Recitative (), also known by its Italian name "recitativo" (), is a style of delivery (much used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms of ordinary speech. The mostly syllabic recitativo secco ("dry", accompanied only by continuo) is at one end of a spectrum through recitativo accompagnato (using orchestra), the more melismatic arioso, and finally the full-blown aria or ensemble, where the pulse is entirely governed by the music.

Recitative does not repeat lines as formally composed songs do. It resembles sung ordinary speech more than a formal musical composition. The term recitative (or occasionally liturgical recitative) is also applied to the simpler formulas of Gregorian chant, such as the tones used for the Epistle and Gospel, preface and collects.

Origins

The first use of recitative in opera was preceded by the monodies of the Florentine Camerata in which Vincenzo Galilei, father of the astronomer Galileo Galilei, played an important role. The elder Galilei, influenced by his correspondence with Girolamo Mei on the writings of the ancient Greeks and wishing to recreate the old manner of storytelling and drama, pioneered the use of a single melodic line to tell the story, accompanied by simple chords from a harpsichord or lute.

In the baroque era, recitatives were commonly rehearsed on their own by the stage director, the singers frequently supplying their own favourite baggage arias which might be by a different composer (some of Mozart's so-called concert arias fall into this category). This division of labour persisted in some of Rossini's most famous works: the recitatives for The Barber of Seville and La Cenerentola were composed by assistants.

Secco

Secco recitative, popularized in Florence though the proto-opera music dramas of Jacopo Peri and Giulio Caccini during the late 16th century, formed the substance of Claudio Monteverdi's operas during the 17th century, and continued to be used into the Romantic era by such composers as Gaetano Donizetti, reappearing in Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress. It also influenced areas of music outside opera from the outset; the recitatives of Johann Sebastian Bach, found in his passions and cantatas, are especially notable.

In the early operas and cantatas of the Florentine school, secco recitative was accompanied by a variety of instruments, mostly plucked strings with perhaps a small organ to provide sustained tone. Later, in the operas of Vivaldi and Händel, the accompaniment was standardised as a harpsichord and a bass viol or violoncello. When the harpsichord went out of use in the early 19th century, many opera-houses did not replace it with a piano; instead the violoncello was left to carry on alone or with reinforcement from a double bass. A 1919 recording of Rossini's ''Barber of Seville'', issued by Italian HMV, gives a unique glimpse of this technique in action, as do cello methods of the period and some scores of Meyerbeer. There are examples of the revival of the harpsichord for this purpose as early as the 1890s (e.g. by Hans Richter for a production of Mozart's ''Don Giovanni'' at the London Royal Opera House, the instrument being supplied by Arnold Dolmetsch), but it was not until the 1950s that the 18th-century method was consistently observed once more.

Accompagnato

Accompanied recitative, known as accompagnato or stromentato, employs the orchestra as an accompanying body. As a result, it is less improvisational and declamatory than ''recitativo secco'', and more song-like. This form is often employed where the orchestra can underscore a particularly dramatic text, as in ''Thus saith the Lord'' from Händel's ''Messiah''; Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart were also fond of it. A more inward intensification calls for an arioso; the opening of ''Comfort ye'' from the same work is a famous example, while the ending of it ("The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness") is accompagnato.

Post-Wagner uses

Later operas, under the influence of Richard Wagner, favored through-composition, where recitatives, arias, choruses and other elements were seamlessly interwoven into a whole. Many of Wagner's operas employ sections which are analogous to accompanied recitative.

Recitative is also occasionally used in musicals, being put to ironic use in the finale of Weill's ''The Threepenny Opera''. It also appears in ''Carousel'' and ''Of Thee I Sing''.

George Gershwin used it in his opera ''Porgy and Bess'', though sometimes, the recitative in that work is changed to spoken dialogue. ''Porgy and Bess'' has also been staged as a musical rather than as an opera.

Instrumental Recitative

Recitative has also sometimes been used to refer to parts of purely instrumental works which resemble vocal recitatives. One of the earliest examples is found in the slow movement of Vivaldi's violin concerto in D, RV 208 which is marked 'Recitative', although it is perhaps more virtuosic and flashy than most operatic recitative. C. P. E. Bach included instrumental recitative in his "Prussian" piano sonatas of 1742, composed at Frederick the Great's court in Berlin. In 1761, Joseph Haydn took his post at Esterhazy Palace and soon after composed his Symphony No. 7 ("Le Midi") in concertante style (i.e. with soloists). In the second movement of that work, the violinist is the soloist in an instrumental recitative.

Ludwig van Beethoven used the instrumental recitative in at least three works including ''Piano Sonata No. 17'' (''The Tempest''), ''Piano Sonata No. 31'' and perhaps the most famous example in the opening section of the Finale of his Ninth Symphony. Here, Beethoven inscribed on the score (in French) "In the manner of a recitative, but in tempo." Leon Plantinga argues that the second movement of Beehoven's Fourth Piano Concerto is also an instrumental recitative, although Owen Jander interprets it as a dialogue. Other Romantic composers to employ instrumental recitative include Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (who composed a lyrical, virtuosic recitative for solo violin with harp accompaniment to represent the title character in his orchestral ''Scheherazade'') and Hector Berlioz (whose choral symphony ''Roméo et Juliette'' contains a trombone recitative as part of its Introduction).

Arnold Schoenberg labeled the last of his ''Five Orchestral Pieces'', Op. 16 "The obligato recitative" and also composed a piece for organ, ''Variations on a Recitative'' opus 40. Other examples of instrumental recitative in twentieth century music include the third movement of Douglas Moore's Quintet for Clarinet and Strings (1946), the first of Richard Rodney Bennett's ''Five Impromptus'' for guitar (1968), and the second of William Bolcom's ''12 New Etudes for Piano'' (1977–86).

References

See also

Melodrama ("Historical sense" section)

Category:Song forms Category:Opera terminology Category:Vocal music Category:Formal sections in music analysis

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250px|rightPhilippe Jaroussky (born 13 February 1978 in Maisons-Laffitte, France) is a French sopranist countertenor. He began his musical career with the violin, winning an award at the Versailles conservatory and then took up the piano before turning to singing. He is noted for a virtuosic coloratura technique and for compelling and enlivened interpretations of baroque cantatas and operas.

Jaroussky was inspired to sing by the Martinique-born countertenor Fabrice di Falco. He received his diploma from the Early Music Faculty of the Conservatoire de Paris. Since 1996, he has studied singing with Nicole Fallien. He has formed his own ensemble called Artaserse, and also often performs with the Ensemble Matheus under Jean-Christophe Spinosi and with L'Arpeggiata under Christina Pluhar.

Reception and awards

According to La Terrasse, "this young singer with the tone of an angel and the virtuosity of the devil has come into the limelight in only a few years as the great new French vocal talent." He received the 2007 best French lyrical artist award. Jaroussky was awarded "The Best Singer of the Year" at the Echo Classic Awards, 2008.

Discography

Alessandro Scarlatti: ''Sedecia, Re di Gerusalemme''. Lesne, Pochon, Harvey, Padmore. Il Seminario Musicale, Gérard Lesne. Virgin Veritas (rec. November 1999, École Sainte-Geneviève, Versailles, France)

Claudio Monteverdi: ''L'incoronazione di Poppea''. Laurens, Oliver, Schofrin, Oro. Ensemble Elyma, Gabriel Garrido. K617 (rec. July/August 2000, Chiesa San Martino, Erice, Italy)

Pierre Menault: ''Vêpres pour le Pére la Chaize''. Greuillet, Janssens, Lombard, van Dyck. Ensemble La Fenice, Jean Tubéry. K617 (rec. April 2001, chiesa Saint-Lazare, Avallon, France)

Giovanni Battista Bassani: ''La morte delusa''. Galli, del Monaco, Piolino, Sarragosse. Ensemble La Fenice, Jean Tubéry. Opus 111 (rec. August 2001, Delft, Nederland)

Antonio Vivaldi: ''Catone in Utica''. Edwards, Laszczkowski, Cangemi, Faraon. La Grande Écurie, Jean-Claude Malgoire. Dynamic (rec. November 2001, Théâtre Municipal, Tourcoing, France)

Antonio Vivaldi: ''La Verità in cimento''. Rolfe-Johnson, Stutzmann, Laurens, Mingardo. Ensemble Matheus, Jean-Christophe Spinosi. Naïve – Opus 111 (rec. September 2002, Eglise de Daoulas, Bretagne, France)

Solo recital: Benedetto Ferrari: ''Musiche varie''. Ensemble Artaserse. Ambroisie (rec. October/December 2002, Chapelle Jésus-Enfant – Paroisse Ste. Clothilde, Paris, France)

George Frideric Handel: ''Agrippina''. Gens, Perruche, Smith, Grégoire, di Falco. La Grande Écurie, Jean-Claude Malgoire. Dynamic (rec. March 2003, Théâtre Municipal, Tourcoing, France)

Solo recital: ''Un concert pour Mazarin''. Ensemble La Fenice, Jean Tubéry. Virgin Classics, 2004 (rec. June 2003, Abbaye de Saint-Michel, Thiérache, France)

Claudio Monteverdi: ''Selva morale e spirituale''. Spiritualità e liturgia / I salmi vespertini / Vespro dei Martiri / L'eloquenza divina. Ensemble Elyma, Gabriel Garrido. Ambronay Edition (rec. 2003/2004, Festival d'Ambronay, France)

Antonio Vivaldi: ''Orlando furioso''. Larmore, Lemieux, Cangemi. Ensemble Matheus, Jean-Christophe Spinosi. Naïve – Opus 111 (rec. June 2004, Eglise de Daoulas, Bretagne, France)

Claudio Monteverdi: ''L'Orfeo''. van Rensburg, Gerstenhaber, Thébault, Gerstenhaber, Gillot, Kaïque. La Grande Écurie, Jean-Claude Malgoire. Dynamic (rec. October 2004, Théâtre Municipal, Tourcoing, France)

Solo recital: Antonio Vivaldi: ''Virtuoso cantatas''. Ensemble Artaserse. Virgin Veritas (rec. October 2004, Chapelle des sœurs auxiliaires, Versailles, France)

Antonio Vivaldi: ''Griselda''. Lemieux, Cangemi, Kermes, Ferrari, Davies. Ensemble Matheus, Jean-Christophe Spinosi. Naïve – Opus 111 (rec. November 2005, Salle Surcouf, Foyer du Marin, Brest, France)

Solo recital: ''Beata Vergine'', Motets à la Vierge entre Rome et Venise, Grandi, Legrenzi, Cavalli, Antonio Rigatti, Giovanni Paolo Caprioli, Frescobaldi, Sances, Ensemble Artaserse. Virgin Classics (rec. December 2005, Eglise Notre-Dame du Liban, Parigi, France)

Solo recital: ''Vivaldi Heroes''. Ensemble Matheus, Jean-Christophe Spinosi. Virgin Classics (rec. October 2006, Auditorium de l'Ecole Nationale de Musique, Brest, France)

Solo recital: ''Carestini, the story of a castrato''. Le Concert d'Astrée, Emmanuelle Haïm. Virgin Classics, 2007

J. S. Bach: ''Magnificat'' – G. F. Handel: ''Dixit Dominus''. Dessay, Deshayes, Spence, Naouri. Le Concert d'Astrée, Emmanuelle Haïm. Virgin Classics, 2007

Antonio Vivaldi: ''Nisi Dominus and Stabat Mater''. Philippe Jaroussky, Lemieux. Ensemble Matheus, Jean-Christophe Spinosi. Naïve (rec. July 2007, Salle Surcouf, Brest (France))

Solo recital: ''Opium – Mélodies françaises''. Philippe Jaroussky, Jerôme Ducros. Virgin Classics, 2009. – songs by Debussy, Hahn, Fauré, César Franck, Massenet, Ernest Chausson, André Caplet, Saint-Saëns, Paul Dukas, Guillaume Lekeu, Cécile Chaminade, Gabriel Dupont, Vincent d'Indy.

''Via Crucis''. Claudio Monteverdi, Benedetto Ferrari, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, Giovanni Legrenzi, Luigi Rossi, Tarquinio Merula, L'Arpeggiata, dir. Christina Pluhar, Philippe Jaroussky, Nuria Rial, Enzo Gragnaniello, Barbara Furtuna. Jean-Philippe Guissani, Giovanni Antonio, Pandolfi Mealli, Roccu Mambrini, Toni Casalonga, Nando Acquaviva, Lorenzo Allegri, Virgin Classics, 2010.

Solo recital: J. C. Bach Opera arias. Le Cercle de l'Harmonie, dir. Jérémie Rhorer Virgin. – awarded the Diapason d’Or de l’Année 2010 in France.

Solo recital: ''Caldara in Vienna'' (Forgotten Castrato Arias) Philippe Jaroussky / Concerto Köln, Emmanuelle Haïm

Vivaldi Ercole sul Termodonte Diana Damrau, Vivica Genaux, Romina Basso, Patrizia Ciofi, Joyce DiDonato, Rolando Villazon, Philippe Jaroussky, Topi Lehtipuu, dir. Fabio Biondi, Europa Galante, Virgin Classics. 2011

References

External links

Concerts Parisiens

Philippe Jaroussky International Forum

Performance of aria "Vedrò con mio diletto" (Vivaldi, "Il Giustino") on YouTube

Philippe Jaroussky recordings on Virgin Classics

Philippe Jaroussky videos on MaleSopranos.com

New York Times Sunday Magazine profile

Category:1978 births Category:Living people Category:French male singers Category:French opera singers Category:Operatic countertenors Category:French people of Russian descent

bg:Филип Жаруски cs:Philippe Jaroussky de:Philippe Jaroussky es:Philippe Jaroussky fr:Philippe Jaroussky gl:Philippe Jaroussky hy:Ֆիլիպ Ժարուսկի it:Philippe Jaroussky ja:フィリップ・ジャルスキー pl:Philippe Jaroussky pt:Philippe Jaroussky ru:Жаруски, Филипп sv:Philippe Jaroussky

George Frideric Handel (German: Georg Friedrich Händel; ) (23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music. He received critical musical training in Halle, Hamburg and Italy before settling in London (1712) and becoming a naturalised British subject in 1727. By then he was strongly influenced by the great composers of the Italian Baroque and the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition.

Within fifteen years, Handel, a dramatic genius, started three commercial opera companies to supply the English nobility with Italian opera, but the public came to hear the vocal bravura of the soloists rather than the music. In 1737 he had a physical breakdown, changed direction creatively and addressed the middle class. As ''Alexander's Feast'' (1736) was well received, Handel made a transition to English choral works. After his success with ''Messiah'' (1742) he never performed an Italian opera again. Handel was only partly successful with his performances of English Oratorio on mythical or biblical themes, but when he arranged a performance of ''Messiah'' to benefit the Foundling Hospital (1750) the critique ended. The pathos of Handel's oratorio is an ethical one, they are hallowed not by liturgical dignity but by the moral ideals of humanity. Almost blind, and having lived in England for almost fifty years, he died a respected and rich man.

Handel is regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time, not only because of his ''Water Music'', and ''Music for the Royal Fireworks''. But since the late 1960s, with the revival of baroque music and original instrument interest in Handel's opera seria has revived too. Handel composed forty operas in about thirty years; some are considered as masterpieces, with many sweeping arias and much admired improvisations. His operas contain remarkable human characterization, by a composer not known for his love affairs.

Early years

Handel was born in 1685 in Halle, Duchy of Magdeburg, to Georg Händel and Dorothea Taust. His father, 63 when his son was born, was an eminent barber-surgeon who served to the court of Saxe-Weissenfels and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. According to Handel's first biographer, John Mainwaring, he "had discovered such a strong propensity to Music, that his father who always intended him for the study of the Civil Law, had reason to be alarmed. He strictly forbade him to meddle with any musical instrument but Handel found means to get a little clavichord privately convey'd to a room at the top of the house. To this room he constantly stole when the family was asleep". At an early age Handel became a skilful performer on the harpsichord and pipe organ.

Handel and his father travelled to Weissenfels to visit either Handel's half-brother, Carl, or nephew, Georg Christian, who was serving as valet to Duke Johann Adolf I. Handel and the duke convinced his father to allow him to take lessons in musical composition and keyboard technique from Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, the organist of the Lutheran Marienkirche. He learned about harmony and contemporary styles, analysed sheet music scores, learned to work fugue subjects, and to copy music. In 1698 Handel played for Frederick I of Prussia and met Giovanni Battista Bononcini in Berlin.

From Halle to Italy

In 1702, following his father's wishes, Handel started studying law under Christian Thomasius at the University of Halle; and also earned an appointment for one year as the organist in the former cathedral, by then an evangelical reformed church. Handel seems to have been unsatisfied and in 1703, he accepted a position as violinist and harpsichordist in the orchestra of the Hamburg Oper am Gänsemarkt. There he met the composers Johann Mattheson, Christoph Graupner and Reinhard Keiser. His first two operas, ''Almira'' and ''Nero'', were produced in 1705. He produced two other operas, ''Daphne'' and ''Florindo'', in 1708. It is unclear whether Handel directed these performances.

According to Mainwaring, in 1706 Handel travelled to Italy at the invitation of Ferdinando de' Medici, but Mainwaring must have been confused. It was Gian Gastone de' Medici, whom Handel had met in 1703-1704 in Hamburg. Ferdinando tried to make Florence Italy's musical capital, attracting the leading talents of his day. He had a keen interest in opera. In Italy Handel met librettist Antonio Salvi, with whom he later collaborated. Handel left for Rome and, since opera was (temporarily) banned in the Papal States, composed sacred music for the Roman clergy. His famous ''Dixit Dominus'' (1707) is from this era. He also composed cantatas in pastoral style for musical gatherings in the palaces of cardinals Pietro Ottoboni, Benedetto Pamphili and Carlo Colonna. Two oratorios, ''La Resurrezione'' and ''Il Trionfo del Tempo'', were produced in a private setting for Ruspoli and Ottoboni in 1709 and 1710, respectively. ''Rodrigo'', his first all-Italian opera, was produced in the Cocomero theatre in Florence in 1707. ''Agrippina'' was first produced in 1709 at Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo, the prettiest theatre at Venice, owned by the Grimanis. The opera, with a libretto by cardinal Vincenzo Grimani, and according to Mainwaring it ran for 27 nights successively. The audience, thunderstruck with the grandeur and sublimity of his style, applauded for ''Il caro Sassone''.

Move to London

In 1710, Handel became ''Kapellmeister'' to German prince George, Elector of Hanover, who in 1714 would become King George I of Great Britain. He visited Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici and her husband in Düsseldorf on his way to London in 1710. With his opera ''Rinaldo'', based on ''La Gerusalemme Liberata'' by the Italian poet Torquato Tasso, Handel enjoyed great success, but it is difficult to see why he lifted from old Italian works unless he was in a hurry. This work contains one of Handel's favourite arias, ''Cara sposa, amante cara'', and the famous Lascia ch'io pianga. In 1712, Handel decided to settle permanently in England. He received a yearly income of £200 from Queen Anne after composing for her the ''Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate'', first performed in 1713.

One of his most important patrons was the young and wealthy Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington. For him Handel wrote ''Amadigi di Gaula'', a magical opera, about a damsel in distress, based on the tragedy by Antoine Houdar de la Motte.

The conception of an opera as a coherent structure was slow to capture Handel's imagination and he renounced it for five years. In July 1717 Handel's ''Water Music'' was performed more than three times on the Thames for the King and his guests. It is said the compositions spurred reconciliation between the King and Handel.

Cannons (1717–18)

In 1717 Handel became house composer at Cannons in Middlesex, where he laid the cornerstone for his future choral compositions in the twelve ''Chandos Anthems''. Romain Rolland stated that these anthems were as important for his oratorios as the cantatas were for his operas. Another work he wrote for the Duke of Chandos, the owner of Cannons, was ''Acis and Galatea'': during Handel's lifetime it was his most performed work. Winton Dean wrote, "the music catches breath and disturbs the memory".

In 1719 the Duke of Chandos became one of the main subscribers to Handel's new opera company, the Royal Academy of Music, but his patronage of music declined after he lost money in the South Sea bubble, which burst in 1720 in one of history's greatest financial cataclysms. Handel himself invested in South Sea stock in 1716, when prices were low and sold before 1720.

Royal Academy of Music (1719–34)

In May 1719 Lord Chamberlain Thomas Holles, the Duke of Newcastle ordered Handel to look for new singers. Handel travelled to Dresden to attend the newly-built opera. He saw ''Teofane'' by Antonio Lotti, and engaged the cast for the Royal Academy of Music, founded by a group of aristocrats to assure themselves a constant supply of baroque opera or opera seria. Handel may have invited John Smith, his fellow student in Halle, and his son Johann Christoph Schmidt, to become his secretary and amanuensis. By 1723 he had moved into a Georgian house at 25 Brook Street, which he rented for the rest of his life. This house, where he rehearsed, copied music and sold tickets, is now the Handel House Museum. During twelve months between 1724 and 1725, Handel wrote three outstanding and successful operas, ''Giulio Cesare'', ''Tamerlano'' and ''Rodelinda''. Handel's operas are filled with da capo arias, such as ''Svegliatevi nel core''. After composing ''Silete venti'', he concentrated on opera and stopped writing cantatas. ''Scipio'', from which the regimental slow march of the British Grenadier Guards is derived, was performed as a stopgap, waiting for the arrival of Faustina Bordoni.

In 1727 Handel was commissioned to write four anthems for the coronation ceremony of King George II. One of these, ''Zadok the Priest'', has been played at every British coronation ceremony since. In 1728 John Gay's ''The Beggar's Opera'' premiered at Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre and ran for 62 consecutive performances, the longest run in theatre history up to that time. After nine years Handel's contract was ended but he soon started a new company.

The Queen's Theatre at the Haymarket (now Her Majesty's Theatre), established in 1705 by architect and playwright John Vanbrugh, quickly became an opera house. Between 1711 and 1739, more than 25 of Handel's operas premièred there. In 1729 Handel became joint manager of the Theatre with John James Heidegger.

Handel travelled to Italy to engage seven new singers. He composed seven more operas, but the public came to hear the singers rather than the music. After two commercially successful English oratorios ''Esther'' and ''Deborah'', he was able to invest again in the South Sea Company. Handel reworked his ''Acis and Galatea'' which then became his most successful work ever. Handel failed to compete with the Opera of the Nobility, who engaged musicians such as Johann Adolf Hasse, Nicolo Porpora and the famous castrato Farinelli. The strong support by Frederick, Prince of Wales caused conflicts in the royal family. In March 1734 Handel directed a wedding anthem ''This is the day which the Lord hath made'', and a serenata ''Parnasso in Festa'' for Anne of Hanover.

Opera at Covent Garden (1734–41)

In 1733 the Earl of Essex received a letter with the following sentence: "Handel became so arbitrary a prince, that the Town murmurs". The board of chief investors expected Handel to retire when his contract ended, but Handel immediately looked for another theatre. In cooperation with John Rich he started his third company at Covent Garden Theatre. Rich was renowned for his spectacular productions. He suggested Handel use his small chorus and introduce the dancing of Marie Sallé, for whom Handel composed ''Terpsichore''. In 1735 he introduced organ concertos between the acts. For the first time Handel allowed Gioacchino Conti, who had no time to learn his part, to substitute arias. Financially, ''Ariodante'' was a failure, although he introduced ballet suites at the end of each act. Alcina, his last opera with a magic content, and ''Alexander's Feast or the Power of Music'' based on John Dryden's ''Alexander's Feast'' starred Anna Maria Strada del Pò and John Beard.

In April 1737, at age 52, Handel apparently suffered a stroke which disabled the use of four fingers on his right hand, preventing him from performing. In summer the disorder seemed at times to affect his understanding. Nobody expected that Handel would ever be able to perform again. But whether the affliction was rheumatism, a stroke or a nervous breakdown, he recovered remarkably quickly . To aid his recovery, Handel had travelled to Aachen, a spa in Germany. During six weeks he took long hot baths, and ending up playing the organ for a surprised audience.

''Deidamia'', his last and only baroque opera without an accompagnato, was performed three times in 1741. Handel gave up the opera business, while he enjoyed more success with his English oratorios.

Oratorio

''Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno'', an allegory, Handel's first oratorio was composed in Italy in 1707, followed by ''La Resurrezione'' in 1708 which uses material from the Bible. The circumstances of ''Esther'' and its first performance, possibly in 1718, are obscure. Another 12 years had passed when an act of piracy caused him to take up ''Esther'' once again. Three earlier performances aroused such interest that they naturally prompted the idea of introducing it to a larger public. Next came ''Deborah'', strongly coloured by the Anthems and ''Athaliah'', his first English Oratorio. In these three oratorios Handel laid foundation for the traditional use of the chorus which marks his later oratorios. Handel became sure of himself, broader in his presentation, and more diverse in his composition.

It is evident how much he learnt from Arcangelo Corelli about writing for instruments, and from Alessandro Scarlatti about writing for the solo voice; but there is no single composer who taught him how to write for chorus. Handel tended more and more to replace Italian soloists by English ones. The weightiest reason for this change was the dwindling financial returns from his operas. Thus a tradition was created for oratorios which was to govern their future performance. The performances were given without costumes and action; the performers appeared in a black suit.

In 1736 Handel came with ''Alexander's Feast''. John Beard appeared for the first time as one of Handel's principal singers and became Handel's permanent tenor soloist for the rest of Handel's life. The piece was a great success and it encouraged Handel to make the transition from writing Italian operas to English choral works. In ''Saul'', Handel was collaborating with Charles Jennens and experimenting with three trombones, a carillon and extra-large military kettledrums (from the Tower of London), to be sure "...it will be most excessive noisy". ''Saul'' and ''Israel in Egypt'' both from 1739 head the list of great, mature oratorios, in which the da capo and dal segno aria became the exception and not the rule. ''Israel in Egypt'' consists of little else but choruses, borrowing from the ''Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline''. In his next works Handel changed his course. In these works he laid greater stress on the effects of orchestra and soloists; the chorus retired into the background. ''L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato'' has a rather diverting character; the work is light and fresh.

During the summer of 1741, the 3rd Duke of Devonshire invited Handel to Dublin to give concerts for the benefit of local hospitals. His ''Messiah'' was first performed at the New Music Hall in Fishamble Street, on 13 April 1742, with 26 boys and five men from the combined choirs of St Patrick's and Christ Church cathedrals participating. Handel secured a balance between soloists and chorus which he never surpassed.

The use of English soloists reached its height at the first performance of ''Samson''. The work is highly theatrical. The role of the chorus became increasingly import in his later oratorios. ''Jephtha'' was first performed on 26 February 1752; even though it was his last oratorio, it was no less a masterpiece than his earlier works.

Later years

In 1749 Handel composed ''Music for the Royal Fireworks''; 12,000 people attended the first performance. In 1750 he arranged a performance of ''Messiah'' to benefit the Foundling Hospital. The performance was considered a great success and was followed by annual concerts that continued throughout his life. In recognition of his patronage, Handel was made a governor of the Hospital the day after his initial concert. He bequeathed a copy of ''Messiah'' to the institution upon his death. His involvement with the Foundling Hospital is today commemorated with a permanent exhibition in London's Foundling Museum, which also holds the ''Gerald Coke Handel Collection''. In addition to the Foundling Hospital, Handel also gave to a charity that assisted impoverished musicians and their families.

In August 1750, on a journey back from Germany to London, Handel was seriously injured in a carriage accident between The Hague and Haarlem in the Netherlands. In 1751 one eye started to fail. The cause was a cataract which was operated on by the great charlatan Chevalier Taylor. This led to uveitis and subsequent loss of vision. He died eight years later in 1759 at home in Brook Street, at age 74. The last performance he attended was of ''Messiah''. Handel was buried in Westminster Abbey. More than three thousand mourners attended his funeral, which was given full state honours.

Handel never married, and kept his personal life private. His initial will bequeathed the bulk of his estate to his niece Johanna, however four codicils distributed much of his estate to other relations, servants, friends and charities.

Handel owned an art collection that was auctioned posthumously in 1760. The auction catalogue listed approximately seventy paintings and ten prints (other paintings were bequeathed).

Works

:''Main articles: List of compositions by George Frideric Handel and List of operas by Handel. Handel's compositions include 42 operas, 29 oratorios, more than 120 cantatas, trios and duets, numerous arias, chamber music, a large number of ecumenical pieces, odes and serenatas, and 16 organ concerti. His most famous work, the oratorio ''Messiah'' with its "Hallelujah" chorus, is among the most popular works in choral music and has become the centrepiece of the Christmas season. Among the works with opus numbers published and popularised in his lifetime are the Organ Concertos Op.4 and Op.7, together with the Opus 3 and Opus 6 concerti grossi; the latter incorporate an earlier organ concerto ''The Cuckoo and the Nightingale'' in which birdsong is imitated in the upper registers of the organ. Also notable are his sixteen keyboard suites, especially ''The Harmonious Blacksmith''.

Handel introduced previously uncommon musical instruments in his works: the viola d'amore and violetta marina (''Orlando''), the lute (''Ode for St. Cecilia's Day''), three trombones (Saul), clarinets or small high cornetts (''Tamerlano''), theorbo, horn (''Water Music''), lyrichord, double bassoon, viola da gamba, bell chimes, positive organ, and harp (''Giulio Cesare'', ''Alexander's Feast'').

Handel's works have been catalogued in the ''Händel-Werke-Verzeichnis'' and are commonly referred to by an HWV number. For example, ''Messiah'' is catalogued as HWV 56.

Legacy

Handel's works were collected and preserved by two men in particular: Sir Samuel Hellier, a country squire whose musical acquisitions form the nucleus of the Shaw-Hellier Collection, and abolitionist Granville Sharp. The catalogue accompanying the National Portrait Gallery exhibition marking the tercentenary of the composer's birth calls them two men of the late eighteenth century "who have left us solid evidence of the means by which they indulged their enthusiasm".

After his death, Handel's Italian operas fell into obscurity, except for selections such as the aria from ''Serse'', "Ombra mai fù". The oratorios continued to be performed but not long after Handel's death they were thought to need some modernisation, and Mozart orchestrated a German version of ''Messiah'' and other works. Throughout the 19th century and first half of the 20th century, particularly in the Anglophone countries, his reputation rested primarily on his English oratorios, which were customarily performed by enormous choruses of amateur singers on solemn occasions.

Since the Early Music Revival many of the forty-two operas he wrote have been performed in opera houses and concert halls.

Handel's music was studied by composers such as Haydn , Mozart and Beethoven

Recent decades have revived his secular cantatas and what one might call 'secular oratorios' or 'concert operas'. Of the former, ''Ode for St. Cecilia's Day'' (1739) (set to texts by John Dryden) and ''Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne'' (1713) are noteworthy. For his secular oratorios, Handel turned to classical mythology for subjects, producing such works as ''Acis and Galatea'' (1719), ''Hercules'' (1745) and ''Semele'' (1744). These works have a close kinship with the sacred oratorios, particularly in the vocal writing for the English-language texts. They also share the lyrical and dramatic qualities of Handel's Italian operas. As such, they are sometimes performed onstage by small chamber ensembles. With the rediscovery of his theatrical works, Handel, in addition to his renown as instrumentalist, orchestral writer, and melodist, is now perceived as being one of opera's great musical dramatists.

Handel's work was edited by Samuel Arnold (40 vols., London, 1787–1797), and by Friedrich Chrysander, for the German Händel-Gesellschaft (105 vols., Leipzig, 1858–1902).

Handel adopted the spelling "George Frideric Handel" on his naturalisation as a British subject, and this spelling is generally used in English-speaking countries. The original form of his name, Georg Friedrich Händel, is generally used in Germany and elsewhere, but he is known as "Haendel" in France. Another composer with a similar name, Handl, was a Slovene and is more commonly known as Jacobus Gallus.

Musician's musician

Handel has generally been accorded high esteem by fellow composers, both in his own time and since. Bach attempted, unsuccessfully, to meet with Handel while he was visiting Halle. Mozart is reputed to have said of him, "Handel understands affect better than any of us. When he chooses, he strikes like a thunder bolt." To Beethoven he was "the master of us all... the greatest composer that ever lived. I would uncover my head and kneel before his tomb". Beethoven emphasised above all the simplicity and popular appeal of Handel's music when he said, "Go to him to learn how to achieve great effects, by such simple means".

Homages

After Handel's death, many composers wrote works based on or inspired by his music. The first movement from Louis Spohr's ''Symphony No. 6'', Op. 116, "The Age of Bach and Handel", resembles two melodies from Handel's ''Messiah''. In 1797 Ludwig van Beethoven published the ''12 Variations in G major on ‘See the conqu’ring hero comes’ from Judas Maccabaeus by Handel'', for cello and piano. Guitar virtuoso Mauro Giuliani composed his ''Variations on a Theme by Handel, Op. 107'' for guitar, based on Handel's Suite No. 5 in E major, HWV 430, for harpsichord. In 1861, using a theme from the second of Handel's harpsichord suites, Johannes Brahms wrote the ''Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel'', Op. 24, one of his most successful works (praised by Richard Wagner). Several works by the French composer Félix-Alexandre Guilmant use Handel's themes, for example his ''March on a Theme by Handel'' uses a theme from ''Messiah''. French composer and flautist Philippe Gaubert wrote his ''Petite marche'' for flute and piano based on the fourth movement of Handel's Trio Sonata, Op. 5, No. 2, HWV 397. Argentine composer Luis Gianneo composed his ''Variations on a Theme by Handel'' for piano. In 1911, Australian-born composer and pianist Percy Grainger based one of his most famous works on the final movement of Handel's Suite No. 5 in E major (just like Giuliani). He first wrote some variations on the theme, which he titled ''Variations on Handel's ‘The Harmonious Blacksmith’ ''. Then he used the first sixteen bars of his set of variations to create ''Handel in the Strand'', one of his most beloved pieces, of which he made several versions (for example, the piano solo version from 1930). Arnold Schoenberg's Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra in B flat major (1933) was composed after Handel's Concerto Grosso, Op. 6/7.

Veneration

Handel is honored together with Johann Sebastian Bach and Henry Purcell with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on 28 July.

He is commemorated as a musician in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church on 28 July, with Johann Sebastian Bach and Heinrich Schütz.

Editions

Between 1787 and 1797 Samuel Arnold compiled a 180-volume collection of Handel's works—however it was far from complete. Also incomplete was the collection produced between 1843 and 1858 by the English Handel Society (found by Sir George Macfarren).

The 105-volume Händel-Gesellschaft edition was published in the mid 19th century and was mainly edited by Friedrich Chrysander (often working alone in his home). For modern performance, the realisation of the basso continuo reflects 19th century practice. Vocal scores drawn from the edition were published by Novello in London, but some scores, such as the vocal score to Samson are incomplete.

The still-incomplete Hallische Händel-Ausgabe started to appear in 1956 (named for Halle in Saxony-Anhalt Eastern Germany, not the Netherlands). It did not start as a critical edition, but after heavy criticism of the first volumes, which were performing editions without a critical apparatus (for example, the opera Serse was published with the title character recast as a tenor reflecting pre-war German practice), it repositioned itself as a critical edition. Influenced in part by cold-war realities, editorial work was inconsistent: misprints are found in abundance and editors failed to consult important sources. In 1985 a committee was formed to establish better standards for the edition.

See also

Handel Commemoration

Handel Reference Database

Letters and writings of George Frideric Handel

en.wikisource.org/wiki/Handel/His Life of George Frideric Handel

List of compositions by George Frideric Handel

List of operas by Handel

Publications by Friedrich Chrysander

Valentine Snow

Will of George Frideric Handel

Notes

References

Chrissochoidis, Ilias. "Early Reception of Handel's Oratorios, 1732–1784: Narrative – Studies – Documents" (Ph.D. dissertation, Stanford University, 2004), available through UMI.

Chrissochoidis, Ilias. "Handel at a Crossroads: His 1737–1738 and 1738–1739 Seasons Re-Examined", ''Music & Letters'' 90/4 (November 2009), 599–635.

Chrissochoidis, Ilias. "Handel, Hogarth, Goupy: Artistic intersections in Handelian biography", ''Early Music'' 37/4 (November 2009), 577–596.

Chrissochoidis, Ilias. "'hee-haw ... llelujah': Handel among the Vauxhall Asses (1732)", ''Eighteenth-Century Music'' 7/2 (September 2010), 221–262.

Frosch, W.A., ''The "case" of George Frideric Handel'', New England Journal of Medicine, 1989; 321:765–769, 14 September 1989. content.nejm.org

Harris, Ellen T. (general editor) ''The librettos of Handel's operas: a collection of seventy librettos documenting Handel's operatic career'' New York: Garland, 1989. ISBN 0-8240-3862-2

Harris, Ellen T. ''Handel as Orpheus. Voice and Desire in the Chamber Cantatas'' Harvard University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-674-00617-8

Hogwood, Christopher. ''Handel.'' London: Thames and Hudson, 1984. ISBN 0-500-01355-1

Keates, Jonathan. ''Handel, the man and his music.'' London: V. Gollancz, 1985. ISBN 0-575-03573-0

Leopold, Silke. "Händel die Opern" Bärenreiter 2009, ISBN 978-3-7618-1991-3

Meynell, Hugo. ''The Art of Handel's Operas'' The Edwin Mellen Press (1986) ISBN 0-88946-425-1

External links

Edward Dent's Handel biography from Project Gutenberg

The second volume of Winton Dean for "Handel's Operas" covering the years 1726–1741

Friedrich Chrysander's Handel biography (in German)

Biographical details web site

Handel Houses:

*The Handel House Museum

*The Händel-Haus in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt

References on Handel

Handel Reference Database

Scores and recordings

: includes Complete Works Edition ''(Ausgabe der Deutschen Händelgesellschaft)''

The Mutopia Project provides free downloading of sheet music and MIDI files for some of Handel's works.

Free typeset sheet music of Handel's works from ''Cantorion.org''

Handel cylinder recordings, from the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library.

Handel's Sheet Music by free-scores.com

Kunst der Fuge: George Frideric Handel – MIDI files

Water Music, Organ Concertos op. 4, Tamerlano, etc. Creative Commons recordings

Category:1685 births Category:1759 deaths Category:People from Halle, Saxony-Anhalt Category:Opera composers Category:Baroque composers Category:English classical organists Category:English composers Category:English people of German descent Category:German composers Category:German emigrants to the United Kingdom Category:German classical organists Category:Organ improvisers Category:Composers for pipe organ Category:Members of the Royal Society of Musicians Category:People from the Duchy of Magdeburg Category:People celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendar Category:18th-century German people Category:Walhalla enshrinees Category:Burials at Westminster Abbey Category:Anglican saints Category:Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Category:Classical composers of church music

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Sigurd Manfred Raschèr (pronounced 'Rah-sher') (15 May 190725 February 2001) was an American saxophonist of German birth. He became one of the most important figures in the development of the 20th century repertoire for the classical saxophone.

Career in Europe

He was born in Elberfeld, Germany (now Wuppertal). His father was the physician Hanns August Rascher (1880–1952). At the time of the opening of the first Waldorfschule in Stuttgart, Germany in 1919, the Rascher family moved to Stuttgart, where the young Sigurd entered as a founding year student, and graduated there also. After studying clarinet with Philipp Dreisbach at the Hochschule für Musik in Stuttgart, (from 1930), he switched to the saxophone. :"Trained originally as a classical clarinetist in Berlin, an instrument on which he achieved considerable skill, he told of how he took up the saxophone during the 1920s just to earn a little money playing in the night clubs around the city. Before long, however, he was urged by one of his music professors to try playing the music of Bach on the saxophone. His initial skepticism was soon replaced by a serious commitment to bring a new level of saxophone virtuosity to the concert stage, and to foster the development of serious literature for the instrument." --Ronald Caravan After completing his schooling, he taught woodwind at elementary schools and played in concert bands, and spent his remaining hours striving to improve his technical abilities on the saxophone. He also taught woodworking at the Berlin Waldorfschule in the early 1930s. His dedicated practice paid off; in 1933, he was appointed to teach saxophone at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Copenhagen, and in 1934, he received the similar post at the Conservatory in Malmö, Sweden. He held both posts until he moved to the United States in 1938.

Career in the United States

Raschèr arrived in America in 1939 and made his American debut at Carnegie Hall on 11 November 1939 with the New York Philharmonic under the baton of Sir John Barbirolli. Soon after he appeared as soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Serge Koussevitzky (some sources claim it was the Boston Philharmonic, but that ensemble was not founded until 1979, approximately 28 years after Koussevitzky's death). He was the first saxophonist to appear as a soloist in a subscription concert with both orchestras.

His career continued with solo appearances in Washington, D.C. and at New York City's Town Hall in the spring of 1940. With war looming in Europe, he could not return to his native Germany. In 1941, his wife Ann Mari, of Swedish descent, joined him in the United States, and they established their home on a small farm in the rural town of Shushan in northern New York, where they would reside for nearly 60 years.

Although he was born in Germany, publicity from the 1940s often refers to Raschèr as having come from Sweden - this reflected both his distaste for the Hitler regime, and American suspicion during that time of all things German. Additionally, some members of his family remained behind in Germany and were active Nazi sympathizers. His international career as a soloist and his ability to gain residence and citizenship in many countries could have been damaged or destroyed if any suspicion arose about his background. In any event, he left Germany and had no further contact with Hitler sympathizers in his family, nor did he set foot in Germany from the time he left until well into the 1950s, after most remaining close family members had died.

After World War II ended in 1945, Raschèr was invited to give concerts in Europe, where he traveled months on end, performing as soloist with many orchestras. As Raschèr's reputation grew in the United States, he performed many concerts as soloist with various university bands.

Raschèr went on to perform as soloist with more than 250 bands and orchestras worldwide, including concerts in Europe, Asia, Australia and the United States. Solo appearances included:

Soloist with the New York Philharmonic, 11 November 1939

Soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, 1939

Soloist and guest clinician with the National Intercollegiate Band, 1967

His last saxophone solo performance was with the Vermont Symphony in 1977, on the eve of his 70th birthday. He died in Shushan, New York in 2001, aged 93.

Relationship with composers and premieres of major works

During Raschèr's life, more than 140 works for saxophone were dedicated to him, many counted as among the most important 20th century works for the concert saxophone. American composer Walter Hartley became a close friend of Raschèr's, and has produced more works for saxophone than any other composer. Hartley was frequently in attendance at Raschèr's saxophone workshops ''(see below)''.

:"Throughout the middle decades of the twentieth century, a preponderance of the significant new saxophone solo and chamber repertoire would appear with the familiar dedication to Sigurd M. Rascher, products not just of his ongoing commitment to motivate some of the world's finest composers, but also in part the result of genuine close friendships he developed with so many. Among them were Larsson, Glaser, and von Koch in Sweden; Jacobi, Dressel, and Genzmer in Germany; Haba, Macha, and Reiner in Czechoslovakia; and Benson, Brant, Cowell, Dahl, Erickson, Husa, and Hartley in the United States. And it is not without significance that among all the pieces written for and dedicated to him during his life, not one was commissioned. He inspired new music, he never needed to purchase it." --Ronald Caravan

Works dedicated to Raschèr include:

Edmund von Borck: Konzert für Alt-Saxophon und Orchester, Op. 6, 1932

Henry Brant: Concerto, 1941

Eric Coates: Saxo-Rhapsody, 1936

Ingolf Dahl: Concerto, 1949 (subsequently revised twice)

Werner Wolf Glaser: Allegro, Cadenza e Adagio, 1950

Alexander Glazunov: Concerto in E, Op. 109, 1934

Alois Hába: Suita pro saxofon-solo, Op. 99, 1968

Paul Hindemith: Konzertstück (for 2 alto saxophones), 1933

Jacques Ibert: Concertino da camera pour saxophone alto et onze instruments, 1935

Lars-Erik Larsson: Concerto, 1934

Frank Martin: Ballade, 1938

Slavko Osterc: Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano

Karel Husa: ''Élégie et Rondeau''

Maurice C. Whitney: Rumba, 1949 and Introduction and Samba, 1961

Clair Leonard: Recitative and Abracadabra, 1962

Raschèr Saxophone Quartet

With his daughter, Carina, he founded the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet, one of the first classical saxophone ensembles in the world, in 1969. The Quartet appeared (and continues to appear, but with different personnel) at major concert halls in Europe and the U.S. The quartet was acclaimed as the "Uncrowned Kings of the Saxophone" (''Wiener Zeitung'').

His tireless pursuit of classical composers, and the impressive technical abilities and reputation of the quartet, led over 200 composers to dedicate works to the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet between 1969 and Raschèr's death in 2001. The best known composers to write for the group include Luciano Berio, Philip Glass, Iannis Xenakis, Sofia Gubaidulina and Charles Wuorinen.

Teaching career

Raschèr taught saxophone at the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music and the Eastman School of Music.

Many of his students went on to become well known saxophone teachers and performers themselves, including:

Ronald Caravan

Lawrence Gwozdz

Kenneth Deans

John-Edward Kelly

Patrick Meighan

Paul Cohen (saxophonist)

John S. Moore

Lee Patrick

Michael Ried

H. Ray Spires

Harry White

James Houlik

Richard J. Scruggs

Carina Raschèr

Linda Bangs

Bruce Weinberger

Daniel Dorff

David Bilger

Sylvia Baker

Styliani Tartsinis

Martin Wilkes

Laurence Wyman

Roy Martin

Mark Aronson

Rebecca Crutchfield (Aronson)

:''(This is a small portion of his students; need additional names here)''

Raschèr Saxophone Workshops

After retiring from his performing career in 1977, Raschèr continued to give week-long workshops to groups of saxophonists, both in the United States and his native Germany, well into his 80s. These workshops typically attracted between 40 and 80 players of all ages, and were usually held at universities where his admirers or former students held teaching positions, such as The University of Southern Mississippi, Georgia State University, Union College, SUNY Fredonia, and Syracuse University.

Workshops featured master classes, performances by soloists and quartets, and a final concert featuring all attendees playing together as a "saxophone orchestra." The last U.S. workshop was held at Yale University in 1992 and the last European workshop was held in southern Germany in 1993.

After suffering a debilitating stroke in 1994, Raschèr died in 2001 at age 93 in Shushan, New York.

His Archive is currently held at the State University of New York at Fredonia.

Saxophone tone and the saxophone mouthpiece

One subject that was of great importance to Raschèr was his tonal concept. He believed that when used in classical music, the saxophone should sound as its inventor, Adolphe Sax, had intended. Upon inventing the instrument, Sax had specified the shape of the interior of the instrument's mouthpiece as being large and round. All saxophone mouthpieces were made in this style until the 1930s, when the advent of big-band jazz made saxophonists experiment with different shapes of mouthpieces to get a louder and edgier sound.

Between 1940 and 1960, it became common for classical saxophonists to use narrow-chamber mouthpieces, which give the instrument a brighter and edgier sound. Whenever he taught or lectured to saxophone players, Raschèr emphasized that the modern mouthpieces were not what Sax had intended, and the sound they produce, while useful to a jazz player who requires a loud piercing sound, was not appropriate for use in classical music. His students and other disciples felt that the desirable tone for a classical saxophone was a softer, rounder sound - a sound that can only be produced by a mouthpiece with a large, rounded interior (often referred to as an "excavated chamber"). His steadfast and irascible insistence in this area, while nearly all the world's classical saxophonists were moving to narrower mouthpieces (along with saxophones with a non-parabolically expanding bore) and a brighter tone, resulted in quarrels with, and alienation from, the majority of the classical saxophone world. (There were other ways in which his playing differed from the majority of classical saxophonists; these included his insistence on using the slap tongue as a pizzicato technique, and his use of fluttertonguing as a special effect.)

By 1970, narrow-chambered mouthpieces had become nearly universally popular, and mouthpiece manufacturers ceased production of large-chambered mouthpieces. This lack of supply meant that Raschèr's students had difficulty finding mouthpieces that would produce the tone they desired. For a period of time the only large-chambered mouthpieces were ones that had been manufactured in the 1920s and 1930s, leading Raschèr students to search pawn shops and other sources of old instruments.

Raschèr responded to this lack of supply by engaging a manufacturer to make a "Sigurd Raschèr brand" mouthpiece, which was simply a virtual duplication of the mouthpieces that had been readily available from American saxophone manufacturers Buescher and Conn in the 1920s. The Raschèr mouthpiece is still manufactured today.

Top Tones

Of special importance is Raschèr's emphasis on the extended range of the saxophone. As early as 1940 he demonstrated that an advanced player can achieve a range of four octaves on the saxophone, despite the fact that few players at that time ever played beyond the conventional range of two and a half octaves. This upper range became known as the "altissimo register," but Raschèr himself refused to use that term, preferring to call them "top tones."

Few players played above high F before 1940, including H. Benne Henton of the Conway Band c. 1911 (to high D), Dick Stabile, an early jazz artist (to high F), and Jascha Gurewitz, an early recitalist (to high F#).

Raschèr was vocal in encouraging composers to make use of this extended range. He was eager to demonstrate his command of these "top tones," and argued that the use of these notes was a legitimate musical technique, not a trick or novelty. His book on this subject, ''Top-Tones for the Saxophone,'' was published in 1941 and remains highly regarded today.

To better demonstrate that the technique of playing notes above high F had its basis in the natural overtone series of the saxophone, he had the Buescher factory create a custom instrument for him: a saxophone body with no tone holes at all. A picture of this instrument is seen on the frontispiece of the ''Top Tones'' book. He demonstrated that it was possible to play at least 15 overtones on this instrument, and on a conventional saxophone as well, and claimed that diligent study of the overtone technique was the best way to gain a command of the extended range.

The extended range (altissimo register) was highly controversial throughout the middle of the 20th century, and Raschèr stirred the controversy among the classical saxophone community by insisting that the instrument's inventor, Adolphe Sax, had intended the instrument to be played in this manner. Raschèr cited evidence that Sax had demonstrated a three-octave range (up to a high C) to composers in the 1840s.

Despite the initial resistance on the part of the saxophone community to the altissimo register, it has since come to be an accepted technique, and is utilized by nearly all classical saxophonists. Despite its difficulty, it is now commonly taught to advanced high school and college students, and has become a required skill for any student who desires a degree in saxophone performance.

:''During the earlier decades of his career, many saxophonists resisted and even ridiculed his pioneering work in extending the upward range of the instrument beyond two and a half octaves. Composers, however, were more inclined to embrace this expanded expressive capability that Mr. Rascher had singularly fostered. By {1977} his lifelong commitment to the saxophone's high register, coupled with the momentum provided by so many composers who used it, had served to establish the extended range as an essential element of modern artistic saxophone performance.'' --Ronald Caravan

Recognition and Awards

He was awarded the Band Masters of America Award for distinguished artists

Honorary Life Member of the North American Saxophone Alliance

He received many other career awards ''(need details here).''

External links

Official web site of the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet

Page about Raschèr on the web site of ''Saxophone Journal''

Raschèr's New York Times obituary

Article about Raschèr's book ''Top Tones for Saxophone''

Memorial article about Raschèr by John-Edward Kelly

Category:1907 births Category:2001 deaths Category:American classical musicians Category:American saxophonists Category:German saxophonists Category:Classical saxophonists Category:German emigrants to the United States Category:Manhattan School of Music faculty Category:American people of German descent Category:People from Elberfeld Category:People from the Rhine Province

de:Sigurd Raschèr fr:Sigurd Rascher nl:Sigurd Rascher ru:Рашер, Сигурд

Coordinates	07°09′52″N78°30′38″N
name	Fritz Kreisler
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
born	February 02, 1875Vienna, Austria
died	January 29, 1962New York City, USA
instrument	Violin
genre	Classical
occupation	Composer, violinist
years active	1903–1950
notable instruments	Violin''Kreisler Guarnerius'' 1707''Earl of Plymouth Stradivarius'' 1711''Greville-Kreisler-Adams Stradivarius'' 1726''Kreisler Guarneri del Gesù'' 1730c ''Kreisler-Nachez Guarneri del Gesù'' 1732''Huberman-Kreisler Stradivarius'' 1733''Lord Amherst of Hackney Stradivarius'' 1734''Kreisler Guarneri del Gesù'' 1734''Mary Portman Guarneri del Gesù'' 1735c''Hart-Kreisler Guarneri del Gesù'' 1737 Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù 1740c''Kreisler Bergonzi'' 1740cJean-Baptiste Vuillaume 1860 }}

Friedrich 'Fritz' Kreisler (February 2, 1875 – January 29, 1962) was an Austrian-born violinist and composer. One of the most famous violin masters of his or any other day, he was known for his sweet tone and expressive phrasing. Like many great violinists of his generation, he produced a characteristic sound which was immediately recognizable as his own. Although he derived in many respects from the Franco-Belgian school, his style is nonetheless reminiscent of the ''gemütlich'' (cozy) lifestyle of pre-war Vienna.

Biography

Kreisler was born in Vienna to a Jewish father and a German; he was baptised at age twelve. He studied at the Vienna Conservatory and in Paris, where his teachers included Anton Bruckner, Léo Delibes, Jakob Dont, Joseph Hellmesberger, Jr., Joseph Massart, and Jules Massenet. He made his United States debut at Steinway Hall in New York City on November 10, 1888, and his first tour of the United States in 1888–1889 with Moriz Rosenthal, then returned to Austria and applied for a position in the Vienna Philharmonic. He was turned down by the concertmaster Arnold Rosé. Hearing a recording of the Rosé Quartet, it is easy to hear why – Rosé was sparing in his use of vibrato, and Kreisler would not have blended successfully with the orchestra's violin section. As a result, he left music to study medicine. He spent a brief time in the army before returning to the violin in 1899, giving a concert with the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Arthur Nikisch. It was this concert and a series of American tours from 1901 to 1903 that brought him real acclaim. In 1910, Kreisler gave the premiere of Sir Edward Elgar's Violin Concerto, a work commissioned by and dedicated to him. He briefly served in the Austrian Army in World War I before being honourably discharged after he was wounded. He spent the remaining years of the war in America. He returned to Europe in 1924, living first in Berlin, then moving to France in 1938. Shortly thereafter, at the outbreak of World War II, he settled once again in the United States, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1943. He lived in that country for the rest of his life. He gave his last public concert in 1947 and broadcast performances for a few years after that.

On April 26, 1941, he was involved in the first of two traffic accidents that marked his life. Struck by a truck while crossing a street in New York, he fractured his skull, and was in a coma for over a week. Towards the end of his life, he was in another accident while traveling in an automobile, and spent his last days blind and deaf from that accident, but he "radiated a gentleness and refinement not unlike his music," according to Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen who visited him frequently during that time (Kreisler and his wife were converts to Catholicism, received into the Church by the Archbishop himself). He died in New York City in 1962 and was interred in a private mausoleum in Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, NY.

Kreisler wrote a number of pieces for the violin, including solos for encores, such as "Liebesleid" and "Liebesfreud". Some of Kreisler's compositions were pastiches in an ostensible style of other composers, originally ascribed to earlier composers such as Gaetano Pugnani, Giuseppe Tartini, and Antonio Vivaldi. When Kreisler revealed in 1935 that they were actually by him and critics complained, Kreisler answered that critics had already deemed the compositions worthy: "The name changes, the value remains" he said. He also wrote operettas including ''Apple Blossoms'' in 1919 and ''Sissy'' in 1932, a string quartet and cadenzas, including ones for the Brahms D major violin concerto, the Paganini D major violin concerto, and the Beethoven D major violin concerto. His cadenza for the Beethoven concerto is the one most often employed by violinists today.

He performed and recorded his own version of the first movement of the Paganini D major violin concerto. This version is rescored and in some places reharmonised. The orchestral introduction is completely rewritten in some places. The overall effect is of a late nineteenth century work.

thumb|The mausoleum of Fritz Kreisler in [[Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)|Woodlawn Cemetery]]Kreisler owned several antique violins by luthiers Antonio Stradivari, Pietro Guarneri, Giuseppe Guarneri, and Carlo Bergonzi, most of which eventually came to bear his name. He also owned a Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume violin of 1860, which he often used as his second violin, and which he often loaned to the young prodigy Josef Hassid.

On recordings, Kreisler's style bears a resemblance to that of his younger contemporary Mischa Elman, with a tendency toward expansive tempi, a continuous and varied vibrato, expressive phrasing, and a melodic approach to passage-work. Kreisler makes considerable use of portamento and rubato. The two violinists' approaches are less similar in big works of the standard repertoire, such as Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, than in smaller pieces.

A trip to a Kreisler concert is recounted in Siegfried Sassoon's 1928 autobiographical novel ''Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man''.

Kreisler's emotionally expressive and accessible manner has been contrasted with Jascha Heifetz's infallible technical precision, more emotionally detached, and with a less immediately colorful sound. It has been repeatedly observed that while Heifetz was the most conspicuously perfect violinist, Kreisler was the most beloved.

Work

Compositions

: See: ''List of compositions by Fritz Kreisler'' : See also: "Musical Hoax"

Recordings

Kreisler's work has been reasonably well represented on both LP and CD reissues. Original masters were made on RCA Victor and HMV. His final recordings were made in 1950.

Bach Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, BWV 1043, with Efrem Zimbalist (second violin), and a string quartet. rec. January 4, 1915.

Beethoven Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61, with Leo Blech, Berlin State Opera Orchestra. rec. December 15, 1926.

Beethoven Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61, with John Barbirolli, London Symphony Orchestra. rec. June 16, 1936.

Beethoven Sonata No. 8 in G major, Op. 30, No. 3, with Sergei Rachmaninoff, pF. rec. March 22, 1928.

Beethoven Sonata No. 9 in A major, Op. 47, with Franz Rupp, pf. rec. June 17–19, 1936.

Brahms Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77 with Leo Blech, Berlin State Opera Orchestra, rec. November 21, 1927.

Brahms Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77 with John Barbirolli, London Symphony Orchestra, rec. June 18, 1936.

Grieg Sonata No. 3 in C minor, Op. 45, with Sergei Rachmaninoff, pf. rec. December 14–15, 1928.

Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64, with Leo Blech, Berlin State Opera Orchestra. rec. December 9, 1926.

Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64, with Landon Ronald, London Symphony Orch. rec. April 8, 1935

Mozart Violin Concerto in D major, K. 218, with Landon Ronald, London Symphony Orchestra, rec. December 1, 1924.

Paganini Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 6 (recomposed by Kreisler), with Eugene Ormandy, Philadelphia Orchestra, rec. December 13, 1936.

Schubert Sonata No. 5 in A major, D. 574, with Sergei Rachmaninoff, pf. rec. December 20, 1928.

attrib. Vivaldi, RV Anh. 62 (composed by Kreisler) Violin Concerto in C major, with Donald Voorhees, RCA Victor Orchestra, rec. May 2, 1945.

Broadway

''Apple Blossoms'' (1919) – operetta – co-composer

''Continental Varieties'' (1934) – revue – featured composer for "Caprice Viennois" and "La Gitana"

''Reunion in New York'' (1940) – revue – featured composer for "Stars in Your Eyes"

''Rhapsody'' (1944) – musical – composer.

References

External links

An assembled edition of original pieces and arrangements for violin and piano by Fritz Kreisler. From Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection

Fritz Kreisler String Quartet in a minor Soundbites & discussion of work

Discography of Fritz Kreisler on Victor Records from the Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings (EDVR)

Recordings of Fritz Kreisler on the Library of Congress jukebox

{{s-ttl|title=Cover of Time Magazine |years=February 2, 1925}}

Category:1875 births Category:1962 deaths Category:20th-century classical composers Category:American classical violinists Category:American composers Category:American people of Austrian descent Category:Austrian classical violinists Category:Austrian composers Category:Austrian emigrants to the United States Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism Category:Forgers Category:Musical hoaxes Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:Opera composers Category:People from Leopoldstadt Category:Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medallists

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