Mozart
Child Mozart in
Schönbrunn Palace
Handel Opera Alessandro
Opera Alessandro by George Frideric Handel is first performed on May 5, 1726. The venue is at London’s King Theatre, with Faustina Bordoni making her debut as Rossane. The opera is in 3 acts, text by Paulo Antonio Rolli.
Summary of Handel Opera Alessandro
Opera Alessandro (Alexander the Great, HWV 21) is an opera written for the Royal Academy of Music in 1719, composed by George Frideric Handel in 1726. Paolo Rolli was the librettist who based the story on Ortensio Mauro’s La superbia d’Alessandro. The opera was first performed on 5 May 1726 at the King’s Theatre, London.
The story of opera Alessandro by Handel is based around Alexander the Great’s journey to India, where he meets Poro, the king of India. After capturing one of its cities, and becoming the king of Macedonia, he becomes involved in a complicated love triangle with two captive princesses. Alessandro has delusions believing that he is the son of the god Jupiter, therefore, he demands to be worshipped as a god. His Macedonian captains conspire to cure him of this belief. During the course of the work, Rossane and Lisaura are rivals for the affection of Alessandro.
Note on Handel’s original opera Alessandro
Alessandro was the first opera where composer Handel cast together the famous singers Faustina Bordoni, as Rossane, and Francesca Cuzzoni, as Lisaura. He made use of their real-life professional rivalry in his treatment of the story.
For more information about German-born English composer George F. Handel (famous for oratorio Messiah), please refer under this website’s Category: Handel G. F.
Händel Opera Alessandro Aria ”Brilla nell’ alma un non inteso ancor” HWV21 by Sandrine Piau
Related Link:
The opera was aired in BBC Radio broadcast some two years ago 2009. If interested, for more information about opera Alessandro, check out Handel Opera Cycle at BBC Through the Night.
Resources:
Price, Curtis, Review of recording of Alessandro (August 1986). Early Music, 14 (3): pp. 450, 452, 454.
Rosenthal. H and Warrack, J. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera. London: OUP, 1973 Reprint.
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Handel Oratorio Messiah
George Frideric Handel oratorio Messiah is first performed on April 13, 1742, in Dublin. In particular, it is customary for the audience, Christians and any believer of Christ’s birth and resurrection, to rise during the singing of the “Hallelujah Chorus” being carried away by the magnificence of Handel’s music.
Brief Information of Oratorio Messiah
Handel set Charles Jennens’ Biblical libretto to an oratorio music with much speed in the summer of 1741. In just 24 days, Messiah was completed, August 22–September 14. Like many of Handel’s compositions, Messiah is much adapted liberally from his earlier works and those of others. He wrote the piece while staying as a guest at Jennens’ country house in Leicestershire, England. It is thought that the work was completed inside a garden temple.
Read my full article here — Handel’s Oratorio “Messiah”
Related Article:
Handel’s Messiah for Christmas
“Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel Oratorio Messiah
Video Credit:
Handel’s Messiah “Hallelujah Chorus” (Robert Shaw)
Note: First published last year, April 13, 2011. Updated for April 13, 2012.
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Beethoven and Eroica
Classical Music Datebook: April 7
Ludwig Van Beethoven Conducts His Symphony No.3 “Eroica”
This day, April 7 1805, Ludwig Van Beethoven conducts in Vienna, Austria, the first public performance of his Symphony No.3 in E Flat Major (Op. 55), famously known as Eroica symphony.
“Eroica” is an Italian term meaning “heroic.” It is a landmark musical work that marks the advent of Beethoven’s series of unprecedented large scale works of intense emotion and structural strength, referred to as “middle-period.”
Beethoven’s Symphony No.3 is often regarded as a mature expression of the late 18th century classical style that displays defining features of the romantic style in the 19th century following the classical period, the era of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Haydn.
Related Articles:
- Beethoven’s only Opera – Fidelio
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 “Eroica” / Abbado · Berliner Philharmoniker
Video Credit:
Beethoven Symphony No.3 “Eroika”, YouTube, Berliner Philharmoniker. Accessed 7 April 2012.
Resources:
- Kennedy, Michael, (Ed). The Oxford Dictionary of Music, Revised Edition. Oxford: OUP, 1994.
- Sadie, Stanley, (Ed). The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music. London: Macmillan, 1994.
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Schubert’s Die Forelle (The Trout)
Franz Schubert – Piano Quintet in A major, D 667 “The Trout”
Considered the greatest melodist of all time, Austrian classical composer Franz Schubert is renowned for German ‘lied’ folk melodies (solo voice with accompaniment, usually, piano), and his “Unfinished Symphony.”
Among the prominent composers associated with Vienna – Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven – only Schubert was born in Vienna, a true blue-blooded Viennese.
The “Trout Quintet” is the popular name for the Piano Quintet in A major, D. 677, by Austrian composer Franz Schubert. This work was composed in 1819, when Schubert was only 22 years old, however, it was only published in 1829, and by this time the composer has died.
Schubert’s piece is written for piano, violin, viola, cello and double bass, a deviation from the usual piano quintet, that is, piano and string quartet. The Trout was actually written for a group of musicians coming together to play the music of Schubert’s fellow pianist and composer, J. Nepomuk Hummel.
The piece is known as The Trout because the fourth movement is a set of variations on Schubert’s earlier Lied “Die Forelle” (The Trout). The quintet was written for a wealthy music patron and amateur cellist, Sylvester Paumgartner, of Steyr in Upper Austria, who also suggested that Schubert include a set of variations on the Lied.
Structure of Piano Quintet in A major D. 667 “The Trout”
1. Allegro vivace in sonata form.
2. Andante in F major. The movement is composed of two symmetrical sections.
3. Scherzo: Presto.
4. Andantino – Allegretto in D major. A theme and variations on Schubert’s Lied Die Forelle.
5. Allegro giusto. The Finale is in two symmetrical sections, like the second movement but with slight variations.
Enjoy an all-time favourite Schubert music, “Die Forelle” (Trout Quintet, D667)
Du Pré, Barenboim, Perlman, Zukerman, Mehta – Schubert: Piano Quintet in A major D 667 “The Trout”
FRANZ SCHUBERT
Piano Quintet in A major D 667 “The Trout” (“Die Forelle”)
PERFORMERS:
Daniel Barenboim, piano
Itzhak Perlman, violin
Pinchas Zuckerman, viola
Jacqueline du Pré, cello
Zubin Mehta, double bass
Schedule:
00:20 Rehearsal and backstage
15:07 I. Allegro vivace
24:43 II. Andante
33:03 III. Scherzo: Presto
37:53 IV Andantino – Allegretto (theme and variations on Schubert’s lied “Die Forelle”)
46:35 V. Allegro giusto
The performace was recorded live in London, Queen Elizabeth Hall, 30 August 1969
Franz Schubert’s Forellenquintett. This is most hilarious! Aside from loving Schubert’s music, it’s much fun watching these talented and brilliant musicians during rehearsals.
Video Credit:
Franz Schubert’s Piano Quintet in A major, D 667 “The Trout”. The Christopher Nupen films, Franz Schubert, The TroutYouTube, uploaded by capitantotti. Accessed March 19, 2012.
Sources:
- Chusid, Martin. “Schubert’s chamber music: before and after Beethoven”; Gibbs, Cristopher H. “German reception: Schubert’s ‘journey to immortality’”; and Notley, Margaret. “Schubert’s social music: the ‘forgotten genres’”. In Cristopher H. Gibbs. The Cambridge Companion to Schubert. Cambridge Companions to Music. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
- Latham, Alison (ed), The Oxford Companion to Music. Oxford University Press, 2002.
- Perry, Jeffrey. “The Wanderer’s Many Returns: Schubert’s Variations Reconsidered,” Journal of Musicology, 19/2, 2002
- Rosen, Charles. The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, expanded edition, W. W. Norton and Co., 1997
Note: Post originally published January 31, 2011. Updated March 19, 2012.
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