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("The Cheerful, the Thoughtful, and the Moderate Man"), HWV 55, is a
pastoral A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depict ...
ode by
George Frideric Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music, Baroque composer well known for his opera#Baroque era, operas, oratorios, anthems, concerto grosso, concerti grossi, ...
based on the poetry of
John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and politica ...
.


History

Handel composed the work over the period of 19 January to 4 February 1740,Michael O'Connell, John Powell, "Music and Sense in Handel's Setting of Milton's ''L'Allegro'' and ''Il Penseroso''" (Autumn 1978). ''Eighteenth-Century Studies'', 12 (1): pp. 16–46. and it was premiered on 27 February 1740 at the Royal Theatre of
Lincoln's Inn Fields Lincoln's Inn Fields is the largest public square in London. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a long series of entrepreneurs who took a hand in develo ...
. At the urging of one of Handel's librettists,
Charles Jennens Charles Jennens (1700 – 20 November 1773) was an English landowner and patron of the arts. As a friend of Handel, he helped author the libretti of several of his oratorios, most notably ''Messiah''. Life Jennens was brought up at Gopsall ...
, Milton's two poems, "
L'Allegro ''L'Allegro'' is a pastoral poem by John Milton published in his 1645 ''Poems''. ''L'Allegro'' (which means "the happy man" in Italian) has from its first appearance been paired with the contrasting pastoral poem, ''Il Penseroso'' ("the mela ...
" and " il Penseroso", were arranged by James Harris, interleaving them to create dramatic tension between the personified characters of Milton's poems (L'Allegro or the "Joyful man" and il Penseroso or the "Contemplative man"). The first two movements consist of this dramatic dialog between Milton's poems. In an attempt to unite the two poems into a singular "moral design", at Handel's request, Jennens added a new poem, "il Moderato", to create a third movement. The popular concluding aria and chorus, "As Steals the Morn" is adapted from
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's '' The Tempest'', V.i.65–68. Michael O'Connell and John Powell have published an analysis of Handel's setting of the text in his musical treatment.


Dramatis Personae

* Soprano I * Soprano II * Alto (some versions only) * Tenor * Bass * Chorus There are no characters, no specific 'L'Allegro" or "Penseroso". The "drama" comes from alternating episodes representing the humors. Some versions give arias to different soloists. For instance, the "da capo" version of the aria "Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures" is sung by a soprano (Gardiner, English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir, 1980) but the truncated recitative version is sung by a bass (Nelson, Ensemble Orchestra de Paris, 2000). Also, all soloists sing in the "il Moderato" section.


Dance choreography

In 1988, Mark Morris choreographed a dance performance to accompany the music and poetry.Review/Dance; Mark Morris Interprets Handel
Kisselgoff, Anna, ''
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'', 8 October 1990


References


External links

* Full-text libretto hosted at
wikisource Wikisource is an online digital library of free-content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole and the name for each instance of that project (each instance usually re ...
.
Score
of ''L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato'' (ed.
Friedrich Chrysander Karl Franz Friedrich Chrysander (8 July 1826 – 3 September 1901) was a German music historian, critic and publisher, whose edition of the works of George Frideric Handel and authoritative writings on many other composers established him as a ...
, Leipzig 1859)
Full-text libretto
hosted by
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...
. * Full-text of Milton's L'Allegro and il Penseroso a
Project Gutenberg
* Text and Commentary on L'Allegro a
Dartmouth.edu
* Text and Commentary on il Penseroso a
Dartmouth.edu


by Boston Cecilia.
Notes by Music with Ease
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato Oratorios by George Frideric Handel 1740 compositions