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 ...
Well, the paper was probably afraid of Muslim rioters followed by government thought police accusing it of hate speech.
I agree. So is “For the Glory of the Lord.”
I also like “He Shall Feed His Flock Like a Shepherd.”
It’s a wonderful piece of music, start to finish, both musically and theologically.
He got sick, then got well.
I was going to say “handel’s Messiah” too...maybe it’s the most famous in America?
RoFL!
Maybe the vandals stole the Handel.
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Well done, a little subterreanean homesick blues on an Handel thread.
Thanks, I was kinda proud of that when it just rolled out. ;’)
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