Posted on 05/07/2009 4:50:48 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
The University of Portsmouth choir will play the funeral anthem which was originally commissioned by King George II to be played at the burial of his wife, Queen Caroline in 1737.
After the performance Handel wanted to translate the 40-minute piece into Italian but the King refused and ordered the music be thrown away and never heard again.
University music lecturer George Burrows will resurrect the long-lost version at Portsmouth's New Theatre Royal on Saturday after his father, Professor Donald Burrows, a leading expert on Handel, found the unfinished translation in a set of archives.
Mr Burrows, who also leads the 70-strong choir, said: "Handel's music has an extraordinary energy and emotion, he seems to be able to tap into something deep and universal in people.
"This is a tremendously exciting opportunity to perform a piece of music with real emotional power."
Baroque composer George Frederic Handel was born in Germany in 1685 and after training in Italy settled in England in 1712, becoming a naturalised subject in 1727.
His most famous piece is 'Water Music' a series of orchestral movements requested by King George I for a concert on the River Thames in 1717.
Handel died in 1759, nine years after a carriage accident in Holland robbed him of his eye sight and was given a state funeral.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
His most famous piece is 'Water Music'Uh, no, his most famous piece is The Messiah, because of the Hallelujah Chorus. Yeah, a lot of musicians are great, but there's literally no other who still causes people all over the world to stand when they hear one particular composition. Well done, George!
That's what I was thinking. But maybe in the U.K. things are different.
Ditto.
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I love Handel’s music! This is really exciting news for me.
A few years ago I attended the Cleveland Orchestra’s performance of Handel’s Messiah and when the first few bars were played, I literally got tears in my eyes. Severance Hall has exquisite acoustics and to hear it live with a world-renowned orchestra, well, pure heaven.
I can't wait to hear this.
Why does music have to be “translated?”
I think it was written that way because “The Messiah” (which is probably one of the ten classical pieces almost anyone in western civ can actually name and/or recognize, along with the Fifth Symphony, and that one by that other guy, and...) would be considered sectarian turmoil by the ever-intolerant bags of phlegm on the left.
I’d answer that, but I only know the reply in Italian.
Okay, yeah, it’s the lyrics that had to be translated. So, we can skip that, because unless it’s in English, hey, I won’t know what they’re singing anyway.
OK, kidding. It looks like this has a choir. ;-)
Wow, did he write that? ;’) Since the opening riff is played on the white keys (descending), it must have been an early work, eh? ;’)
Great!
>Uh, no, his most famous piece is The Messiah, because of the Hallelujah Chorus.<
It’s not only because of the Hallelujah Chorus but more so because it represents the life of Christ. “Unto us a Child is born” ia as awesome and moving as the Chorus.
bttt
My thoughts too.
“Professor Donald Burrows, a leading expert on Handel, found the unfinished translation in a set of archives.”
Maybe the vandals stole the Handel.
I wonder how much of it will sound familiar. Handel steals from himself sometimes.
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