Winton Dean is one of the foremost authorities on the life and work of Baroque composer George Frideric Handel. In his new book, Handel's Operas 1726-1741, Dean provides a detailed overview of his final 22, often-neglected, operas.
"After writing a comprehensive study of Handel's Dramatic Oratorios and having acted in one of them, I realised that his long neglected operas must have possessed a dramatic power that transcended their stilted form," said Dean, who also penned Handel's Operas 1704-1726, a companion volume.
"Operas played the central role (in Handel's career) until he was over 50. They were received mostly with enthusiasm, especially as he wrote for the greatest singers in Europe.
"Handel had extraordinary command of the subtlety and variety of human character (comic as well as serious), as expressed particularly in his operas. He was also a great melodist and master of the theatre orchestra."
Dean offers detailed discussions of the music on as well as performance histories, and a number of chapters on the historical and stylistic content of Handel's operatic career.
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