The organ

[AdamSmith]

[AdamSmith]

[AdamSmith]

[whipped guy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erKsIJyfB_Q

This is as close to the original as I could find of this extraordinary piece as it is played on something that sounds like a harpsichord. It is part of a keyboard Suite in D minor. It certainly shows how the greatest composers can take a very simple motive and turn it into a thing of exquisite beauty.

 

 

On piano, but it shows the score which is really bare bones and requires some embellishment as was the custom ar the time to help bring it to life... something that would be second nature to any musician in the 18th Century.

 

 

Again one looks in awe at the simplicity of it all when one sees the bare bones. The hallmark of greatness! No wonder Handel was so admired by Beethoven who said that he was "the greatest composer"!

[AdamSmith]

How could I have neglected to post this!

 

[whipped guy]

And how could I have neglected to post this!

 

 

Note to moderators: Colonel Klink was portrayed by the son of famed conductor Otto Klemperer (on who's Eroica I was brought up on by the way) so that makes this seemingly trite TV posting legal if by the back door!

[TruHart1]

And how could I have neglected to post this!

 

 

Note to moderators: Colonel Klink was portrayed by the son of famed conductor Otto Klemperer (on who's Eroica I was brought up by the way) so that makes this seemingly trite TV posting legal if by the back door!

Oh yes...and we know how well you like to enter by the back door, WG!!! LOL :rolleyes:

 

TruHart1

[whipped guy]

I downloaded the sheet music to the Handel Sarabande referenced above. It is so simple on the page, but I found it difficult to play... well in the sense that I was overcome with emotion... and especially at the harmonic progression in bars 7-8! 64 succinct measures of perfection! That it was according to Wikipedia composed between 1703 - 1706 when Handel would have been between 18 and 21 years old only makes the achievement all the more awesome as the emotional depths explored would seem to be something only capable to have bern achieved by someone much more worldly!

[AdamSmith]

when Handel would have been between 18 and 21 years old

This kind of news always inspires a mix of awe and despair!

 

Like that realization that when LvB was my age, he had been dead for a year!

[whipped guy]

This kind of news always inspires a mix of awe and despair!

 

Like that realization that when LvB was my age, he had been dead for a year!

Well ditto to that. Not to mention I would not want to hang for the number of years (about 31 for me) if you add Mozart into the equation. It really makes one feel so inadequate!

[+ g56whiz]

Well ditto to that. Not to mention I would not want to hang for the number of years (about 31 for me) if you add Mozart into the equation. It really makes one feel so inadequate!

 

31? Isn't that about the number of minutes it takes Massenet's Werther to sing himself to death after shooting himself in the gut.

[AdamSmith]

31? Isn't that about the number of minutes it takes Massenet's Werther to die after shooting himself in the gut.

LMMFAO!!!

 

[+ g56whiz]

The hallmark of greatness! No wonder Handel was so amired by Beethoven who said that he was "the greatest composer"!

 

My first exposure to the master was a complete Messiah as a treble in a cathedral boys choir. I was too young. It was a Handel-Haydn Society type performance common in the mid XXth century before the early music movement took hold. By now I've heard or performed the work so often, I flee at the thought of enduring another.

 

While living in NYC I caught a performance by Les Arts Florissants of Lully's Atys at BAM and have followed the group a bit ever since. Last December, I noticed that Spotify had a Les Arts Florissants' Messiah. My curiosity got the better of my ennui and I listened. It was amazing. The choral work was precise even to awkward vowels used by these Francophone vocalist. But what was truly outstanding was the degree of ornamentation the soloists used. It was like embellishments on steroids. It seemed of a piece with the Handel operas I've seen. Assuming Bill Christie has the right approach, why don't we here more Messiahs like this?

 

BTW I can't get enough of Handel's organ concertos.

[AdamSmith]

BTW I can't get enough of Handel's organ concertos.

YES!!!

 

Aren't they just beyond sublime?

 

A pity they're so overshadowed for most listeners by the big works.

[whipped guy]

One more word on Messiah. A couple of seasons ago, and before I decided that I hated winters up north, I did attend a presentation of the piece at Carnegie Hall in the grotesque and overly pompous Goosens/Thomas Beecham overly re-orchestrated version! It was actually lots of fun and an adventure all of its own. One never knew when the next cymbal crash would come! It was interesting to watch the two harps played by two gorgeous young blond women as they mostly took the part a what normally would be the harpsichord continuo in the recits. However, they had much much more to than just that! Also the chorus was so large that they had them positioned in the upper balconies on both sides of the auditorium for a stereophonic effect. Not something that I would want to do often, but it certainly was something different for a HIPster such as I am!

 

Also regarding Handel's organ concerti they are again simple compositions and much in the same category as Haydn's organ concerti that I mention way back when in this thread. It's too bad that the most famous one is often played on the harp even though the alternate version is authentic from what I gather. Handel played them between the sections of his oratorios and as such I'm sure the written text us only a sketch of what he actually performed. Plus often the slow movements were actually improvisations by Mr. Handel!

 

[+ quoththeraven]

I love Handel, but Bach was more musically innovative. Handel wrote exquisite, emotionally vibrant music that was easy rather than challenging to listen to.

 

Hm. I think I may be analogizing Handel to the greatest of mass or pop music composers and arrangers and Bach to more experimental musicians. I listen to Handel more often but am more awed by Bach's artistry. Although writing The Messiah in 24 days is not an accomplishment to sneeze at.

[whipped guy]

31? Isn't that about the number of minutes it takes Massenet's Werther to sing himself to death after shooting himself in the gut.

Actually that's the amount of time that Radames and Aida spend singing when they could be conserving valuable oxygen and plotting their escape. Given the maze that was characteristic of ancient Egyptian structures you just know that there just had to be a secret tunnel outa there!

[whipped guy]

I love Handel, but Bach was more musically innovative. Handel wrote exquisite, emotionally vibrant music that was easy rather than challenging to listen to.

 

Hm. I think I may be analogizing Handel to the greatest of mass or pop music composers and arrangers and Bach to more experimental musicians. I listen to Handel more often but am more awed by Bach's artistry. Although writing The Messiah in 24 days is not an accomplishment to sneeze at.

Bach was a great theorist, the master of all things counterpoint...and analogous to a great mathematician. Yet Handel was a great contrapunlalist as well and I dare say that his often craggy snd disjointed fugal themes are way more adventurous than even the great Bach himself. One is constantly in awe of Bach's genius. However, Handel goes more directly to the heart while often having as much genius. He can make you cry, smile, dance, or what ever... I think that's what touched Beethoven as well.

[+ quoththeraven]

Bach was a great theorist, the master of all things counterpoint...and analogous to a great mathematician. Yet Handel was a great contrapunlalist as well and I dare say that his often craggy snd disjointed fugal themes are way more adventurous than even the great Bach himself. One is constantly in awe of Bach's genius. However, Handel goes more directly to the heart while often having as much genius. He can make you cry, smile, dance, or what ever... I think that's what touched Beethoven as well.

I agree, Bach is more cerebral. Handel's music pierces the heart.

 

My listening preferences reveal the same bias. Other than Renaissance/baroque music, I almost exclusively listen to popular music in one form or another because of its emotional impact. Engrossing music videos, meaningful lyrics and cute guys don't hurt either.

[AdamSmith]

Actually that's the amount of time that Radames and Aida spend singing when they could be conserving valuable oxygen and plotting their escape. Given the maze that was characteristic of ancient Egyptian structures you just know that there just had to be a secret tunnel outa there!

LMAO! Yet again!

 

Bravo!

[+ quoththeraven]

Actually that's the amount of time that Radames and Aida spend singing when they could be conserving valuable oxygen and plotting their escape. Given the maze that was characteristic of ancient Egyptian structures you just know that there just had to be a secret tunnel outa there!

It's like they wanted to die. The opera wouldn't have the same emotional impact if they didn't.

[whipped guy]

It's like they wanted to die. The opera wouldn't have the same emotional impact if they didn't.

Nor that etherial concluding duet!!!

[+ g56whiz]

It's like they wanted to die.

 

Of course they wanted to die. Have you ever encountered an Amneris who wasn't truly scariy?

[whipped guy]

Of course they wanted to die. Have you ever encountered an Amneris who wasn't truly scariy?

One possible exception might be the diminutive Giulietta Simionato. She was not much over 5 feet and wore lifts when on stage to increase her height. Here she is as Amneris at la Scala with the Aïda of Leontyne Price along with with the sovrintendente of La Scala, Antonio Ghiringhelli. She actually looks kind of jovial here and indeed had a reputation as being so, but in spite of her small size she could actually pack quite the proverbial punch!

 

 

In a performance filmed in Japan.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62PN2RWIsRE

[TruHart1]

31? Isn't that about the number of minutes it takes Massenet's Werther to sing himself to death after shooting himself in the gut.

----------------------------------Any excuse to share my favorite tenor in two of his best roles:

 

First off, @g56whiz, here is the complete death of Werther from the MET HD transmission on March 15, 2014. It is just under 18 minutes (17'57"), nowhere near 31 minutes, although it certainly takes a long time for Werther to bleed out, especially because this production has him shooting the bullet directly into his heart! Jonas Kaufmann and Sophie Koch:

 

Actually that's the amount of time that Radames and Aida spend singing when they could be conserving valuable oxygen and plotting their escape. Given the maze that was characteristic of ancient Egyptian structures you just know that there just had to be a secret tunnel outa there!

LMAO! Yet again!

 

Bravo!

It's like they wanted to die. The opera wouldn't have the same emotional impact if they didn't.

Nor that etherial concluding duet!!!

Of course they wanted to die. Have you ever encountered an Amneris who wasn't truly scariy?

Here for you, @whipped guy, the final scene from Aïda coming in at just over 12 minutes (12'08") so a bit more than a 3rd of 31 minutes!!! This production from Munich in September of 2015 has one of those stupid, non-scenery productions with no tomb in sight, which might as well be a concert performance. :rolleyes: Jonas Kaufmann and Krassimira Stoyanova (Anna Smirnova as Amneris):

 

TruHart1