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Comus (Handel)
The masque ''Comus'', or ''There in the Blissful Shades'' (HWV * 44) is a short version of John Milton's ''Comus'', based on a libretto earlier made by John Dalton for composer Thomas Arne's own ''Comus''. The sixty-year-old Handel composed the setting in 1745 for the pleasure of other guests during his summer recuperation at the country seat of the Earl of Gainsborough. Some of the music was later recycled by Handel, for example as the tenor aria ''Then will I Jehovah's praise'' from the Occasional Oratorio. Recordings * '' Alceste'' & ''Comus,'' Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood. ( L'Oiseau-Lyre, 1989) * ''Handel at Vauxhall Vol. 2'', London Early Opera, Bridget Cunningham (Signum Records Signum Records, also known as Signum Classics, is a classical musical record label in the UK founded in 1997. The label began with a project to make the first recording of the complete works of Thomas Tallis. The artists for the Tallis recordin ..., 2017) References {{Autho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Masque
The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A masque involved music, dancing, singing and acting, within an elaborate stage design, in which the architectural framing and costumes might be designed by a renowned architect, to present a deferential allegory flattering to the patron. Professional actors and musicians were hired for the speaking and singing parts. Masquers who did not speak or sing were often courtiers: the English queen Anne of Denmark frequently danced with her ladies in masques between 1603 and 1611, and Henry VIII and Charles I of England performed in the masques at their courts. In the tradition of masque, Louis XIV of France danced in ballets at Versailles with music by Jean-Baptiste Lully. Development The masque tradition developed from the elaborate pageants and co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alceste (Handel)
''Alceste'' ("Alcides"; HWV 45, HG 46b, HHA I/30) is a masque, semi-opera or incidental music by George Frideric Handel (or Georg Friederich Händel in German). It was the only complete theater project ever attempted by Handel, and he composed the music when he was nearly 65. Alceste was planned in a prodigal collaboration between the businessman John Rich, the famous scenographer Servandoni and the theater author Tobias George Smollett (1721-1771) (who wrote a now lost play with the same title (Alceste), based on the homonymous tragedy of Euripides) and possibly included song lyrics by Handel's frequent collaborator Thomas Morell (1703-1784), which was rehearsed at Covent Garden Theatre but never performed. Notes by the librettist Thomas Morell suggest that the play may have been canceled due to Handel's incidental music being considered too difficult for the cast. However, it seems that John Rich may have simply decided that an adaptation of a Euripides drama would be a ve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Signum Records
Signum Records, also known as Signum Classics, is a classical musical record label in the UK founded in 1997. The label began with a project to make the first recording of the complete works of Thomas Tallis. The artists for the Tallis recording were the Chapelle du Roi, an ensemble of ten singers founded in 1994 by Alistair Dixon, also co-founder of the record label. The other fifty percent of the company was held by Floating Earth sound engineers. Since the Tallis project the label has grown to host many well-known UK ensembles, including The Kings Singers, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Choir of St John's College, Cambridge, Huddersfield Choral Society, Charivari Agreable, Tenebrae directed by Nigel Short, Voces8, Cantabile and the choir of His Majesty's Chapel Royal, who record at St James's Palace, London. In 2017 they were named Gramophone Magazine ''Gramophone'' is a magazine published monthly in London, devoted to classical music, particularly to reviews of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bridget Cunningham
Bridget Cunningham is a British-Irish harpsichordist, conductor and musicologist specialising in music of the Baroque period. Cunningham is Artistic Director of British period orchestra and research group London Early Opera. Early career Cunningham was educated at Southampton University; the Royal College of Music; and Trinity Laban. She studied the harpsichord under Robert Woolley and was awarded a Junior Fellowship at the Royal College of Music. Following on from this she was a harpsichordist for the Live Music Now Scheme, performed regularly at the Handel Hendrix House and played and coached singers for the all-female choir Vivaldi’s Women. Performing Cunningham has performed at international festivals and venues including The Innsbruck Festival, East Cork Early Music Festival, Victoria International Arts Festival in Gozo, St Martin-in-the-Fields, St John’s Smith Square, St George’s Church Hanover Square, Yale University and at Buckingham Palace for the Royal Fam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London Early Opera
London Early Opera (LEO) is a British List of period instruments, period-instrument orchestra consisting of specialist Baroque music, baroque instrumentalists, singers, researchers, historians and Musicology, musicologists. LEO was founded in 2008 by artistic director Bridget Cunningham as a research-led group. The orchestra is based in London and the south-east of England and became a UK Charity in 2011 (charity no 1143989). Research and education London Early Opera undertakes Musicology, musicological research into baroque music and Historically informed performance, historical performance practice, working with historians, scholars and editors including Bridget Cunningham David E. Coke, Lars Tharp and Michael Talbot (musicologist), Michael Talbot. The orchestra performs and records well-known baroque music as well as newly discovered historical works to preserve musical heritage. The group also creates new scholarly editions of previously lost musical works, specialising in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christopher Hogwood
Christopher Jarvis Haley Hogwood (10 September 194124 September 2014) was an English conductor, harpsichordist, writer, and musicologist. Founder of the early music ensemble the Academy of Ancient Music, he was an authority on historically informed performance and a leading figure in the early music revival of the late 20th century. Early life and education Born in Nottingham, Hogwood went to The Skinners' School, Royal Tunbridge Wells, and then studied Music and Classics at Pembroke College, Cambridge, graduating in 1964. He went on to study performance and conducting under Raymond Leppard, Mary Potts and Thurston Dart, and later with Rafael Puyana and Gustav Leonhardt. He also studied in Prague with Zuzana Ruzickova for a year, under a British Council scholarship. Career In 1967, Hogwood co-founded the Early Music Consort with David Munrow. In 1973 he founded the Academy of Ancient Music, which specializes in performances of Baroque and Classical music using period instrum ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Academy Of Ancient Music
The Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) is a British period-instrument orchestra based in Cambridge, England. Founded by harpsichordist Christopher Hogwood in 1973, it was named after an 18th-century organisation of the same name (originally the Academy of Vocal Music). The musicians play on either original instruments from the period when the music was composed or modern copies of such instruments. They generally play Baroque and Classical music, though they have also played some new compositions for baroque orchestra in recent years. The AAM's current Music Director is Laurence Cummings, who took over the post from Richard Egarr at the beginning of the 2021-2022 season. Original organisation The original Academy of Vocal Music was founded in London, England in 1725/26 (the Gregorian date of the inaugural meeting was 1 February 1726). Records of the purpose of the academy no longer exist, but according to John Hawkins in 1770, it was intended to "promote the study and pract ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Occasional Oratorio
''An Occasional Oratorio'' ( HWV 62) is an oratorio by George Frideric Handel, based upon a libretto by Newburgh Hamilton after the poetry of John Milton and Edmund Spenser. The work was written in the midst of the Jacobite rising of 1745–1746, the attempt to overthrow Handel's patrons the Hanoverian monarchy under George II and replace them with a Stuart restoration under Charles Edward Stuart, "Bonnie Prince Charlie". The ''Occasional Oratorio'' is unique among Handel's works which he labelled "oratorio" in that it does not tell a story or contain elements of a drama, but was intended as a defiant and patriotic rallying piece. The Stuart armies, based in Scotland, had invaded England and got as far as Derby when the King's armies under the command of the King's son Prince William, Duke of Cumberland had driven them back to Scotland in December 1745. The fighting was at a hiatus due to winter weather and the Duke of Cumberland was in London in February 1746. Handel composed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 political upheaval. It addressed the fall of man, including the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and God's expulsion of them from the Garden of Eden. ''Paradise Lost'' is widely considered one of the greatest works of literature ever written, and it elevated Milton's widely-held reputation as one of history's greatest poets. He also served as a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under its Council of State and later under Oliver Cromwell. Writing in English, Latin, and Italian, Milton achieved global fame and recognition during his lifetime; his celebrated '' Areopagitica'' (1644), written in condemnation of pre-publication censorship, is among history's most influential and impassioned defences of freedom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Earl Of Gainsborough
Earl of Gainsborough is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The first creation ended in extinction when the sixth Earl died without heirs. However, the title was revived in 1841 for a female-line relative. 1682 creation Baptist Hicks was a wealthy textile merchant in London and also represented Tavistock and Tewkesbury in the House of Commons. In 1627 he was created a baronet, of Campden in the County of Gloucester, with remainder to heirs male of his body. One year later Hicks was raised to the peerage as Baron Hicks, of Ilmington in the County of Warwick, and Viscount Campden, of Campden in the County of Gloucester, with remainder to his son-in-law Edward Noel, husband of his daughter Juliana. On Lord Campden's death the baronetcy became extinct while he was succeeded in the barony and viscountcy according to the special remainder by his son-in-law, the second Viscount. He had earlier represented ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Handel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training in Halle and worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London in 1712, where he spent the bulk of his career and became a naturalised British subject in 1727. He was strongly influenced both by the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition and by composers of the Italian Baroque. In turn, Handel's music forms one of the peaks of the "high baroque" style, bringing Italian opera to its highest development, creating the genres of English oratorio and organ concerto, and introducing a new style into English church music. He is consistently recognized as one of the greatest composers of his age. Handel started three commercial opera companies to supply the English nobility with Italian opera. In 1737, he had a physical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
