Handel

Una vez más, el onomástico se impone como pretexto para discurrir en torno a tres pilares de la música barroca contemporáneos entre sí: Handel (nacido el 23 de febrero de 1685), Antonio Vivaldi (4 de marzo de 1678) y el primaveral Johann Sebastián Bach (21 de marzo de 1685). Los primeros dos dominan la escena musical de su época gracias a su audaz, moderna y virtuosa inventiva melódica (vocal e instrumental) mientras que Bach, en su dominio absoluto del viejo y despreciado contrapunto polifónico siempre quedó relegado a un frustrante segundo plano.

These extracts on music from the correspondence between Charles Jennens (1700–73) and Edward Holdsworth (1684–1746) reflect the authors' shared interests and (prohibited) political views. Though commonly known as the librettist of Messiah, Jennens was also a collector of music and art, and as such capitalized on Holdworth's travels as a tutor of young gentlemen on the Grand Tour. Many of the letters detail musical commissions and their fulfilment by a willing Holdsworth. In return, Jennens acted as Holdsworth's financial advisor, editorial consultant and publication adviser. Other discussions centre around the public and personal rating of singers and operas, in London and abroad, and include discussions of Handel's fortunes, his borrowing of music from Jennens's collection and his health. Mentions of personnel are not restricted to musicians but also encompass members of Jennens's family and of his and Holdsworth's social circles, many of whom were supporters of Handel.

The feast day of St. Cecilia has assumed a prominent place on the calendars of many a musician throughout the Christian world, as a matter of devotion and an opportunity for artistic celebration. In London, a series of fortuitous events gave rise to a brief but significant series of festivals in Cecilia’s honor, which enabled collaborations among the great composers and poets of the day. No work composed for these festivals has captured the imagination of its admirers like John Dryden's 1687 ode, "A Song for St. Cecilia's Day." This essay is a brief introduction to the historical, political, and philosophical underpinnings of this work, and a lyrical analysis of four significant settings by Giovanni Battista Draghi (c.1640–1708), George Frederic Händel (1685–1759), Norman Dello Joio (1913–2008), and Daniel Pinkham (1923–2006).

Baroque opera was invented on a deathly premise: reviving a tradition of sung ancient tragedy that had in fact never existed. Modern historiography has struggled with the notion of origins, focusing on relationships among the surviving textual sources to make sense of the proliferation of theatrical subjects. These relationships remain important—but there is also reason to delve deeper into the “haunted” status of early opera. With respect to three central works on the subject of Agrippina and her son Nero (Nerone fatto Cesare, Noris-Perti, Venice 1693; Agrippina, Noris-Magni, Milan 1703; and L’Agrippina, Handel-[Grimani], Venice 1709), the haunted status of performances was made explicit, both in the drama and in contemporary poems dedicated to the main singers.
Using terminology associated with the “spectral turn” in the humanities, this essay argues for rethinking operatic genealogies through the lens of hauntological intertextualities. In contrast to traditional theories of compositional influence, this study adopts a non-linear historiographical approach to performance genealogies, embracing text, music, and discourse about opera itself. Contesting the use of the concept of “origins” with respect to both the birth and subject matter of baroque opera, I argue that the genre developed as an already haunted narration.

It has become a commonplace in the twentieth century to view opera as the most hopeless of theatrical genres, impossible to deal with in any fresh or original way. Then comes Andrei Serban ready to tackle a whole series of classic operas and treat them like Chekhov, drawing out the most dramatic aspects of their essence, staging them in imaginative ways, and in general causing audiences to see them anew. After dealing in this way with The Marriage of Figaro and Traviata, Serban seemed to be taking on an impossible task in trying to bring freshness to Handel's ultra-Baroque Alcina, almost quintessentially a non-dramatic work with vast stretches of florid music sung by lone singers planted solidly stage center. Nevertheless, his rendering of this work at the New York City Opera, in con- junction with musical director Raymond Leppard, manages to be continually interesting, with surprising theatrical novelty throughout.

Victory and defeat, hope and despair, love and hate. In the operas and oratorios by George Frideric Handel, all aspects of life are explored. Spotlighting tenor Leif Aruhn-Solén, New Trinity Baroque present arias in an intimate chamber music setting.

In Singing in Signs: New Semiotic Explorations of Opera. Edited by Gregory J. Decker and Matthew Shaftel. New York, Oxford University Press.

In this chapter, I make a case for the interpretive significance of Baroque topics by examining historical thought and modern analytical precedent, detailing the types of significations these topics might convey, and presenting case studies that demonstrate the efficacy of musical topics in the analysis of opera seria. These case studies are drawn from the Italian language operas of G.F. Handel and focus on his uses of the minuet and the gigue. The strategic use of dance topics in the late Baroque was likely meaningful to Handel’s audiences and can still be useful for interpretation today.

“I vanni occulti: Sonatas, Op. 2 by G. F. Handel, between lyricism and fury”. Notas musicológicas para el CD Georg Friedrich Händel. Trio Sonatas op. 2. Al Ayre Español, Eduardo López Banzo, director. Challenge Records, CC72797, Amersfoort (Holanda), 2019, pp. 6-10 (inglés) y pp. 17-21 (español). //

Under the title I vanni occulti, ensemble Al Ayre Español, led by maestro Eduardo López Banzo, offers us its personal vision of Handel’s Sonatas Op. 2. The phrase comes from the oratorio Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno (The Triumph of Time and Disillusion, 1707). The reference to this aria is not anecdotal, because Sonata No. 1 in this Op. 2 contains references to this music — an aspect that, hardly surprisingly, constitutes a characteristic element of the composition technique of the maestro from Halle. //

Over the course of his life, Handel composed 20 trio sonatas, 12 of which were published in London in two different collections: six sonatas were published in 1733 as Op. 2 (HWV 386–391) and another seven printed in 1739 as Op. 5 (HWV 396–402). In a disguised allusion to the vanitas allegory and the fleeting passage of time, Al Ayre Español presents, just three years after its recording of Op. 5 [Challenge Classics, CC72663], an introspective version of Op. 2, which completes and, at the same time, complements the group’s first rendition of Handel’s trio sonatas. The two recordings form a single project that offers the listener a passionate and impassioned, southern and Mediterranean version of this exquisite chamber music. This version is marked by the emergence, with particular expressive intensity, of the two aesthetic poles present in the chamber music universe of Handel (and of López Banzo himself): the most contained lyricism combined with the most explosive fury.

The article examines the first Italian translation of Ursula Kirkendale's studies about Handel's Roman years and how influential her work has been until now - Prince Ruspoli Musical and Musicological Prize being one of its most welcome effects. The translation was issued by LIM in 2017 and it is a thoroughly revised and updated version of the groundbreaking writings by Ursula Kirkendale, carefully commented by her eminent husband Warren Kirkendale. Moreover, the article proposes a new answer to an old question: why biographers (before Ursula Kirkendale) did not say much about the composer's Roman years and his departure from the Eternal City.

ABSTRACT

Title: Research in Performance: Analysis of Five Trumpet Works
Author: Frederick A. Sienkiewicz
Research Area: Music
Guidance Committee Chair & Dept: Eric M. Berlin, Music
Guidance Committee Member & Dept: Nikki R. Stoia, Music

The academic tools provided by the undergraduate music curriculum here at the University of Massachusetts are  not mere academic exercises, separate from the practice of music-making, but an integral part of the process of preparing and performing. As part of preparing my Senior Recital, I chose to make an in-depth study to experience what this perspective on musical performance means to me as a performer.  For my recital and this exploration, I chose five of the central works of trumpet repertoire, "The Trumpet Shall Sound" (from Messiah) by G. F. Handel, Concerto for Trumpet in E-flat Major by Joseph Haydn, Legend by Georges Enesco, Sonata fur Trompete und Klavier by Paul Hindemith, and Variations on The Carnival of Venice by J. B. Arban.  In this paper, I discuss my own experience of the process of learning, studying, and performing each work, comment on the diverse tools I used to gain deeper insight, and present the applicable conclusions I've come to through my research and experience.  These conclusions, where appropriate, take the form of music-theoretic notes including harmonic, thematic, and formal analytic sketches, historical background, and/or a survey of available recordings. At every step of preparing this research, I was surprised at the new depth and interest, as both performer and listener, which I found through the richer understanding of the formal structures and historical context of each work.  It is now my conviction that this process of detailed and informed musical preparation is essential to my ability to be an effective performer and create great music.

Honors Project (499Y/P)

Due partiture di Benedetto Marcello e un possibile contributo handeliano ROMA -TORINO ERI EDIZIONI RAI RADIOTELEVISIONE ITALIANA MCMLXXXIII l Gli scritti cui faccio riferimento sono: Francesco Gasparini, virtuoso del principe Borghese?, in Francesco Gasparini (1661-1727), Atti del primo convegno internazionale (Camaiore, 29 settembre-r ottobre 1978), a cura di Fabrizio Della Seta e Franco Piperno, Firenze, Olschki, 1981, pagg. 215-243; Documenti inediti su Vivaldi a Roma, in FONDAZIONE GIORGIO CINI-ISTITUTO ITALIANO ANTONIO VIVALDI, Antonio Vivaldi. Teatro musicale cultura e società, a cura di Lorenzo Bianconi e Giovanni Morelli, Firenze, Olschki, 1982, pagg. 521-532;-Le nozze del Tebro col/'Adria. Musicisti e pubblico tra Roma e Venezia, in L'invenzione del gusto. Corelli e Vivaldi. Mutazioni culturali, a Roma e Venezia, nel periodo post-barocco, a cura di Giovanni Morelli, Milano, Ricordi, 1982, pagg. 142-149; I Borghese (1691 I Borghese ( -1731. La musica di una generazione, in «Note d'archivio», N.S., I, (1982), pagg. 139-208.

Die österreichischen Donauländer waren für die Transithandels- und Gewerbeexportstadt Nürnberg ein wichtiger Teil ihres binneneuropäischen Hinterlandes. Seit dem Spätmittelalter wurden die überregional bedeutenden Jahrmärkte in Linz und Krems von Nürnberger Kaufleuten in großer Anzahl besucht, und in der Reichshaupt- und Residenzstadt Wien besaßen Nürnberger Großhändler eigene Handelsgewölbe, die ganzjährig geöffnet waren. Auf Basis der „Kremser Waag- und Niederlagsbücher“, einer 28 Jahrgänge umfassenden Rechnungsbuchreihe (1621–1737), können Nürnberger Kaufleute identifiziert und Informationen über ihre geschäftlichen Aktivitäten gewonnen werden. Diese Analyse erfolgt vor dem Hintergrund verstärkter merkantilistischer Maßnahmen in den österreichischen Donauländern an der Wende vom 17. zum 18. Jahrhundert.

The Austrian Danube region formed an important part of Nuremberg’s central-European hinterland. Since the Late Middle Ages merchants from Nuremberg used to frequent the important fairs of Linz and Krems in great numbers. In the imperial capital of Vienna they belonged to the group of the so-called “Viennese warehousers”, who were privileged to run wholesale businesses throughout the year. The 28 “Registers of the Civic Weigh House and of the Staple Fees of the City of Krems” (“Kremser Waag- und Niederlagsbücher”) for the period 1621–1737 allow us to identify Nuremberg merchants of this period. These data form the basis of an analysis of the economic activities of Nuremberg traders in the archduchy of Austria in the age of mercantilism.

Grande conoscitore e amico dei pittori, egli stesso dilettante d’arte, Anton Maria Zanetti di Girolamo (1680-1767) è ben noto pure per il suo album di caricature, una galleria di trecentocinquanta indimenticabili ritratti: dai famosi divi dell’opera agli anonimi popolani, irrisi senza distinzioni. Dopo il catalogo della mostra del 1969 e sulla base della bibliografia, la schedatura iniziata nel 2008 e condotta grazie al contributo fondamentale di Save Venice Inc., con la partecipazione dell’UNESCO Office in Venice e del Francis Haskell Memorial Fund, ha ricostruito la genesi della raccolta, confrontandola con i simili album del console Smith (Windsor Castle, collezioni reali) e di Francesco Algarotti (Gerusalemme, Israel Museum). Sono molte le novità del volume, edito da Lineadacqua, dedicato alla memoria di W. R. Rearick: le attribuzioni a Marco Ricci caricaturista, la cronologia e il montaggio dei disegni sulla pagina, l’identificazione di alcuni effigiati e del postillatore tardo settecentesco, i legami con le arti figurative, il teatro e la musica, aspetti che gettano nuova luce su Zanetti, sulla sua rete cosmopolita, su Venezia.

Weite Teile des heutigen Sachsen-Anhalts bildeten im 10. und frühen 11. Jh. die zentrale Königslandschaft im ostfränkisch-deutschen Reich. Dieser Raum wurde durch zahlreiche Pfalzen, Königshöfe, Burgen und Marktorte sowie durch Klöster und Stifte erschlossen, die ihn zu einer einzigartigen Kulturlandschaft werden ließen.

Der vorliegende Tagungsband vereint ausgewählte Beiträge zweier Workshops des Pfalzenarbeitskreises Sachsen-Anhalt, die 2013 und 2014 in Merseburg und Tilleda stattfanden. Die zeitliche Bandbreite der Aufsätze reicht von den weit zurückliegenden Wurzeln dieser bedeutenden Kulturlandschaft in vorgeschichtlicher Zeit hin zu den Entwicklungen in Hoch- und Spätmittel/alter. Geboten werden neue Erkenntnisse zu verschiedenen Pfalzen, etwa Werben, Tilleda und Wallhausen, zur Vernetzung bronzezeitlicher Höhensiedlungen, zur Lage der ottonischen Marktorte im zeitgenössischen Wegenetz oder aber zur Merseburger Stadtgeschichtsforschung. Darüber hinaus werden moderne Bestrebungen zur touristischen Erschließung der Königspfalzen sowie zum dauerhaften Erhalt der Kulturlandschaft Ostsachsens präsentiert.

Wolfgang Wüst, Frühe Industrialisierung in Bayern abseits der Zentren – eine Einführung, in: Wolfgang Wüst (Hg.), Industrialisierung einer Landschaft – der Traum von Textil und Porzellan. Die Region Hof und das Vogtland (Mikro und Makro – Vergleichende Regionalstudien 2) Erlangen 2018, S. 13–26.

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Titel der Diplomarbeit "Zwei Besuche im österreichischen Litorale. Triest als Station der innerösterreichischen Erbhuldigungsreisen Leopolds I. 1660 und Karls VI. 1728" Verfasserin Daniela Hahn angestrebter akademischer Grad Magistra der Philosophie (Mag. Phil.) Wien, 2013 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt: A 312 Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt: Diplomstudium Geschichte Betreuer: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Thomas Winkelbauer Danksagung Die vorliegende Diplomarbeit wäre ohne die Anregung und unkomplizierte Betreuung durch Univ.-Prof. Thomas Winkelbauer, Direktor des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung, nicht zustande gekommen. Erst über den Besuch seines Forschungseminars zur Frühneuzeitlichen Herrschaftsinszenierung bin ich zu der Thematik gelangt und habe die Möglichkeit erhalten, meine Abschlussarbeit bei ihm zu schreiben. Als Anlaufpunkt für die Quellen zu meiner Diplomarbeit und die außerordentliche Unterstützung beim Konsultieren dieser möchte ich mich bei Renata Zorovich und Gabriella Norio, Mitarbeiterinnen des Archivio Diplomatico di Trieste, und Paola Ugolini, Archivio Generale di Trieste, bedanken. Ebenso gebührt Dank den Mitarbeitern des Haus-, Hof-und Staatsarchivs in Wien. Bei der Bearbeitung der italienischen Quellen sind mir Francesca Del Torre, Sofia Magnaguagno und Ilaria Vudafieri hilfreich zur Seite gestanden, denen ich dafür meinen herzlichen Dank aussprechen möchte. Zu aller Zeit war mir Andrea Lehsiak eine große Stütze. Galt es nun, dem Text konzeptuell und formal den letzten Schliff zu verleihen oder -als Fels in der Brandung -hatte sie immerzu ein aufmunterndes Wort auf den Lippen und ein offenes Ohr für mich. Darüber hinaus sind die großartigen Grafiken zur Huldigungsreise Leopold I. und Karl VI. ihrer Gestaltung zu verdanken. Ebenfalls möchte ich mich bei meiner Mitstreiterin im Abschluss des Diplomstudiums Stephanie Anton, die mir stets beigestanden und geholfen hat, bedanken. Meinen Eltern möchte ich Dank aussprechen für ihre Unterstützung während meiner Studienzeit. Meine Mutter hat mir bei der Archivrecherche in Triest zur Seite gestandeneine unvergessliche Reise -, wofür ich ihr danken möchte. Inhaltsverzeichnis

This paper presents retail as a concept inherent both to the idea of the city, and to universal human needs. The author discusses the ideas of utilitarian and hedonic needs, closely related to the idea of urban retail. Next, the author goes on to outline the relationship between human needs and the evolution and functioning of various forms of retail – from the first marketplaces, through high streets and department stores, to modern shopping malls. The author concludes the article with some thoughts about the confrontation of modern urban planners with the expansion of the recent forms of retail, uniform and full-on retail chains. [full article in polish]

W artykule przedstawiono koncepcję handlu, jako nierozerwalnie związaną zarówno z ideą miasta, jak z uniwersalnymi, ludzkimi potrzebami. Autor omawia pojęcia potrzeb utylitarnych i hedonistycznych, ściśle związanych z miejskim handlem.  Zarysowuje związek ludzkich potrzeb z ewolucją i funkcjonowaniem różnych form miejskiego handlu – począwszy od pierwszych placów targowych poprzez rynki, ulice handlowe i domy towarowe a skończywszy na współczesnych centrach handlowych. Artykuł kończy się rozważaniem o konfrontacji współczesnych urbanistów z ekspansją najnowszych, sieciowych, zuniformizowanych i coraz bardziej totalnych form handlu.

The traditional view of Handel as a master of late Baroque music has largely kept out of sight his claims to modernity. Since the early 1730s, the composer developed a growing independence from the institutions of aristocratic patronage and gradually aligned himself with the concerns of the first modern society, Georgian Britain. Ruth Smith has masterfully explored the links between his oratorios and contemporary political and religious debates; and the role of his legacy in the formation of a music canon is now better understood thanks to William Weber. Perhaps more crucial, Handel is the first composer to mold a social profile out of his philanthropy. For an emerging discourse on social responsibility and music, he makes a fascinating point of origin.

Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über https://portal.dnb.de abrufbar.

Centrum handlowe jest obecnie ważnym elementem rozwoju gospodarczego. Wyznacza nowoczesne rozwiązania, kreuje trendy architektoniczne, zmienia styl życia. Staje się elementem struktury miejskiej.
Celem artykułu jest próba pokazania centrum handlowego w strukturze miejskiej i ewolucji jego funkcji, które przyczyniają się do rozwoju handlu. Zastosowane metody badawcze to przegląd aktualnej literatury przedmiotu oraz analiza własna przy użyciu analizy SWOT.

Entwicklung ist die Entstehung von Neuem. Mit diesem Satz könnte man wohl die grundlegende Leistung Joseph A. Schumpeter, den Begriff der Entwicklung in die ökonomische Theorie eingeführt und von Wachstum unterschieden zu haben, zusammenfassen. Allerdings hat sich diese Unterscheidung noch nicht allgemein durchgesetzt und eine allgemeine Entwicklungstheorie ist immer noch ein Desiderat.
Während Wachstum extrapoliert werden kann, ist Entwicklung für die Zukunft nicht voraussehbar, denn Entwicklung voraussehen zu wollen bedeutete die Absurdität, das Neue zu wissen zu wollen, bevor es da ist. Wir kennen Entwicklungen stets nur in die Vergangenheit zurückblickend, was leicht zu dem Irrtum verleitet, daß die Entwicklung notwendigerweise und zielgerichtet zu dem Resultat geführt haben muß, das wir kennen, also garnicht anders hätte verlaufen können, als sie tatsächlich verlaufen ist. Entwicklung hat aber kein Ziel. Der Irrtum, Entwicklung als zielgerichteten Prozeß zu versehen, läßt sich vermeiden, indem man Ausgangspunkte der Entwicklung – Basisinnovationen – annimmt, und von dort ausgehend den Verlauf zu verstehen sucht, der so erfolgt ist, aber auch anders hätte verlaufen können.
Ich mache in der Entwicklung der Menschheit bis zur Gegenwart sieben Basisinnovationen aus.

Der Text ist leicht gekürzt erschienen in Lothar W. Pawliczak: Stadt, Neuerung, Kaufmann. Drei Lobpreisungen für Camilla Warnke zum 90. Berlin 2021, S. 23-50

John Mainwaring's "Memoirs" (1760), the first major biography of a composer, capture the lofty reputation and immense impact of George Frideric Handel in Georgian Britain. This first modern transcription of the text incorporates comments and criticism from Handel's surviving friends.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. ENNO POPPE – INTERZONE : LEADER UND BILDER – LIVE PERFORMANCE,CITÉ DE LA MUSIQUE, PARIS, DECEMBER 3, 2009
2. JOHANN STRAUSS – DIE FLEDERMAUS
3. JAN WILLEM DE VRIEND – EVA BUCHMANN – HANDEL – AGRIPPINA
4. ILDEBRANDO PIZZETTI – ASSASSINIO NELLA CATTEDRALE
5. PAUL MCCREESH – GABRIELI CONSORT – JEPHTE – JUDICIUM SALOMONIS – JONAS
6. SERGEY EISENSTEIN – SERGEY PROKOFIEV – IVAN THE TERRIBLE
7. JANACEK – BOULEZ – CHEREAU – FROM THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD
8. HANDEL – NIKOLAUS HARNONCOURT – JEPHTHA
9. HANDEL - JEPHTHA
10. HANDEL – ISAREL IN EGYPT
11. DELLER CONSORT – PURCELL – KING ARTHUR
12. ALBAN BERG – LULU – PIERRE BOULEZ
13. JEAN-CLAUDE MALGOIRE – PHIIPPE JAROUSSKY – FRIEDRICH HANDEL – AGRIPPINA
14. GEORG FRIEDRICH HANDEL – NICHOLAS MCGEGAN – JUDAS MACCABAEUS
15. VIVALDI – JUDITHA TRIUMPHANS
16. MOZART  LA FINTA GIARDINIERA
17. MOZART - MITHRIDATE
18. MENDELSSOHN – A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
19. MOZART – ASCANIO IN ALBA
20. MOZART – LA FINTA SEMPLICE
21. PIZZETTI – KARAJAN – MORD IN DER CATHEDRALE – 1998
22. CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI – L’INCORONARIONE DI POPPEA – GABRIEL GARRIDO
23. HERVÉ NIQUET – HENRY PURCELLE – KING ARTHUR
24. GABRIEL GARRIDO – MONTEVERDI – LA FAVOLA D’ORFEO
25. GEORG FRIEDRICH HANDEL – ARNOLD OSTMAN – AGRIPPINA
26. RICHARD STRAUSS – DER ROSENKAVALIER – PHILIPPE JORDAN – ANNE SCHWANEWLIMS
27. RICHARD STRAUSS – SALOME – SIR GEORG SOLTI
28. GIUSEPPE VERDI – RIGOLETTO STORY
29. RACHMANINOV – ALEKO
30. SHOSTAKOVICH – THE NOSE
31. CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI – IL RITORNO D’ULISSE IN PATRIA – GABRIEL GARRIDO – ENSEMBLE ELYMA
32. PHILIPPE JORDAN – DAVID MCVICAR – RICHARD STRAUSS – SALOME
33. VERDI – OTELLO – PLACIDO DOMINGO
34. JOHN BLOW – VENUS AND ADONIS
35. BENJAMIN BRITTEN – CURLEW RIVER
36. BENJAMIN BRITTEN – PETER GRIMES
37. BENJAMIN BRITTEN – PETER PEARS – BILLY BUDD

A.-L. Fischer, Die Silexartefakte der bandkeramischen Siedlung Bruchenbrücken, Stadt Friedberg/Hessen. In: J. Lüning (Hrsg.), Untersuchungen zu den bandkeramischen Siedlungen Bruchenbrücken, Stadt Friedberg (Hessen), und Altdorf-Aich,
Ldkr. Landshut (Bayern). Universitätsforsch. z. Prähist. Arch.203 (Bonn 2011) 5-90.

Crowned by many as one of the immortal composers, George Frederick Handel (1685 – 1759) was the central figure in forging England's cultural identity amongst its European neighbors during the late 18 th and early 19 th century. The identity Handel forged in the crucible of the early English nationalism movement was not that of a German composer, but one of a robust, refined, altruistic, righteous, straight, Protestant Englishman. Despite numerous character flaws by 18 th century standards, this was the identity he ardently upheld in the public eye. How did Handel – a German-born, bad tempered, gluttonous, and possibly homosexual man –transform himself from a Hanoverian writing Italian opera to a true " British-worthy " through the power of his musical entrepreneurship?

The Hoard of Medieval Coins from the Village Stizhok. In the spring of 2011, a clay pot was found in a field nearby the village Stizhok (Shumsk district, Ternopil’ region,Ukraine). The pot contained about 2500 silver coins struck in the Golden Horde, Crimean Khanate, Caffa, Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, and Lithuania. The significant part of oriental coins bears the Tartar, Moldavian and Lithuanian countermarks. Most likely, the treasure was hidden during the Tartar military expansion atthe end of 15th and beginning of 16th centuries.

Keywords. Numismatics, medieval numismatics, coin hoard, Genoese colonies in Crimea,  Genoese history, Poland, Ukraine, Golden Horde, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Moldova, Romania, Wallachia, Asprokastron, 15th century.

Wolfgang Wüst, Patrizischer Konsum- und Lebensstil – Luxuskäufe in süddeutschen Reichsstädten der Frühneuzeit, in: Wolfgang Wüst (Hg.), Regionale Konsumgeschichte. Vom Mittelalter bis zur Moderne (Franconia 7. Beihefte zum Jahrbuch für fränkische Landesforschung) Erlangen 2015, S. 65–84.

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Published in The Opera Journal, 47/2, September 2014

With few exceptions, there is a distinct paucity of modern analytical studies regarding the association of music and drama in Baroque opera seria.  Authors who do mention these works restrict themselves to passing comments or assume that they are inherently undramatic and, presumably, not worthy of study.  However, in this article, I contend that compelling relationships between music and drama may be revealed if the analysis of these operas is approached in a way that acknowledges the aesthetic principles that influenced their composition.  Though Joseph Kerman ([1956] 1988, 214) proposes that music can enter into a relationship with characterization, dramatic atmosphere, or action in opera, the emphasis on the solo aria tilts the focus of Baroque opera to what Charles Rosen terms “dramatic expression,” ([1971] 1997, 43).  Solo arias constitute the chief mode of expression in Baroque opera seria, and these musical monologues, through the intersection of music and drama, reveal the personalities and motivations of the characters who perform them.  Of Kerman’s three dramatic possibilities, then, it is characterization that takes precedence in Baroque opera.

In this article, I explore the manner in which structural and expressive musical devices contribute to characterization in Baroque opera, using the role of Cleopatra in George Friderich Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto (1724) as a case study.  To examine structure, I use a reductive voice-leading approach and employ Channan Willner’s concept of tonal and durational periodicities in Baroque music (2005 and 2006).  Musical topoi are the primary expressive elements at work in the arias; although a complete exposition of Baroque topics is not feasible, the generalized musical characteristics and expressive content associated with the topics that are relevant to the opera will be explicated.  The integration of the structural, semiotic, and dramatic analyses leads to hermeneutic interpretation, moving from general associative indications to character-specific meanings.

Handel’s Cleopatra lends herself well to this character study—her interactions with other characters and her emotional reactions in the arias are intriguing because her motives for seducing Caesar are, on the surface, ambiguous.  She may wish to manipulate him into forging an alliance with her; alternatively, it is possible that Cleopatra is actually in love with Caesar.  An examination of dramatic and musical evidence, however, reveals Cleopatra’s motivations for cultivating a relationship with Caesar as chiefly political.  This characterization, in Cleopatra’s case, is achieved through incongruence among projected topical associations, stylistic level, and surface-level dramatic information.  In the famous aria “V’adoro, pupille,” for example, conflict between the projected stylistic levels of the prevailing topic (the Sarabande) and the hypermetric structure provides extra-dramatic commentary on the incongruence between her high standing and her rather ignoble plans, and the resulting affect is “feigned dignity.”  The affect highlights Cleopatra’s inclination to deceive those around her for her own benefit.  Examples from Cleopatra’s music and contemporaneous Baroque arias demonstrate that the relationship between music and drama in the Baroque opera seria can be rich and revealing if the possibilities and limitations of the genre are taken into account.

The contractual agreements about Corelli’s Op. 6 between the composer and Estienne Roger reveal above all that the former was a clever businessman. Because there are, as yet, no other documents known which could give insight into Corelli’s publication strategies, we must pursue an indirect path in order
to approach these issues. Tracing the former buyers, owners, and interpreters of his music allows us to identify somewhat more precisely the audience that Corelli was consciously targeting. Corelli’s reception in Switzerland deserves an inquiry of its own: because of the cultural and denominational diversity of the country, a variety of different milieus emerge in which Corelli’s music was received, such as the English circle in Geneva.

Alexander's Feast, Messiah, and Acis and Galatea all received what seem to have been their first Italian performances in Florence between 1768 and 1772. The first of these performances, that of Alexander's Feast on 21 April 1768, is the earliest performance yet documented of one of Handel's large-scale English choral works on the Continent. Many of the performances came about largely through the musical interests of an important English resident of Florence, George Nassau Clavering, Third Earl Cowper. But Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo (later Emperor Leopold II) encouraged the performances and his musicians took part in them; some of the later performances were organized by the grand ducal music director Eugenio di Ligniville. The Florentine Handel revival is of particular interest in the way it anticipated revivals of Handel's music later in the century in Germany and Vienna (including productions for which Mozart prepared scores).

Elsewhere I have published lists of performers who took part in two of the Handel performances in Florence: https://www.academia.edu/7023440/Grand_Duke_Pietro_Leopoldos_Musical_Patronage_in_Florence_1765-1790_as_Reflected_in_the_Ricasoli_Collection
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