“The King Shall Rejoice”
History and Analysis
After the death of King George I, Handel was employed to write several anthems for the coronation of King George II and Queen Caroline by the Chapel Royal. In his second Coronation Anthem, “The King Shall Rejoice,” Handel used instrumentation, contrasting sections, and musical gesture to reflect the text of Psalm 21: verses one, three, and five.
The musical life of the Chapel Royal was affected by two important deaths. The first was the unexpected death of the King on his way to Hanover on June 11th, 1727. The other was that of William Croft, the Chapel’s foremost composer, two months later. Croft held the offices of Composer, Organist and Master of the Children at the Chapel Royal, as well as the post of Organist at Westminster Abbey. Maurice Green was the obvious successor to Croft, but he couldn’t take on all of Croft’s former offices due to his position at St. Paul’s Cathedral. On September 4th, Green was appointed Organist and Composer, retaining his post at St. Paul’s, and Bernard Gates became Master of the Children. Later in September, John Robinson (a former Child of the Chapel Royal), succeeded to Croft’s position as Organist at Westminster Abbey.
Handel decided to adopt British nationality in February of this same year, just before his forty-second birthday. George I signed the Naturalization Bill on February 20th, before his unseen death several months later. Handel never participated in the day-to-day life of the Chapel, but instead participated by providing the Chapel with music for special occasions. The timing of Handel’s naturalization had an immediate musical benefit, because it enabled him to contribute to the coronation service for King George II and Q...
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...e work is well balanced, with the outer two movements in quadruple time, and the inner two in triple, with the short passage in the middle bridging the two halves. Handel gives the piece a grand and majestic feeling with his full orchestration, emphasizing the texts from Psalm 21 with a combination of homophony and polyphony, as well as contrasting instrument choices. Finally, he uses musical gesture, such as the halo image-painting seen in the bridging passage. With every movement marked as allegro, this anthem has a festive spirit, making it perfect for the actual crowning of the king and queen. The coronation proved to be a landmark in Handel’s association with the Chapel, and also in his wider relationship with British society. It was a well-attended event of major social significance, and the composer provided the listeners with a memorable musical experience.
Country music singer, Reba McIntire, recorded a song called "The Greatest Man I Never Knew." In the song, she speaks of how she never really knew her father. It exemplifies the way I feel about my own father. Everyone has a person who has made a deep impact on his or her life. For me, it was my father Donald Alexander. He was a great man with a wonderful sense of humor. He was the reason I wanted to become an attorney. He said I never lost an argument. I feel tormented that I was unable to know what a great person he really was.
Word painting, a “musical representation of specific poetic images”, was a fairly common characteristic of music in the European Baroque period. Composers would often set words like “heaven” on a high note and “hell” on a lower note or set depressing lyrics to a descending chromatic scale. One of the most well-known pieces of the European Baroque period is Messiah by George Frideric Handel, which is an oratorio telling the story of Christ’s birth. Since an oratorio lacked costumes, sets, or acting, Handel used a lot of word painting to give the sacred text an ...
Lafayette uses signs, which are motives, throughout her novel La Princesse de Clèves. She uses the dialogue between the husband and the Princess Mme. de Clèves to show the motive of passion. She also uses Mme. de Clèves to show her way of expressing toward the situation that the Princess has. Fabricated letter is also used in her novel to represent the signs of taking over the Princess’s feelings. In her novel, she utilizes characters For this essay, I would like to explore the structure of her novel through signs, as shown in Dalia Judovitz’s article The Aesthetics of Implausibility: La Princesse de Cléves.
Most people awake to a daily routine, in which they keep eyes dazed staring at the pavement they walk on yet so easily ignore. Usually, these same people go about their business with no more than a passing glance towards their fellow man. However, there is an enigmatic few that are more than mere pawns in the game of existence. They are passionate spectators who take in their surroundings with every sense. They rejoice in the vastness of the electric crowd and become one with it. By all means, these few can be called ‘idle city men’ or, according to Charles Baudelaire’s 1863 essay “The Painter of Modern Life”, they are flâneurs. I believe a worthy example of a man such as this, is the persona in Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself”. He is a flâneur in all ways but one.
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The music of George Frideric Handel has been celebrated throughout time, especially his oratorio work. Handel’s oratorios are considered to be some of the best in existence. However, much discussion and reverence is given to his Messiah, while the others are not as commonly subject to this praise. Therefore, I will investigate the origin and creation of the oratorio, Esther by Handel, with focus on his music for the scene. I will argue that Handel expresses the drama and emotion of this biblical story through the musical elements he employs, particularily
Boynick, Matt. "Georg Friedric Handel." Classical Music Pages. 1 Feb. 1996. 13 July 2005 .
The Baroque Period, 1600-1750, marked another unique era of musical experimentation and evolvement. Titled after the trendy ornate architectural style during this period, the Baroque period, 1600 to 1750, witnessed a widespread change in the composer’s musical desires as they widely rebelled against the traditional styles that were prevalent during the Renaissance. With this era stained with monarchs attempting to outperform one another with pride and pageantry the development and grandeur of music excelled to new heights. The powerful monarchs of the period utilized composers heavily as they served as employed performers with the sole purpose to develop and perform musical pieces at the desire of the monarch. This servant-composer culture
Lynan, Peter. George Frideric Handel Biography - ( 1685 – 1759 ), Halle, Hamburg, and Italy, Hanover and early London years, Opera, Oratorio.
After 6 months Handel returned to Hanover, but in the spring of 1712, he traveled once again to England, writing more operas in celebration of Queen Anne’s birthday; Peace of Utrecht and Te Deum. But in 1714 the Queen died and the throne was taken over by George of Hanover, who was angered by Handel’s unusually long absence. In 1717 Handel entered service of the Duke of Chandos, directing the music at Duke’s palace at Cannons, near London. There he composed a set of Anglican Anthems, The Pastoral Acis and Galatea and The Masque Haman and Mordeca.
George Frideric Handel, who is one of the greatest and well known composers of all time, was born on February 23, 1685 and died on April 14, 1759 and his entire lifetime was filled with music and wonder. Although being an English composer and organist Handel was born in Germany. At first he followed his father’s footsteps to study the law but later decided to change his profession to music, but his father stubbornly refused to let him follow his dream and because of this Handel was forced to practice in secret. Soon becoming the pupil of Friedrich Wilhelm Zacchow, Handel was taught composition, the organ, violin and the oboe. In 1703 he joined the Goosemarket Theater as a violinist. After settling in England and becoming a citizen in 1726, Handel’s compositions impressed Queen Anne of England who awarded him with 200 pounds annually, which was raised to 600 by King George soon after. In England, Handel was appointed the composer of music to The Chapel Royal. During the rest of his life in England, Handel completed many more famous compositions including the Messiah. Suffering...
When you read Paradise Lost, it’s like reading the other side of the book of Genesis. You begin to have a new understanding of the both books. You see the relationship between God and Satan. You begin to understand Satan in a way that you never have before. You begin to see Satan as a character who has been through a lot. Then you begin to sympathize with him. After all, he did get kicked out of heaven.
Hughes, Anselm (1953). "Music of the Coronation over a Thousand Years". Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association, 79th Sess.: 81–100. Web. 6 Jul 2011.
Bibliography Ashton, Joseph N.. Music in Worship. Boston: Pilgrim Press, 1943. Johansson, Calvin M.. Discipling Music Ministry. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1992. Snydor, James Rawlings. Hymns and Their Uses. Carol Stream: Agape, 1982. www.infoplease.com for information on the church history background
George was a very talented composer but, unlike many others he didn’t come from a family with a long line of musicians. At very early age Handel had his mind set on studying music even though his father disapproved. Because his father wanted him to become a lawyer he didn’t allow Handel to play musical instruments. Despite his father’s wishes, historians believed he studied music by candlelight. To make his father proud he studied law for a short time but knew this was not what he wanted to do. George followed his dreamed and went on to join an orchestra in Germany that would change his life forever.