Handel's Muse

Reviews / Votes

It would be hard to overstate the value of this excellent book. In having the courage to go right back to the unfashionable sources, David Ross Hurley has blown away a number of Handelian cobwebs, and raised substantial questions for future research. * Music and Letters * A detailed investigation of Handel's revisions to librettos leads effectively into the chapter 'Musical Imagery as Drama', which may be seen as the book's most brilliant section. * Music and Letters * This book is the first extended study of multiple aspects (including borrowing) of Handel's compositional methods ... Hurley brings to this study an intimate knowledge of all the relevant sources. * Music and Letters * This is a solid and immensely stimulating contribution to Handelian scholarship - and in an area so far little explored. As such, it deserves a warm welcome. * H. Diack Johnstone, Early Music * I put the book down feeling grateful to have learned so much more than I already knew about the composer and his working methods. * H. Diack Johnstone, Early Music * This impressive piece of scholarship rests comfortably on a generous-spirited, thorough knowledge of the relevent literature. It nicely fills a vacuum ... Hurley provides sensible, perceptive analyses of how Handel actually wrote his scores ... Ample, helpful scholarly apparatus; clear and nicely pointed prose. Excellent! * W. Metcalfe, emeritus, University of Vermont *