Handel in Context
Will be published approx. on 30. November 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
400 pages
978-1-108-43560-4 (ISBN)
Description
A celebrity in his own time, Handel remains popular with performers, music-lovers and scholars today. The specially commissioned contributions to this volume will enable students, teachers and concert-goers to better appreciate his music through a deeper understanding of the world in which he lived. The chapters focus on key aspects of the composer's career within the different social, political, cultural and musical contexts he experienced in Britain and Europe. They explore Handel's lifestyle and his personal and professional relationships; the various musical establishments for which he worked; the styles, practices and personnel that shaped his compositions; and the influence, reception and legacy of his music during and since his lifetime. Writing from a variety of perspectives, authors shed light on each topic while helping readers to navigate the breadth of recent scholarship. This book is an essential reference work for anybody studying Handel's music or that of his eighteenth-century contemporaries.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
ISBN-13
978-1-108-43560-4 (9781108435604)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Annette Landgraf | Helen Coffey
Handel in Context
Book
approx. 11/2026
Cambridge University Press
€110.50
Not yet published
Persons
Annette Landgraf is Research Fellow and a member of the editorial office of the Hallische Haendel-Ausgabe. She is co-editor of the Cambridge Handel Encyclopedia (2009), and editor of the Haendel-Jahrbuch. She has published extensively on Handel subjects and is a specialist in editing and reception history. Helen Coffey is Senior Lecturer in Music at the Open University, a Council Member of The Handel Institute and co-editor of the six-volume George Frideric Handel: Collected Documents She has additionally published on various aspects of German and Austrian musical culture c.1500-c.1750.
Content
Part I. Character, Lifestyle, Relationships: 1. Handel's Europe Peter H. Wilson; 2. Lifestyle and social status Ellen T. Harris; 3. Family Helen Coffey; 4. Business acumen Carole Taylor; 5. Handel and contemporary composers Graydon Beeks; 6. Handel and his librettists Donald Burrows; 7. Performers Matthew Gardner; 8. Publishers Jens Wehmann; Part II. Cities, Courts, Networks: 9. Halle Konstanze Musketa; 10. Hamburg Reinmar Emans; 11. Florence, Rome, Naples Berthold Over; 12. Venice Beth Glixon; 13. Hanover, Duesseldorf, Dresden Helen Coffey; 14. London: the royal court Donald Burrows; 15. British private residences Ellen T. Harris; 16. London theatres Judith Milhous and Robert D. Hume; 17. London: concert life Berta Joncus; 18. Dublin Triona O'Hanlon; Part III. Compositional Contexts: 19. Musical genres and style Reinhard Strohm; 20. Creative process Matthew Gardner; 21. Borrowing and composition John H. Roberts; 22. Performers and performance practice I: singers Suzanne Aspden; 23. Performers and performance practice II: instrumentalists and the orchestra Donald Burrows; 24. Staging priorities in Handel opera Michael Burden; Part IV. Reception and Legacy: 25. The national figure Helen Coffey; 26. Biography Annette Landgraf; 27. Collectors and collections Katharine Hogg; 28. Editing Handel Annette Landgraf; 29. Composers after Handel David Wyn Jones; 30. Performing Handel Matthew Gardner; 31. Staging Handel's music dramas David Vickers; 32. Handel reception in Europe Annette Landgraf; 33. Handel renaissances Elaine Kelly; 34. America Joe Lockwood; 35. Australasia Samantha Owens; 36. India, South Africa, Canada Estelle Joubert.