George Frideric Handel - A Life with Friends - Hardcover

Ellen T. Harris

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393088952 ISBN 13: 9780393088953

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2014

Synopsis

"...a sequence of thematic chapters, each with its own timeline, charting the composer's career through others' eyes and ears, evoking more vividly than most the society in which Handel moved." Hugh Canning, Sound Choices 2014, The Sunday Times

During his lifetime, the sounds of Handel's music reached from court to theater, echoed in cathedrals, and filled crowded taverns. But the man himself known to most as the composer of Messiah is a bit of a mystery. Though he took meticulous care of his musical manuscripts and provided for their preservation in his will, very little of an intimate nature survives. In search of the private man behind the public persona, Ellen T. Harris has tracked down the letters, diaries, financial accounts, court cases, and other documents connected with the composer s closest friends. The result is a tightly woven tapestry of London life in the first half of the eighteenth century, one that weaves together vibrant descriptions of Handel's music with stories of loyalty, cunning, and betrayal. With this wholly new approach, Harris introduces us to an ambitious, shrewd, generous, brilliant, and flawed man.

About this title

About the Author

Ellen T. Harris is professor emeritus at MIT and has served on the music faculties of Columbia University and the University of Chicago. Her previous books include Handel as Orpheus: Voice and Desire in the Chamber Cantatas, and she has spoken at Lincoln Center and appeared on PBS NewsHour and BBC Radio 3. She lives in Newton, Massachusetts.

Edition details

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0393088952
• ISBN 13: 9780393088953
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 496