurative and semantic content in the development and complex interweaving of contradictions. The symphonism of the Viennese classics absorbs some elements of operatic dramaturgy, embodying large, developed ideological concepts and dramatic conflicts. On the other hand, the principles of symphonic thinking penetrate not only into various instrumental genres(sonata, quartet, etc.), but also into opera and works of the cantata-oratorio type.

The work of Handel (1685-1759) is the brightest example of the musical art of the late stage of the Baroque, and fits into the same chronological framework as the art of J. S. Bach. The figure of Handel is just as typical of his time as the figure of Bach, but represents a completely different type of creative nature. The composer owes his origins to a family with strong Silesian roots; the parents passed on to their son physical and mental health, a strong build (the father was a man of gigantic stature), an accurate and practical mind, efficiency and the steely strength of a calm will.

Handel achieved mastery of his style very early (much earlier than Bach), but never settled on any one art form. The evolution of his work is difficult to grasp; it is also difficult to call it conscious. However, what Handel always remained true to was a clear sense of purpose: to do what he does well. Handel's aesthetic credo is not authoritarian: he never imposed his own will on art. In a sense, Handel's genius is “omnivorous”: he adapts to various trends, assimilates other styles and other thoughts, and no obstacles can shake him.

Handel's mentality is typical of a German (Lessing believed that the most characteristic feature of a German is that “he appreciates everything good wherever he finds it, and turns it to his advantage”), but Handel also exhibits a higher capacity for objectivity. Already as a child in Halle, he learned from Zachau various styles, not only adopting the spirit of each great composer, but also internalizing it by imitating his manner. This essentially cosmopolitan upbringing was completed by three trips to Italy and a half-century stay in England. And if Handel was not in France, he, nevertheless, knew it no worse - he has examples of mastering the French musical language and style (“French chansons”). That is, wherever he was, Handel accumulated entire treasures of musical memories, bought and collected foreign works, recorded expressions and ideas in sketches.

Handel also had a passion for painting: he was a connoisseur and left behind a collection that included works by Rembrandt.

Handel's writing style is fundamentally different from Bach's: he wrote with ease, often as if he was improvising, and never sketched out sketches of an entire work. The composer’s very art of improvisation amazed his contemporaries. At the same time, Handel had an excellent sense of form, and no German surpassed him in the art of creating beautiful melodic lines (it was his love of perfection that allowed him to autoquote and quote, for which he was often accused of plagiarism).

Handel's music is the brainchild of an era; it is extremely picturesque: it expresses feelings, emotions, situations, even eras and localities, and has a bright poetic and moral coloring.

Unlike Bach, Handel was never a church musician and almost never wrote for the church. With the exception of the Psalms and Te Deum, he wrote only instrumental music for concerts and open-air festivals, opera and oratorio (for the theater, not for the church, even if they did not contain episodes requiring acting).

In the sublimity and simplicity of art, Handel saw a high task. He once said: “I would be annoyed if I only gave people pleasure; my goal is to make them better.” This is the root meaning of his art. Such was his artistic will, his genius served this.

Handel owes the birth of his style to Hamburg. Here the time of apprenticeship ended, and here the young composer tries his hand at opera and oratorio - the leading genres of his mature work. And if he returned to the oratorio many years later, the opera completely occupied his imagination in the coming decades. From Hamburg (his first opera, Almira, written and staged in 1705) to London in the early 1940s (his last opera, Deidamia, 1741), Handel is an opera composer. In Hamburg, Handel completely mastered the form and style of opera seria and learned to write arias of almost all types and recitatives. A developed line of voice, the principle of words for music, an instrumental type of melody, heavy vocal performance, constrained orchestral figuration - these are the features of Handel's operatic style of the era of "Almira" and "Nero".

In the composer's orchestral writing, in the form of the overture, and in the presence of the ballet, the French influence is evident. Certain pages of "Almira", distinguished by their rustic folk language and song form of arias, eloquently testify to the influence of local traditions.

Handel traveled to Italy at the end of 1706. In Florence, an unknown and unfamous young German felt awkward at first. In addition, he was in a cramped financial situation, and few people were interested in his music. The composer did not stay in Florence and already in April 1707 he left for Rome. And he stayed there for a relatively short time, living more than modestly. Neither letters of recommendation nor his own music improved his situation. In Rome it was necessary to be the first, and Handel did not have enough skill for this. He's learning again. He attends "academies", concerts, carnivals, receptions and celebrations. Handel explores styles that are completely unusual for him. He listens to Catholic church music and writes “Latin Psalms” in imitation of it. In Rome, he became acquainted with Latin oratorio, which combines a moral and religious text with singing accompanied by instruments. He gains some fame as a virtuoso. In the autumn of 1708, Handel achieved his first public success as a composer. With the help of Duke Ferdinand of Tuscany, he staged his first Italian opera, Rodrigo, and, encouraged by its success, hurried to Venice.

In Venice, he meets representatives of two states, where he will later find refuge. These were great music lovers - Prince Ernst August of Hanover and the English ambassador, the Earl of Manchester.

At the end of February, Handel leaves Venice. He returns to Rome and now the eternal City seems more welcoming to him. The success of "Rodrigo" in Florence did its job, Ferdinand of Tuscany was not stingy with his praise - Handel received a wonderful reception in Rome. The palaces of patrons hospitably opened their doors, the halls applauded enthusiastically, Rome was surprised and hurried to get to know Handel. He competes in public competitions with the best of the best in Rome, Domenico Scarlatti recognizes his victory. His playing on the harpsichord is called diabolical - a very flattering epithet for Rome. He writes two oratorios for Cardinal Ottoboni, which are immediately performed. The Catholic Church became interested in him.

After success in Rome, Handel hurries south to Naples. A constant rival of Venice in the arts, Naples had its own school and established traditions. Handel stayed in Naples for about a year. During this time, he wrote a charming serenade “Acis, Galatea and Polyphemus” (a serenade (or serenata) is a common genre of chamber pastoral cantata in the 18th century.

Handel's main work in Naples was the opera Agrippina, written in the summer of 1709 and staged the same year in Venice, where the composer returned again. The premiere took place on December 26. Handel spent the entire winter in Venice. Now he possessed skill sufficient to conquer any European theater.

Thus, Italy was for Handel not only the bright romantic period of his life, but also an important period of his work. “Italian universities” were not in vain for the composer. He mastered the best European style musical writing, improved and unusually developed melody, achieved mastery in voice control, orchestral technique, and forms of composition. The range of genres in which the composer worked finally emerged. These were mainly genres of vocal music - opera, cantata, oratorio.

Towards the end of 1710, having received official leave from the Elector, Handel, after a short visit to his native Halle, left for London via Düsseldorf.

When Handel arrived in London he was 25 years old. He already had sufficient fame, and the enterprise and energy, efficiency and will inherited from his father, combined with the natural gift of an artist, made up an excellent ensemble. The composer had letters of recommendation and invitations from English nobles whom he met in Hanover.

Handel quickly becomes acquainted with the theatrical world of London, quickly receives an order from Aaron Hill, the tenant of the Hydemarket Theater, and no less quickly writes the opera Rinaldo.

His debut in the very popular genre of ceremonial music in England had a decisive influence on Handel’s fate. In January 1713, Handel wrote the monumental “Te Deum” (“Te Deum” is a hymn for a choir (or choirs) and a symphony orchestra, sometimes with the participation of solo singers and an organ, on the text of a Catholic chant. The classical type of “Te Deum” , intended for concert performance at festivals, set by Handel) and “Ode for the Queen’s Birthday”.

Already in July 1716, the new King of England, George I, invited the composer with him to Hanover, where Handel wrote a new, second in his work, “Passion”.

Until 1720, Handel was in the service of the old Duke of Chendos. These years turned out to be very important for the composer - he mastered the English style. The German composer accepted citizenship in English art. Handel painted anthemas and two masks. Anthems - biblical psalms set to music, spiritual songs, choral frescoes, in which the mighty voice of the people can be heard, turned out to be close to Handel. The anthemas express the heroic and joyful. Two masks, two charming performances in the spirit of antiquity were also English in style. Handel later revised both works. One of them became an English opera (“Acis, Galatea and Polyphemus”), the other became the first English oratorio (“Esther”).

The influence of anthems and operatic style is clearly felt in Handel’s first oratorios – “Esther” (1732), and in the subsequent “Deborah” and “Athalia” (composed in 1733). The recitative in them is still quite operatic; with rare exceptions, the arias are also written in operatic traditions. All these oratorios can be staged, turning them into an operatic production.

Handel's work in the genre of opera during this period proceeded in very difficult conditions - he had to constantly compete for recognition with Italian composers and deal with the constantly changing tastes of the English audience. Therefore, the operas of this period - “Radamistro”, “Ottone”, “Flavio”, “Julius Caesar”, “Tamerlane”, “Xerxes” - were removed from the repertoire soon after their premieres. In general, the British considered the Italian operatic style a “disease” and music that did not meet the needs of the time. The appearance of John Gay and John Pepusch's Beggar's Opera dealt Handel's operatic career a crushing blow. The composer lived in such an environment for another ten years - the 30s. He did not stop writing and staging operas - his persistence resembled madness. Every year he suffered defeat, every year he observed approximately the same picture: a silent, inattentive, empty hall.

The 1940s were different from previous decades. England of the Puritans needed heroism, and not the angelic portraits of the princes of the blood of the gallant court opera, and this heroism was found primarily in the Bible.

There was no country in Europe where the Bible was treated with such love and at the same time with such practicality as in England in the 17th-18th centuries. Puritan ideologists saw in it a huge store of wisdom accumulated by many generations and entire nations. The Puritans read the Old Testament as a book about the fate of the people, about their way of existence.

Biblical language and style, plots, images, characters and symbols of both testaments were extremely common at that time. Handel acquired the taste of the English and began to speak to the nation in its favorite language. The composer knew the Bible perfectly: George was taught to read from it. In his grandiose biblical epics and oratorios, Handel managed to embody the optimism of a victorious people, a joyful sense of freedom, and the selflessness of the heroes. The choice of such subjects and the choice of oratorio style turned out to be significant in Handel’s life. The oratorio of the 40s raised the composer to the highest level of the musical hierarchy and glorified him for centuries. He became famous primarily in England. His music has become the standard of British style.

A new era began for Handel on August 22, 1741. On this memorable day he began the oratorio “Messiah”. In “Messiah”, his plan especially clearly reveals the direction of Handel’s search. To express his philosophical and musical ideas, he sought an unusual, previously unknown form of influence on huge masses of people. He felt an extraordinary power to talk to many, to share important thoughts about life with people.

Therefore, he chooses a freer epic form of oratorio, striving, however, as in “Messiah,” to express strong, dramatically revealed affects (but outside of drama!) and to evoke an ecstatically sublime state in the listener.

Oratorio is a free genre. It arose in Italy, in religious gatherings of believers opposed to the Pope. It was never recognized as an official liturgical chant. Having come under the powerful influence of humanistic culture, the oratorio genre was gradually freed from its religious content, turning into a kind of concert, secular in spirit vocal and orchestral works. Over time, the genre faded and could not be used seriously.

Handel breathed new life into the oratorio. He returned to the genre the ability to talk to people about important things, and not just talk, but to convince and inspire people with his ideas. But these ideas had to be expressed in a new way, because the man of the 18th century differed sharply from the man of the Middle Ages in his view of his essence, his relationship to the world, to nature. The era in which Handel lived was notable for its not very respectable attitude towards God. The composer could not help but feel this. Handel's oratorio took on a new meaning. Associated with the liturgy in origin, it has lost its ritual, ceremonial origin.

The instrumental genres were affected by Handel's outstanding talent as a composer and soloist on the organ and harpsichord. Concert performance, which at the end of 17 - 1 floor. 18th century acquired paramount importance and was characteristic of both Handel’s creativity and playing. His style of harpsichord playing was distinguished by strength, brilliance, and density of sound, which before him were considered unattainable on this instrument. The style of organ playing was dominated by festive solemnity, full sound, temperament and improvisation. Handel's concert style, as a feature of his style, differed from the concert style of court art. It was widely implemented in various genres of instrumental music by the composer.

In Handel's clavier work, the homophonic suite (lesson) occupied a central place. Handel's suites were published in three collections in the 20-30s. The structure of Handel's suites is very individual: in addition to traditional dance pieces (allemande, sarabande, courante and gigue), it included preludes, fugues, overtures, and variations. These works by Handel contain a complete set of keyboard techniques of that time, opening up new promising possibilities for instruments.

Handel's works for chamber ensembles are divided into 2 groups according to the time of writing and style:

youthful, not very mature works

mature, masterful works written in London in the 30s and early 40s. These are 15 solo sonatas for violin or oboe and basso continuo)

One of the central places is occupied by Handel's concertos for various instruments: organ and concerti grossi. Handel's "Great Concertos" belong to the great works of orchestral music of the 18th century and stand on a par with Bach's "Brandenburg Concertos" and Vivaldi concertos.

Or. 3 (1734) – 6 Oboe Concertos, op. 6 (published in 1739) - 12 concerti grossi.

Each Handel concerto is characterized by individual figurative features and means of expression. Concertos belong to homophonic music, but they contain many examples of polyphonic composition; a special effect of the play of chiaroscuro is created by the contrasting alternations of concertino and tutti episodes.

Handel also has so-called plein air genres. This is light entertaining music of a democratic direction. These include: double concerts “Music on the Water (1715-1717), “Music of Fireworks” (1749). Often such works are performed accompanied by pyrotechnic performances and cannon shots.

Thus, Handel’s instrumental music is a vibrant part of the composer’s legacy, which reflects character traits his style and his time.

G. F. Handel is one of the biggest names in the history of musical art. A great composer of the Enlightenment, he opened new perspectives in the development of the genre of opera and oratorio, anticipated many musical ideas of subsequent centuries - the operatic drama of K. V. Gluck, the civic pathos of L. Beethoven, the psychological depth of romanticism. This is a unique person inner strength and conviction. “You can despise anyone and anything,” said B. Shaw, “but you are powerless to contradict Handel.” ".....

G. F. Handel is one of the biggest names in the history of musical art. A great composer of the Enlightenment, he opened new perspectives in the development of the genre of opera and oratorio, anticipated many musical ideas of subsequent centuries - the operatic drama of K. V. Gluck, the civic pathos of L. Beethoven, the psychological depth of romanticism. This is a man of unique inner strength and conviction. “You can despise anyone and anything,” said B. Shaw, “but you are powerless to contradict Handel.” “...When his music sounds on the words “seated on his eternal throne,” the atheist is speechless.”

Handel's nationality is disputed by Germany and England. Handel was born in Germany, the composer’s creative personality developed on German soil, his artistic interests, skill. A large part of Handel’s life and work is connected with England, the formation of an aesthetic position in musical art, consonant with the educational classicism of A. Shaftesbury and A. Paul, the intense struggle for its approval, crisis defeats and triumphant successes.

Handel was born in Halle, in the family of a court barber. Early manifested musical abilities were noticed by the Elector of Halle, the Duke of Saxony, under whose influence the father (who intended to make his son a lawyer and did not attach serious importance to music as a future profession) sent the boy to study with the best musician of the city, F. Tsakhov. Good composer, an erudite musician familiar with best essays of his time (German, Italian), Tsakhov revealed to Handel the wealth of different musical styles, instilled artistic taste, helped to develop composing techniques. The works of Tsakhov himself largely inspired Handel to imitate. Formed early as a person and as a composer, Handel was already known in Germany by the age of 11. While studying law at the University of Halle (where he entered in 1702, fulfilling the will of his father, who had already died by that time), Handel simultaneously served as an organist in the church, composed, and taught singing. He always worked hard and enthusiastically. In 1703, driven by the desire to improve and expand his sphere of activity, Handel left for Hamburg - one of the cultural centers of Germany in the 18th century, a city with the country's first public opera house, competing with theaters in France and Italy. It was opera that attracted Handel. The desire to feel the atmosphere musical theater, practically getting acquainted with opera music, forces him to take the modest position of second violinist and harpsichordist in the orchestra. Saturated artistic life city, collaboration with outstanding musical figures of that time - R. Kaiser, an opera composer, who was then director of the opera house, I. Matteson - a critic, writer, singer, composer - had a huge impact on Handel. Kaiser's influence is found in many of Handel's operas, and not only the early ones.

The success of the first opera productions in Hamburg (“Almira” - 1705, “Nero” - 1705) inspired the composer. However, his stay in Hamburg is short-lived: the bankruptcy of the Kaiser leads to the closure of the opera house. Handel heads to Italy. Visiting Florence, Venice, Rome, Naples, the composer studies again, absorbing a wide variety of artistic impressions, primarily operatic ones. Handel's ability to perceive multinational musical art was exceptional. Literally a few months pass, and he masters the style of Italian opera, and with such perfection that he surpasses many recognized authorities in Italy. In 1707, Florence staged Handel's first Italian opera "Rodrigo", and 2 years later Venice staged the next one, "Agrippina". The operas receive enthusiastic recognition from the Italians, very demanding and spoiled listeners. Handel becomes famous - he enters the famous Arcadian Academy (along with A. Corelli, A. Scarlatti. B. Marcello), receives orders to compose music for the courts of Italian aristocrats.

However, Handel had to say the main word in art in England, where he was first invited in 1710 and where he finally settled in 1716 (in 1726, accepting English citizenship). From now on it begins new stage in the life and work of the great master. England, with its early educational ideas, examples of high literature (J. Milton, J. Dryden, J. Swift) turned out to be the fruitful environment where the powerful creative powers of the composer were revealed. But for England itself, Handel’s role was equal to an entire era. English music, which lost its national genius G. Purcell in 1695 and stopped developing, again rose to world heights only with the name of Handel. His path in England, however, was not easy. The British hailed Handel at first as a master of Italian style opera. Here he quickly defeated all his rivals, both English and Italian. Already in 1713, his Te Deum was performed at festivities dedicated to the conclusion of the Peace of Utrecht, an honor that no foreigner had previously received. In 1720, Handel took over the leadership of the Academy of Italian Opera in London and thus became the head of the national opera house. His operatic masterpieces appeared - “Radamist” - 1720, “Ottone” - 1723, “Julius Caesar” - 1724, “Tamerlane” - 1724, “Rodelinda” - 1725, “Admetus” - 1726. In these works, Handel goes beyond the framework of contemporary Italian opera-seria and creates (its own type of musical performance with clearly defined characters, psychological depth and dramatic tension of conflicts. The noble beauty of the lyrical images of Handel’s operas, tragic force climaxes were unparalleled in the Italian operatic art of their time. His operas stood at the threshold of the brewing operatic reform, which Handel not only sensed, but also largely implemented (much earlier than Gluck and Rameau). At the same time, the social situation in the country, the growth of national self-awareness, stimulated by the ideas of the Enlightenment, and the reaction to the obsessive predominance of Italian opera and Italian singers give rise to a negative attitude towards opera in general. Pamphlets are written about Italian operas, ridiculing the type of opera itself, its characters, and capricious performers. The English satirical comedy “The Beggar's Opera” by J. Gay and J. Pepusch appeared as a parody in 1728. And although Handel's London operas are spread throughout Europe as masterpieces of the genre, the decline in the prestige of Italian opera as a whole is reflected in Handel. The theater is being boycotted; the successes of individual productions do not change the overall picture.

In June 1728, the Academy ceased to exist, but Handel’s authority as a composer did not fall with this. English king George II commissions anthems for him on the occasion of his coronation, which are performed in October 1727 in Westminster Abbey. At the same time, with his characteristic tenacity, Handel continues to fight for opera. He goes to Italy, recruits a new troupe, and in December 1729 opens the season of the second Opera Academy with the opera Lothario. The time for new quests is coming in the composer’s work. “Poros” (“Por”) - 1731, “Orlando” - 1732, “Partenope” - 1730. “Ariodante” - 1734, “Alcina” - 1734 - in each of these operas the composer updates the interpretation of the opera seria genre in different ways - introduces ballet (“Ariodante”, “Alcina”), imbues the “magic” plot with deeply dramatic, psychological content (“Orlando”, “Alcina”), and reaches the highest perfection in musical language - simplicity and depth of expressiveness. There is also a turn from a serious opera to a lyric-comic one in “Partenope” with its soft irony, lightness, grace, in “Faramondo” (1737), “Xerxes” (1737). Handel himself called one of his last operas, Imeneo (Hymen, 1738), an operetta. Handel's exhausting, not without political overtones, struggle for the opera house ends in defeat. The Second Opera Academy closes in 1737. Just as before, in the Beggar's Opera, parody was not without the involvement of Handel's well-known music, and now, in 1736, a new parody of the opera (“The Vantley Dragon”) indirectly affects the name of Handel. The composer takes the collapse of the Academy hard, falls ill and does not work for almost 8 months. However, amazing vitality, hidden in it, take their toll again. Handel returns to activity with new energy. He creates his last operatic masterpieces - “Imeneo”, “Deidamia” - and with them he completes work on the operatic genre, to which he devoted more than 30 years of his life. The composer's attention is focused on the oratorio. While still in Italy, Handel began composing cantatas and choral sacred music. Later, in England, Handel wrote choral anthems and festive cantatas. Final choruses in operas and ensembles also played a role in the process of honing the composer’s choral writing. And Handel’s opera itself is, in relation to his oratorio, the foundation, the source of dramatic ideas, musical images, style.

In 1738, one after another, two brilliant oratorios were born - “Saul” (September 1738) and “Israel in Egypt” (October 1738) - gigantic compositions filled with victorious power, majestic hymns in honor of the strength of the human spirit and feat. 1740s - a brilliant period in Handel's work. Masterpiece follows masterpiece. “Messiah”, “Samson”, “Belshazzar”, “Hercules” - now world-famous oratorios - were created in an unprecedented tension of creative forces, in a very short period of time (1741-43). However, success does not come immediately. Hostility on the part of the English aristocracy, sabotaging the performance of oratorios, financial difficulties, and overextended work again lead to illness. From March to October 1745, Handel was severely depressed. And again the titanic energy of the composer wins. The political situation in the country is also changing sharply - in the face of the threat of an attack on London by the Scottish Army, feelings are mobilized national patriotism. The heroic grandeur of Handel's oratorios turns out to be in tune with the mood of the British. Inspired by national liberation ideas, Handel wrote 2 grandiose oratorios - “Oratorio on Chance” (1746), calling for the fight against invasion, and “Judas Maccabee” (1747) - a powerful hymn in honor of heroes defeating enemies.

Handel becomes the idol of England. At this time, biblical subjects and images of oratorios acquired a special meaning as a generalized expression of high ethical principles, heroism, and national unity. The language of Handel's oratorios is simple and majestic, it attracts people - it hurts the heart and heals it, it does not leave anyone indifferent. Handel's last oratorios - "Theodora", "The Choice of Hercules" (both 1750) and "Jeuthae" (1751) - reveal such depths of psychological drama that were not available to any other genres of music of Handel's time.

In 1751 the composer went blind. Suffering, hopelessly ill, Handel remains at the organ while performing his oratorios. He was buried as he wished at Westminster.

All composers, both the 18th and 19th centuries, had admiration for Handel. Handel was idolized by Beethoven. In our time, Handel's music, which has enormous power artistic impact, receives new meaning and meaning. Its powerful pathos is in tune with our time; it appeals to the strength of the human spirit, to the triumph of reason and beauty. Annual celebrations in honor of Handel are held in England and Germany, attracting performers and listeners from all over the world.

Handel G. F.

(Händel) Georg Friedrich (23 II 1685, Halle - 14 IV 1759, London) - German. composer.

He lived most of his life (almost 50 years) in England. Born into the family of a barber-surgeon. His teacher was composer and organist F.V. Zachau. At the age of 17, G. took the place of organist and muses. head of the cathedral in Halle. From that time on, G.'s invariable attraction to serious art and the synthesis of choir and instruments was determined. music, which was a tradition in German. music. However, religious interests were alien to the composer. The attraction to secular, especially theater, music forced him in 1703 to move from Halle to Hamburg - the only city at that time where there was a German language. opera t-r. In Hamburg, G. created the operas "Almira" and "Nero" (post. 1705). However, the Hamburg Opera collapsed (for economically backward, feudal Germany the time of a national opera school had not yet come), and in 1706 he went to Italy, lived in Florence, Rome, Naples, Venice and won the fame of a first-class composer. He wrote the operas "Rodrigo" (1707), "Agrippina" (1709), oratorios, the pastoral serenade "Acis, Galatea and Polyphemus" (1708), chamber cantatas, duets, terzets, and psalms. In Italy, G. became known as an outstanding performer on the clavier and organ (he competed with D. Scarlatti). Since 1710 adv. bandmaster in Hannover (Germany). In the same year he was invited to London, where in the beginning. 1711 s great success His opera Rinaldo was staged. In the 1710s. G. worked alternately in London and Hanover, in 1717 he finally broke with Germany and in 1727 accepted the English. citizenship. In 1720, G. headed an opera company in London (Royal Academy of Music). Here he experienced strong opposition from various people. layers of English society. An aristocratic campaign was launched against G. circles that were in opposition to the king (who provided patronage to G.) - a representative of the Hanoverian dynasty. The Prince of Wales, who was at odds with the king, organized the so-called. The high society opera and, together with other representatives of the nobility, supported the fashionable Italians who competed with G. composers, authors of superficially virtuosic operas. G.'s independent character complicated his relationship with the court. In addition, the higher clergy created obstacles to the congress. performance of biblical oratorios by G. On the other hand, the genre of opera in which G. worked in England is Italian. opera seria - was alien to English. bourgeois-democratic to the public and according to its conventional ancient-mythological. plots, and in a foreign language. Advanced journalism (J. Addison, J. Swift, etc.) attacked G., criticizing the reaction in his person. aesthetics of anti-national advent. aristocratic operas. In 1728, "The Beggar's Opera" was staged in London (text by J. Gay, music by J. Pepusch) - bourgeois. comedy with many inserts from nar. songs and popular arias. This play is strongly political. The focus also included a satire on aristocratic opera. Basic the blow was directed against G., as the most famous “Italian” composer. The resounding success of the Beggar's Opera intensified the attacks on G. and led to the collapse of the opera enterprise he led, and G. himself was defeated by paralysis. Upon recovery, G. again returned to energetic creativity. and organizational activities, wrote and staged operas, organized performances and concerts, but suffered one defeat after another (in 1741 his last opera, Deidamia, failed). In 1742, the oratorio “Messiah” was enthusiastically received in Dublin (Ireland). However, in London, the performance of “Messiah” and a number of other subsequent oratorios by G. caused a new wave of persecution from high society, which subjected G. to deep mental depression (1745). In the same year, a sharp turning point occurred in the composer’s fate. In England, a struggle began against the attempted restoration of the Stuart dynasty; G. created the “Hymn of the Volunteers” and the “Oratorio for Chance” - a call to fight the invasion of the Stuart army. These patriotic products. and especially the warlike and victorious heroic oratorio “Judas Maccabeus” brought G. wide acceptance. His subsequent oratorios were also enthusiastically received. G. found a new, democratic audience. The English people perceived G.'s death in 1759 as the loss of a national composer.
Limited English bourgeois culture that failed to create the prerequisites for the development of national high-style operas forced G., who had gravitated toward the t-art all his life, after a long struggle to abandon this genre. Its Italian. opera seria (in total G. wrote over 40 operas) reveal a continuous, purposeful search for drama. style and have great melodiousness. wealth, emotional power. influence of music. However, in general, this genre was constrained by realism. the composer's aspirations. All R. 30s G. turned to the voc.-symphony. the genre of oratorio, not related to stage action. He devoted almost entirely to her the last decade of his active creative work. activities (1741-51). In oratorio creativity, the main thing is historical. the meaning of G. Based on the material of biblical legends and their refraction in national. English poetry (J. Milton), the composer created full of epic grandeur and drama. the strength of the picture people. disasters and suffering, the struggle for liberation from the oppression of enslavers. Imbued with the spirit of the people. patriotism, G.'s grandiose creations reflected democratic. English aspirations people and in its general ideological meaning and emotional character do not belong to the cult art. G. considered his oratorios as secular works concert type and resolutely rebelled against their performance in churches. Later practice distorted G.'s intentions, interpreting his folk musical tragedies as sacred music.
G. profoundly transformed the oratorio, creating a new type of monumental vocal-orchestral work, distinguished by the unity of dramaturgy. plan. In the center of G.'s oratorio - people. the masses, their heroes and leaders. The active role of the people determined the leading importance of the choir. Western-European secular music Before G. I did not know such a huge scale and power of expressiveness of a choir. Variety of drama. functions of the choir, the beauty and completeness of chordal and polyphonic. sounds, flexible, free and at the same time classically completed forms made G., along with J. S. Bach, unsurpassed in Western Europe. music by a classic of choral writing. Brought up on German traditions. polyphony - choral, organ, orchestral, G. also implemented the traditions of English in his oratorio work. choral culture (from the first years of his activity in England, G. wrote choral anthems - English psalms such as cantatas, studied folk polyphonic music and the work of G. Purcell). G. developed the best elements of his operatic music in oratorios. G.’s melodic style, striking with its “brilliant calculation of the most dramatic strings of the human voice” (A. N. Serov), was brought to a high degree of expressiveness in his oratorios. Democratic The direction of G.'s oratorio creativity determined its general accessibility both in relation to subjects familiar to a wide audience and folklore. language, and in relation to music, which is distinguished by its special relief and clarity of development. In G.'s oratorios operatic and dramatic styles appeared. tendencies ("Samson", 1741; "Jeuthai", 1752, etc.), epic ("Israel in Egypt", 1739; "Judas Maccabee", 1747, etc.), sometimes lyrical ("Cheerful, thoughtful and restrained ", 1740, according to J. Milton), but in all of them one can feel the optimism characteristic of G., a deep sense of beauty, and a love for genre, concrete, and pictorial principles. G.'s oratorios were created on the basis of librettos that freely interpreted legends from the Old Testament. Only "Messiah" was written based on the original Gospel text. In total, G. wrote approx. 30 oratorios.
Among the extensive instr. G.'s heritage, which included almost all modern. genres to the composer, the type of instrument he created stood out. music for performance in the open air and representing colorful suites for large orchestral compositions with a particularly active role of wind instruments ("Music on the Water", c. 1715-1717; "Music of Fireworks", 1749). Significant in depth of content and mastery of forms are orchestral ensemble concerts (the “concerto grosso” form) and the new genre introduced by G. organ concerts(accompanied by an orchestra or ensemble), written in a distinctly secular, festively brilliant style. G. also owns suites for harpsichord (an English type of harpsichord), sonatas and trio sonatas for various types. instruments and other works. G.'s creativity did not find continuation in England itself, where there were neither ideological nor muses for this. creative incentives. But it had a strong influence on the development of Western Europe. classic music of the bourgeois era. enlightenment and the Great French. revolution (K.V. Gluck, J. Haydn, W.A. Mozart, L. Cherubini, E. Megul, L. Beethoven). G. was highly valued by advanced Russian musicians. V. V. Stasov called G., like J. S. Bach, “a colus of new music.”
Main dates of life and activity
1685. - 23 II. In the Central German city of Halle, in the family of advent. Saxon barber-surgeon Georg G. had a son, Georg Friedrich.
1689 - G. self-taught mastered playing the harpsichord, despite the protests of his father, who planned a career as a lawyer for his son.
1692-93. - A trip with my father to the residence of the Saxon Elector and to the city of Weissenfels, where G. played the organ in the church.
1694. - Start of music lessons with composer and organist F.V. Tsachau (study of general bass, composition, playing the harpsichord, organ, violin, oboe).
1695. - The first muses. works: 6 sonatas for wind instruments.
1696. - Trip to Berlin. - First performance as a harpsichordist and accompanist during court concerts.
1697 - Return to Halle. - Creation of a number of cantatas and pieces for organ.
1698-1700. - Classes at the city gymnasium.
1701. - Meet the composer G. F. Telemann. - Filling the position of organist at the Calvinist Cathedral in Halle.
1702. - Admission to law. Faculty of the University in Halle. - At the same time. G. receives the position of organist and music director in the cathedral. - Teaches singing and music theory at a Protestant gymnasium.
1703. - Move to Hamburg. - Meeting the composer I. Matteson. - Work in an orchestra opera theater as 2nd violinist and harpsichordist.
1704. - 17 II. Performance of G.'s first oratorio - "Passion according to the Gospel of John".
1705. - 8 I. Staging of G.'s first opera - "Almira" at the Hamburg Opera House. - 25 II. G.'s second opera, “Nero,” was staged there. - Left the orchestra due to the difficult financial situation of the teacher.
1706. - Trip to Florence (Italy).
1707 - The first Italian was performed in Florence. opera G. - "Rodrigo". - A trip to Venice, meeting D. Scarlatti.
1708 - In Rome, acquaintance with A. Corelli, A. Scarlatti, B. Pasquini and B. Marcello. - Trip to Naples.
1710. - Trip to Hanover. - Starting work as an adjunct. bandmaster. - In the fall, a trip to London, via Holland.
1711 - G.'s opera "Rinaldo" was staged in London with great success. - Return to Hannover.
1712. - Late autumn, second trip to London.
1716. - Trip to Hanover (July) in the retinue of King George. - Return to London at the end of the year.
1718. - G. leads the home orchestra of the Earl of Carnarvon (later the Duke of Chendos) at Cannon Castle (near Edgeware).
1720. - Appointment of G. muses. Director of the Royal Music. academy in London. - G.’s trip to Germany to recruit singers for opera.
1721-26. - The culminating period of creativity. G.'s activities as an opera composer.
1727. - G. received English. citizenship and title of composer of music of the Royal Chapel.
1728. - The success of "The Beggars' Opera" (text by J. Gay, music by J. Pepusch) contributed to the collapse of G.'s opera enterprise.
1729. - G. received the position of muses. leader in the newly created Royal Music. academy. - A trip to Italy to get acquainted with new operas and recruit singers; visiting Florence, Milan, Venice, Rome, etc. - Return to London.
1730-33. - A new surge in G.’s creativity - A trip to Oxford to a festival of his works.
1736. - Conducts 15 concerts from his compositions.
1737. - Collapse of the opera theater, led by G. - Mental depression, serious illness of the composer (paralysis).
1738 - G.'s concerts for arpsichord or organ were published.
1741. - XI. A trip to Dublin (Ireland) to perform at concerts.
1742. - 13 IV. First performance of the oratorio "Messiah" in Dublin. - Return to London (in August).
1744. - G. rents Royal t-r in London.
1745. - Due to financial difficulties, G. closes the tr. - Mental depression and serious illness G. - Performance of the "Hymn of the Volunteers."
1746. - Performance of the “Oratorio on Chance”, in which G. called on the British to fight the invasion of the Stuart army.
1747 - Performance of the oratorio “Judas Maccabee” in honor of the victory over the Stuart army. - G. becomes national. hero of the country. - Acquaintance with K.V. Gluck, who arrived in England; performing with him and performing his works.
1751 - Last trip to Holland and Germany. - Loss of vision.
1752. - Unsuccessful eye surgery. - Complete blindness.
1754. - G., with the help of Smits, reworks and supplements previously created works. - Takes part in concerts, playing the organ or cymbal.
1756 - Severe depression of the composer.
1757. - Performance of the oratorio “The Triumph of Time and Truth” (separate numbers).
1759. - 30 III. G. last directed the performance of "Messiah" at the Covent Garden Theater. - 14 IV. Death of G. in London.

Musical encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet encyclopedia, Soviet composer. Ed. Yu. V. Keldysh. 1973-1982 .

The works of George Frideric Handel are rightly considered to be theirs by two national schools - German and English. The composer was born in Germany, received his education and developed as a person. And he lived in England most life (50 years), wrote his best works, experiencing through them both great fame and difficult trials.

George Frideric Handel was born on February 23, 1685 in the city of Halle, near Leipzig. Handel is a contemporary of Bach. It is curious that two great German composers- Handel and Bach were born in the same year, 80 miles from each other, but they never met, although they heard a lot about each other. Perhaps because they were too different people.

What Bach took for granted - the unhurried, measured rhythm of life, painstaking daily work in the temple or with a small court orchestra - irritated and constrained Handel. To this temperamental and ambitious man, Germany seemed like a province in which he had nowhere to “turn around.” The brilliant composer and organist, who was also endowed with considerable organizational skills, wanted to travel and see different national traditions and gain recognition from a large audience.

The father of the future composer was a hairdresser and part-time surgeon (previously barbers performed simple tasks surgical operations). He wanted his son to become a lawyer, and was very unhappy that he chose music. But Handel played the clavichord all night long in the street courtyard. The Duke of Saxe-Weissenfeld heard Georg play and was captivated by his musical talent.

While a law student, Handel also served as a church organist. The composer's mother was a match for her husband: she was not inferior to him either in courageous energy or in mental and physical health. These were people of strong burgher origin and passed on to their son physical health, mental balance, practical intelligence, and fatigue-free performance. After the death of his father, eighteen-year-old Handel returned to Hamburg, where he began to serve as a musician in an orchestra - he played the violin and continued to study. In Hamburg he wrote four operas, one of which, Almira, enjoyed great success.

One of Handel's favorite genres is opera. In the 18th century, this type of music, combining singing, the sound of an orchestra and stage action, was extremely popular and provided a talented musician with a quick path to success. Handel was invited to Italy to thoroughly study the Italian operatic style. He arrived there young and unknown to anyone, although he had already written many works in his homeland and received a good education at the Faculty of Law at the University of his hometown of Halle. In 4 years, he managed not only to thoroughly study the laws of Italian opera, but also to achieve major success - this was very difficult for a foreign composer. In Italy, Handel worked a lot, wrote two operas, two oratorios and many cantatas. In total, the composer created about 15 cantatas, of which more than 100 have survived to this day. At that time, Italian opera was very popular in England, and Handel was invited to London to stage his opera Rinaldo and soon became a star of the first magnitude there, heading the best opera troupe, the Royal Academy of Music, for almost 20 years.

Handel's operas are staged very rarely in our time, although individual fragments from them (especially arias) are constantly heard at concerts and in recordings. Most of them are written on Italian texts according to the type of so-called opera seria (translated from Italian as “serious” opera). It was a type of opera genre based on several rules: the plot was taken from the field of history or ancient mythology. There certainly had to be a happy ending in the finale. Much attention paid attention to stage design: costumes, scenery, special effects. In the music of such an opera, the main characters were virtuoso singers, called upon to amaze the audience with the beauty of their voices and the perfection of their technique. The thoughts and experiences of the character receded into the background - the composer was obliged, first of all, to provide the performers of the main roles with the opportunity to show their voices.

In the tradition of opera, Handel's seria 40 operas, at first glance, did not introduce anything new. But banal plots filled with his music take on a serious meaning, and virtuoso singing techniques are only a means of showing the character’s particularly strong feelings. The lyrical melodies of his arias are especially striking in their beauty - sometimes flexible and excited, sometimes strict and courageous. They do not require the singer to sing quickly or sing exorbitantly. high notes. Something more difficult is needed - to find unusual timbre colors in your voice that can convey complex experiences, subtle inner sensations that are sometimes difficult to express in words.

Working in London brings Handel great success. In 1726, he received English citizenship, his troupe was supported by the royal court and leading politicians, which greatly flattered his pride. However, his attachment to the Italian style does not always please the creative bohemia; many, not without reason, believe that this hinders the development of national forms of music on the English stage.

Gradually, discontent grew, and in 1728 a terrible blow fell on the composer. An unusual musical performance was staged in a small theater on the outskirts of London - "The Beggar's Opera" by composer Christopher Pepusch and poet John Gay. Plot (prompted famous author"Gulliver's Travels" by Jonathan Swift) and separate musical numbers were surprisingly reminiscent of Handel's opera Rinaldo. Only the heroes, instead of medieval knights and their beautiful lovers, were... beggars, criminals and girls of easy virtue, and the action took place in the modern London slums. Modern music historians argue that "The Beggar's Opera" ridiculed not so much Handel's music as the political life of England. But hidden image the composer was still in the performance; it was the image of an obsequious stranger, writing only what would bring him easy success with the aristocracy. All performances of the Beggar's Opera were a triumph, and it gained popularity outside of England. And even the royal ban on its production did not save Handel from ridicule and condemnation, and in 1731, despite the composer’s enormous efforts, his opera troupe, the Royal Academy of Music, suffered financial collapse.

Having experienced these events hard, Handel still finds the strength to learn a lesson from them and continue to work. Moreover, at this time he wrote unusually well: the imagination was unusually rich, the excellent material obediently obeyed the will, the orchestra sounded expressive and picturesque, the forms were polished.

He composes one of his best “philosophical” oratorios - “Cheerful, thoughtful and temperate” based on the beautiful youthful poems of Milton, and a little earlier - “Ode to St. Cecilia” based on the text by Drydeia. The famous twelve concerti grossi were written precisely in those years. And it was during these years that Handel parted with opera. In January 1741, the last one, Deidamia, was staged.

Handel's twenty-year struggle ended. He became convinced that the exalted kind of opera seria had no meaning in a country like England. For twenty years Handel persisted. In 1740, he stopped contradicting English taste - and the British recognized his genius. Handel no longer resisted the expression of the spirit of the nation - he became the national composer of England.

Handel needed opera. She raised him and determined the secular nature of his art. Handel polished his style in it, improved the orchestra, aria, recitative, form, and voice. In opera he acquired the language of a dramatic artist. And yet, in the opera he failed to express his main ideas. The highest meaning, the highest purpose of his work was oratorios.

The many years spent in England helped Handel to rethink his time in epic and philosophical terms. Now he was worried about the history of the existence of an entire people. He imagined English modernity as a heroic state of the nation, an era of rise, the flourishing of the best, most perfect strength, intelligence and talent of the people.

Handel felt the need to express a new system of thoughts and feelings. And he also turns to the Bible, the most popular book of the Puritan nation.

The composer succeeded in embodying the optimism of a victorious people, a joyful sense of freedom, and the selflessness of the heroes in his grandiose biblical epics and oratorios.

Without abandoning opera, he now devotes his main attention to oratorios - large works for choir, solo singers and orchestra. Handel, as a rule, took the subjects for his oratorios from the texts of the Old Testament, and this is far from accidental. In England they love and know how to read the Old Testament (and not only theologians, but also ordinary people); Handel plunged into the depths of the English Christian tradition. In the plots of many oratorios, the focus is on a hero who experiences tragic trials, often makes mistakes, but is determined to carry out the work to which God has called him. This is Samson, betrayed into the hands of his enemies, but not resigned to his fate (oratorio "Samson"). Or Jephthah, forced to sacrifice his daughter (oratorio "Jephthah"). Or King Saul, ascended to the heights of power, but powerless in the face of his own passions ( oratorio "Saul"). The fates of these people were clearly close to the composer, who knew suffering and loneliness after success and praise.

A new era began for Handel on August 22, 1741. On this memorable day he began the oratorio "Messiah". He wrote it with feverish speed and finished it in an incredibly short time - already on September 14th. The oratorio was first performed in Dublin on April 13, 1742. The success was huge. Later writers would reward Handel with the sublime epithet - “creator of the Messiah.” For many generations, "Messiah" will be synonymous with Handel. In “Messiah,” Handel, like Bach, turns to the image of Christ (the word “Messiah” translated from Greek means “Savior”). The main character in the music is the choir. Unlike Bach, who constantly thought about the suffering Christ, Handel is closer to Christmas and Easter themes. The music of the choir “A Child Was Born for Our Sake” is filled with light and awe; and plunging into its delicate beauty, you do not immediately notice how complex the choral parts are, intertwined in a polyphonic fabric. When it comes to the Resurrection or Second Coming of Christ in glory, the sound of the choir and orchestra is stunning with its colorfulness and solemn power. Music contains enormous energy and truly great joy that can spiritually unite many people.

It is interesting that to this day the love that the British have for Handel’s oratorios can be called nationwide. People can easily recognize many fragments by ear, such as the famous chorus “Hallelujah” (translated from the Hebrew “Praise the Lord”) from the oratorio “Messiah,” which is perceived by the British almost as a national anthem.

The oratorio “Messiah” was written based on the texts of biblical prophets who herald the imminent appearance of Christ. Everything that oppresses and frightens a person - suffering, deprivation, grief - is only a hint, in the background, and everything that pleases and gives hope - a feeling of unity, unshakable faith and awareness of one’s own limitless possibilities - is shown in large, diverse and unusually convincing ways. Biblical oratorios became the second birth of Handel the composer. In them he was able to penetrate into the depths of not only the spiritual, but also musical thinking people and rely on centuries-old national traditions of choral singing. These traditions are very dear to the British: even in small provincial towns you can still find excellent choirs, professional and amateur, singing in churches or choir clubs.

Of course, Messiah is the most famous of all of Handel's oratorio works. Moreover, fate would have it be the last one in which the great Handel participated publicly as an organist in 1759, shortly before his death.

40 operas and 32 oratorios - a solid list that any composer would envy. But Handel also has brilliant vocal and instrumental works, concertos and suites for orchestra, and sacred works. Let's add to this the many years of work of the director of an opera troupe - staging performances, rehearsals, constant contacts with many people. This man had a huge will, powerful creative energy, and most importantly - great love to music. This love helped him to withstand moments of loneliness and hardship, it made him courageously admit his mistakes and actually start creative life again at 46 years old.

At the end of his life, the composer achieved lasting fame, but he still remains a tireless creator and musical figure, creating many works covered in bright festive moods. Among those written in recent years, “Music for Fireworks,” intended for folk festivals and outdoor performance, stands out for its originality.

In 1750, Handel made his last trip to his homeland, Halle. Upon returning to London, he began composing a new oratorio, “Jeuthai.” But here he is again struck by misfortune, perhaps the most severe of all that befell him: Handel, like Bach, became blind towards the end of his life. Handel bravely fights the tragic blows of fate. Convinced of the incurability of the disease, he resigns himself to the inevitable and returns to his previous activities. Blind, Handel finishes the oratorio “Jeuthai” he began, directs the performance of his works, gives concerts and continues to amaze listeners with the greatness of his improvisations.

A few days before his death, on April 6, 1759, Handel conducted the oratorio Messiah; During the performance, his strength left him, and a short time later - on April 14 - he died and was buried in Westminster Abbey as the great composer of Britain. On the grave monument he is depicted against the background of organ pipes and a robe similar to a royal one.