Minuet.

A minuet, also spelled menuet, is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in 3/4 time. The word was adapted from Italian minuetto and French menuet, and may have been from French menu meaning slender, small, referring to the very small steps, or from the early 17th-century popular group dances called branle à mener or amener.

The term also describes the musical form which accompanied the dance, and subsequently developed more fully, often with a longer structure called the minuet and trio.

Dance[link]

The name may refer to the short steps, pas menus, taken in the dance, or else be derived from the branle à mener or amener, popular group dances in early 17th-century France (Little 2001). The minuet was traditionally said to have descended from the bransle de Poitou, though there is no evidence making a clear connection between these two dances. The earliest treatise to mention the possible connection of the name to the expression pas menus is Gottfried Taubert's Rechtschaffener Tantzmeister, published in Leipzig in 1717, but this source does not describe the steps as being particularly small or dainty (Russell 2006, 140–41). At the period when it was most fashionable it was controlled, ceremonious and graceful.

Music[link]

Rhythm and form[link]

The name is also given to a musical composition written in the same time and rhythm, but when not accompanying an actual dance the pace was quicker. Stylistically refined minuets, apart from the social dance context, were introduced—to opera at first—by Jean-Baptiste Lully, who included no less than 92 of them in his theatrical works (Little 2001) and in the late 17th century the minuet was adopted into the suite, such as some of the suites of Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Händel. Among Italian composers, the minuet was often considerably quicker and livelier, and was sometimes written in 3/8 or 6/8 time. Initially, before its adoption in contexts other than social dance, the minuet was usually in binary form, with two sections of usually eight bars each, but the second section eventually expanded, resulting in a kind of ternary form. On a larger scale, two such minuets were often combined, so that the first minuet was followed by a second one, and finally by a repetition of the first. The second (or middle) minuet usually provided some form of contrast, by means of different key and orchestration.

Minuet and trio[link]

Around Lully's time, it became a common practice to score this middle section for a trio (such as two oboes and a bassoon, as is common in Lully). As a result, this middle section came to be called trio, even when no trace of such an orchestration remains.^{[citation needed]} The overall structure is called rounded binary or minuet form (Rosen 1988, 29):

A      :||: B                           A or A'
I(->V) :||: V(or other closely related) I

The minuet and trio eventually became the standard third movement in the four-movement classical symphony, Johann Stamitz being the first to employ it thus with regularity.^{[citation needed]} A livelier form of the minuet later developed into the scherzo (which was generally also coupled with a trio). This term came into existence approximately from Beethoven onwards, but the form itself can be traced back to Haydn. An example of the true form of the minuet is to be found in Don Giovanni.

A famous example of a more recent instrumental work in minuet form is Ignacy Jan Paderewski's Minuet in G.

See also[link]

• Scherzo, a musical form derived from the minuet

References[link]

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

• Blatter, Alfred. 2007. Revisiting Music Theory: A Guide to the Practice. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-97440-2.
• Little, Meredith Ellis. 2001. "Minuet". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
• Rosen, Charles. 1988. Sonata Forms, revised edition. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-30219-9.
• Russell, Tilden. 2006. "The Minuet According to Taubert". Dance Research: The Journal of the Society for Dance Research 24, no. 2 (Winter): 138–62.
• Sutton, Julia. 1985. "The Minuet: An Elegant Phoenix". Dance Chronicle, no. 8:119–52.

Further reading[link]

• Caplin, William Earl. 1998. Classical Form: A Theory of Formal Functions for the Instrumental Music of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-510480-3 (cloth); ISBN 0-19-514399-X (pbk). (pp. 220ff).
• Elson, Louis Charles. 1908. The Theory of Music as Applied to the Teaching and Practice of Voice and Instruments, 21st edition. Boston: New England Conservatory of Music. (pp. 157ff).

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Minuet

• Example of a Minuet Choreography: "Menuet à deux pour un homme et une femme", Raoul Auger Feuillet: Recueil de Dances (1704)

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2012)

Luigi Rodolfo Boccherini (Lucca, Italy, February 19, 1743 – Madrid, Spain, May 28, 1805) was an Italian classical era composer and cellist whose music retained a courtly and galante style while he matured somewhat apart from the major European musical centers. Boccherini is most widely known for one particular minuet from his String Quintet in E, Op. 11, No. 5 (G 275), and the Cello Concerto in B flat major (G 482). The latter work was long known in the heavily altered version by German cellist and prolific arranger Friedrich Grützmacher, but has recently been restored to its original version. Boccherini composed several guitar quintets including the "Fandango" which was influenced by Spanish music.

Biography[link]

Boccherini was born in Lucca, Italy, into a musical family. At a young age he was sent by his father, a cellist and double bass player, to study in Rome. In 1757 they both went to Vienna where they were employed by the court as musicians in the Burgtheater. In 1761 Boccherini went to Madrid, where he was employed by Infante Luis Antonio of Spain, younger brother of King Charles III. There he flourished under royal patronage, until one day when the King expressed his disapproval at a passage in a new trio, and ordered Boccherini to change it. The composer, no doubt irritated with this intrusion into his art, doubled the passage instead, leading to his immediate dismissal. Then he accompanied Don Luis to Arenas de San Pedro, a little town at the Gredos mountains; there and in the closest town of Candeleda, Boccherini wrote many of his most brilliant works.

Among his late patrons was the French consul Lucien Bonaparte, as well as King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia, himself an amateur cellist, flautist, and avid supporter of the arts. Boccherini fell on hard times following the deaths of his Spanish patron, two wives, and two daughters, and he died almost in poverty in Madrid in 1805, being survived by two sons. His blood line continues to this day in Spain.^{[citation needed]} He was buried in the Pontifical Basilica of St. Michael until 1927, when Benito Mussolini repatriated his remains to the Church of San Francesco of his native Lucca.

Works[link]

Luigi Boccherini playing the cello. Unknown artist (Circa 1764-1767)

Much of his chamber music follows models established by Joseph Haydn; however, Boccherini is often credited with improving Haydn's model of the string quartet by bringing the cello to prominence, whereas Haydn had frequently relegated it to an accompaniment role. Rather, some sources for Boccherini's style are in the works of a famous Italian cellist, Giovanni Battista Cirri, who was born before Boccherini and before Haydn, and in the Spanish popular music.

A virtuoso cellist of high caliber, Boccherini often played violin repertoire on the cello, at pitch, a skill he developed by substituting for ailing violinists while touring. This supreme command of the instrument brought him much praise from his contemporaries (notably Pierre Baillot, Pierre Rode, and Bernhard Romberg), and is evident in the cello parts of his compositions (particularly in the quintets for two cellos, treated often as cello concertos with string quartet accompaniment).

He wrote a large amount of chamber music, including over one hundred string quintets for two violins, viola and two cellos (a type which he pioneered, in contrast with the then common scoring for two violins, two violas and one cello), a dozen guitar quintets, not all of which have survived, nearly a hundred string quartets, and a number of string trios and sonatas (including at least 19 for the cello). His orchestral music includes around 30 symphonies and 12 virtuoso cello concertos.

Boccherini's works have been catalogued by the French musicologist Yves Gérard (born 1932) in the Gérard catalog, published in London (1969), hence the "G" numbers applied to his output.

With a ministerial decree dated 27 April 2006, the Opera Omnia of the composer Luigi Boccherini was promoted to the status of Italian National Edition.

Boccherini's style is characterized by the typical Rococo charm, lightness, and optimism, and exhibits much melodic and rhythmic invention, coupled with frequent influences from the guitar tradition of his adopted country, Spain.

Contemporary revival[link]

Neglected after his death—the dismissive sobriquet "Haydn's wife" dates from the nineteenth century— his works have been gaining more recognition since the late 20th century, in print, record, and concert hall. His "celebrated minuet" (String Quintet in E, Op. 11, No. 5 (G 275)) was popularized through its use in the film The Ladykillers. His famous "Musica notturna delle strade di Madrid" (String Quintet in C Major, Op. 30 No. 6, G324), became popular through its use in films such as Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.

His distinctive compositions for string quintet (two violins, one viola, two celli), long neglected after his death, have been brought back to life by the Boccherini Quintet in the second half of the 20th century, when two of its founding members discovered a complete collection of the first edition of the 141 string quintets in Paris and began playing and recording them around the world.

Recording[link]

• Flute Quintets, Op. 19, Auser Musici, Carlo Ipata, director, Hyperion CDA67646 (2008)

Media[link]

Sonata for Two Cellos in C Major, 1st movement Allegro moderato Alisa Weilerstein and Sujari Britt at the White House (2009-11-04) Sonata for Two Cellos in C Major, 1st movement Allegro moderato Audio only version String Quintet op.27 No 3, first movement Performed by Jacques Lochet, violin and synthesizer (October 2001) String Quintet op.27 No 3, second movement Performed by Jacques Lochet, violin and synthesizer (October 2001) String Quintet op.27 No 1, first movement Performed by Jacques Lochet, violin and synthesizer (November 2001) String Quintet op.27 No 1, second movement Performed by Jacques Lochet, violin and synthesizer (November 2001) String Quintet Op10 No5, third movement Performed by Jacques Lochet, violin and synthesizer (2001) String Quintet Op62 No4, first movement Performed by Jacques Lochet, violin and synthesizer (2001) String Quintet Op62 No4, second movement Performed by Jacques Lochet, violin and synthesizer (2001) String Quintet Op62 No4, third movement Performed by Jacques Lochet, violin and synthesizer (2001) String Quintet Op62 No4, fourth movement Performed by Jacques Lochet, violin and synthesizer (2001) String Quintet Op11 No1, first movement Performed by Jacques Lochet, violin and synthesizer (2001) String Quintet Op11 No1, second movement Performed by Jacques Lochet, violin and synthesizer (2001) String Quintet Op11 No1, third movement Performed by Jacques Lochet, violin and synthesizer (2001) String Quintet Op11 No3, first movement Performed by Jacques Lochet, violin and synthesizer (2002)

String Quintet Op11 No3, second movement Performed by Jacques Lochet, violin and synthesizer (2002) String Quintet Op11 No3, third movement Performed by Jacques Lochet, violin and synthesizer (2002) String Quintet Op11 No3, fourth movement Performed by Jacques Lochet, violin and synthesizer (2002) String Quintet op.11 No 2, first movement Performed by Jacques Lochet, violin and synthesizer (2001) String Quintet op.11 No 2, second movement Performed by Jacques Lochet, violin and synthesizer (2001) String Quintet op.11 No 2, third movement Performed by Jacques Lochet, violin and synthesizer (2001) String Quintet op.11 No 2, fourth movement Performed by Jacques Lochet, violin and synthesizer (2001) String Quintet op.13 No 1, first movement Performed by Jacques Lochet, violin and synthesizer (2002) String Quintet op.13 No 1, second movement Performed by Jacques Lochet, violin and synthesizer (2002) String Quintet op.13 No 1, third movement Performed by Jacques Lochet, violin and synthesizer (2002) String Quintet op.13 No 1, fourth movement Performed by Jacques Lochet, violin and synthesizer (2002) String Quintet op.18 No 1, first movement Performed by Jacques Lochet, violin and synthesizer (2002) String Quintet op.18 No 1, second movement Performed by Jacques Lochet, violin and synthesizer (2002) String Quintet op.18 No 1, third movement Performed by Jacques Lochet, violin and synthesizer (2002) String Quintet op.18 No 1, fourth movement Performed by Jacques Lochet, violin and synthesizer (2002) Problems listening to the files? See media help.

Research[link]

• Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805) First International Conference in Lucca - CALL FOR PAPERS
• Boccherini Studies
• Luigi Boccherini's Complete Works

See also[link]

• List of compositions by Luigi Boccherini
• Cello Concerto in D Major, G.479
• Cello Concerto in B-flat Major, G.482

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Luigi Boccherini

• Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini
• Association Luigi Boccherini
• Classical Music Archives
• Luigi Boccherini 1743-1805
• Free scores by Luigi Boccherini in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)
• Free scores by Boccherini at the International Music Score Library Project
• Examples of Boccherini's works at The Classical Music Dictionary
• Luigi Boccherini. More extensive biography (Spanish)
• Complete list of works at University of Quebec. Marked "under construction". (French)
• Trios, violins, violoncello, G. 83-88 (From the Sibley Music Library Digital Score Collection)
• Sonatas, harpsichord, violin, violoncello, G. 143-148 (From the Sibley Music Library Digital Score Collection)
• Luigi Boccherini Music Insitute, Lucca

Seongha Jeong (정성하) (colloquially: Sungha Jung) (born 2 September 1996) is a South Korean professional acoustic finger-style guitarist who has risen to fame on YouTube and other sites. As of 2012, his channel had over 17 million views, with his videos getting a total of over 454 million views, and also over 726,000 subscribers.^[1]

Seongha typically takes three days to learn and practice a new piece, and video-record it for upload onto YouTube.^[2] His genre selection is rather broad, as he learns and plays many pieces that are playable on guitar, therefore consequently spread across numerous genres.

Seongha has won 13 awards on YouTube, including 6 "#1" awards. Also on YouTube, Seongha has 523 videos with over one million views. Seongha's video with the most views is the one which shows him playing the theme from "Pirates Of The Caribbean".

In 2010, he was featured on Narsha's solo album "Narsha" for the song "I'm in Love" Seongha has composed 18 pieces as of February 2011, two of which are featured in his debut album, "Perfect Blue". He released his second album, "Irony", on 21 September 2011.

In 2011, he performed in the US with Trace Bundy, as well as touring in Scandinavia and Japan.^[1]

See also[link]

• Yuto Miyazawa, Seongha's Japanese electric guitar-playing counterpart
• Trace Bundy, Fellow acoustic guitarist with whom Seongha collaborates
• Ulli Bögershausen, Fellow acoustic guitarist who helped him get his sponsorship with Lakewood Guitars

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website

Idina Menzel
Background information
Birth name	Idina Kim Mentzel
Born	(1971-05-30) May 30, 1971 (age 41) Queens, New York, U.S.
Genres	Broadway, pop, vocal
Occupations	Singer, actress, songwriter
Years active	1995–present
Labels	Hollywood (1998–1999) Warner Bros. (2007–2010) Walkman Records (2012–present)
Website	idinamenzel.com

Idina Kim Menzel ( /ɪˈdiːnə mɛnˈzɛl/; born Mentzel on May 30, 1971) is an American actress, singer and songwriter.

She rose to prominence for her performance as Maureen Johnson in the Broadway musical Rent, a role which she reprised for the 2005 film adaptation. In 2004 she won the Tony Award for originating the role of Elphaba in the hugely successful Broadway blockbuster Wicked.

Early life[link]

Menzel was born in Queens, New York.^[1][2] Her mother, Helene, is a therapist, and her father, Stuart Mentzel, worked as a pajama salesman.^[3] Her family is Jewish;^[4][5] her grandparents immigrated from Russia and elsewhere in Eastern Europe.^[6] Her family lived in East Brunswick, Somerset and Marlboro, New Jersey from when she was in kindergarten to third grade, but she considers herself raised in Syosset, New York, with her younger sister Cara. Idina changed her last name to Menzel to better reflect the pronunciation the Mentzel family had adopted in America.^[7] When Menzel was 15 years old, her parents divorced and she began working as a wedding and bar mitzvah singer, a job which she continued throughout her time at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.^[8] She earned a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree in Drama at NYU prior to being cast in Jonathan Larson's rock musical Rent. She was friends with actor Adam Pascal before they worked together in Rent.^[3]

Theater career[link]

In 1995, Menzel auditioned for Rent, which became her first professional theater job and her Broadway debut. Rent opened off-Broadway at the New York Theatre Workshop on January 26, 1996, but it moved to Broadway's Nederlander Theatre due to its popularity. For her performance as Maureen Johnson in the original cast of the musical, Menzel received a Tony nomination as Best Featured Actress in a Musical losing to Ann Duquesnay for Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk. Her final performance in the musical was on July 1, 1997.

Following the success of Rent, Menzel released her first solo album entitled Still I Can't Be Still on Hollywood Records, Menzel also originated the role of Dorothy in Summer of ’42 at Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut, starred as Sheila in the New York City Center Encores! production of Hair and appeared on Broadway as Amneris in Aida. Menzel earned a Drama Desk Award nomination for her performance as Kate in the Manhattan Theatre Club's 2000 off-Broadway production of Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party. Her other off-Broadway credits include the pre-Broadway run of Rent and The Vagina Monologues.^[9]

In 2003, Menzel starred with actress and singer Kristin Chenoweth on Broadway in Wicked, a musical by Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman based upon the popular 1995 Gregory Maguire novel. Menzel received the 2004 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. On her second-to-last performance of Wicked on January 8, 2005, she fell through a trap door and cracked a lower rib. The injury prevented her from performing in the January 9 show. Menzel did, however, make a special out-of-costume appearance at that performance, performed her final song, and received a 5 minute long standing ovation.^[10] Menzel was replaced by Elphaba standby Shoshana Bean.

Following Wicked, Menzel appeared off-Broadway in the Public Theater's production of See What I Wanna See, a Michael John LaChiusa-penned musical whose run ended in December 2005, for which she received Drama Desk Award and Drama League Award nominations. She reprised her Tony Award-winning role as Elphaba in the West End production of Wicked when it opened at London's Apollo Victoria Theater on September 7, 2006.^[11] During her run, she was the highest paid female performer in the West End at $30,000 per week. Menzel finished her West End run on December 30, 2006. She was succeeded by Elphaba standby Kerry Ellis.

Menzel played the role of Florence in the 21st Anniversary concert of Chess at the Royal Albert Hall, London from May 12–13, 2008 alongside Kerry Ellis, Adam Pascal and Josh Groban.

In 2008, Menzel headlined the Powerhouse Theatre's reading of Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik's musical Nero from July 11–13, performing the role of Nero's mistress, Poppea.^[12]

According to an interview, Menzel is planning to return to the Broadway stage in a new original musical.^[13]

Film, television, recording and singing career[link]

Menzel's film roles include appearances in Just a Kiss, Kissing Jessica Stein, The Tollbooth, Water, Ask the Dust, Enchanted, and Rent, in which she and five other original cast members reprised their stage roles. As a singer, Menzel is known for her wide vocal range and her use of the 'belt' technique.

Menzel performed at the 1998 Lilith Fair summer concert festival and continues to write and perform original music. She has toured extensively and frequently performs in various venues throughout New York City. She produced and released her debut album, Still I Can't Be Still, for Hollywood Records in 1998. One single from the album, "Minuet", made the Radio & Records CHR/Pop Tracks chart at #48 in October 1998.^[14]

Her second album, Here, was released independently by Zel Records in 2004. Menzel has contributed to soundtracks, including those for the film The Other Sister and the ABC television dramedy Desperate Housewives. She also appears on Ray Charles's album Genius and Friends, which was released in 2005, on the track "I Will Be There." In 2007, she appeared on the Beowulf soundtrack singing the end credits song, "A Hero Comes Home". Also in 2007, Menzel's powerful singing voice led her to be asked to accompany the baritone British X-Factor runner-up Rhydian Roberts on his debut album, duetting on the song "What if".

Her third solo album, I Stand, was released on January 29, 2008. It includes many new songs, including the lead single, "Brave", the title track "I Stand", and a song released on EP, "Gorgeous". The album debuted at #58 in the Billboard 200, making it the first solo album by Menzel to make the charts. There are five versions of this album: the original version, the special limited edition, the iTunes version, the Barnes & Noble edition, and the Borders edition. Menzel wrote many of the songs on her album.

On April 1, 2008, Menzel kicked off her 2008-2009 "I Stand" tour in support of her new album performing 4 sold out legs. The concert at Rose Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City was filmed for the PBS series "Soundstage". Menzel was joined by special guests, superstar Josh Groban and saxophonist Ravi Coltrane.

On November 11, 2008, Menzel released "Hope," written by Paul Hampton, benefitting Stand Up to Cancer.

On November 27, 2008, Menzel performed "I Stand" on the M&M Candies float as part of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.^[15][16]

Menzel has a recurring guest star role in the television series Glee, playing Shelby Corcoran, the coach of the rival glee club Vocal Adrenaline. When the series first premiered, Glee fans had noted a strong physical resemblance between Menzel and Lea Michele who portrays the character Rachel Berry. According to her husband, actor Taye Diggs, Menzel expressed interest in possibly guest starring as the biological mother of Rachel.^[17] The character was introduced in the April 13, 2010 episode "Hell-O", and it was revealed in the May 18, 2010 episode, "Dream On", that Shelby is, in fact, Rachel's biological mother, having answered an ad from Rachel's two gay dads looking for a 'mother' to help them have a baby. Lea Michele and Idina Menzel sing "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables and "Poker Face" originally by Lady Gaga together. Menzel returned to Glee in Season 3 episode "I Am Unicorn", her role this time as a teacher causing trouble for Rachel, Quinn, Puck, and former flame Will Schuster.^[18]

On July 19, 2010, Menzel performed "Defying Gravity" and "What I Did For Love" in front of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at A Broadway Celebration: In Performance at the White House. The concert aired on PBS October 20, 2010.^[19]

In April 2010, Menzel returned to concert stage embarking on a tour with different symphony orchestras. Her performances included collaborations with the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Pops Orchestra, and the North Carolina Symphony. In October 2011, Menzel returned to London to perform a one night only concert in the United Kingdom at the Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with Marvin Hamlisch conducting. Menzel's concert stop in Toronto was filmed at The Royal Conservatory of Music on November 17 and 18, 2011 for her second PBS special. She was accompanied by the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony with Marvin Hamlisch conducting and special guest Taye Diggs, Menzel's husband. "Idina Menzel Live: Barefoot at the Symphony" will be released as a live CD and DVD and air on PBS in March 2012.^[20]

On January 5, 2012, Menzel announced she will continue live performances in 2012. The first date she announced was July 8, 2012 at Ravinia Festival near Chicago, Illinois.^[21]

Personal life[link]

Menzel married actor Taye Diggs on January 11, 2003. They met in 1995 during the original production of Rent, in which Diggs portrayed the role of Benjamin Coffin III, the landlord.^[22] They have a son, Walker Nathaniel Diggs, born in 2009.^[23] They have a Yorkshire Terrier named Sammy Davis Jr.^[24] and two cats named Ella and Coltrane, also known as their "Jazz Cats" because they were named after jazz performers Ella Fitzgerald and John Coltrane.^[25]

Charity[link]

Menzel was an Honorary Chair of the Imperial Court of New York's Annual Charity Coronation Ball, Night of A Thousand Gowns on March 21, 2009. Other Honorary Chairs for the evening's charity event included Sir Elton John CBE, Patti LuPone, John Cameron Mitchell, Joan Rivers and Dame Robin Strasser.^[26]

On May 17, 2009, Menzel performed at a special benefit concert in Atlanta, Georgia to raise money for the Pace Academy Diversity Program in coordination with the Ron Clark Academy.^[27] The event resulted in the funding of two scholarships for Ron Clark Academy students to attend Pace Academy. The event was organized and hosted by Philip McAdoo, a former Rent cast member and current Diversity Program Director at Pace Academy.^[28][29]

In 2010, Menzel founded the A BroaderWay Foundation with husband Taye Diggs as a means of supporting young people in the arts. A BroaderWay sponsors camp programs, theater workshops, innovative educational programming and offers scholarships and opportunities to experience professional performances. In Summer 2011, Camp BroaderWay welcomed young girls from under-served metro New York communities to a 10-day performing arts camp, run by Menzel and a team of acclaimed professional Broadway artists including Taye Diggs. During this camp the girls collaborated with Broadway artists to write an original musical that was performed at a theatre in New York. The camp took place at Belvoir Terrace Summer Camp in Lenox, MA.^[30]

Theatre, film and television credits[link]

Discography[link]

Solo albums[link]

Singles[link]

Cast recordings[link]

Miscellaneous[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Idina Menzel

• Official website
• Idina Menzel at the Internet Broadway Database
• Idina Menzel at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview with Idina Menzel at TonyAwards.com

George Frideric Handel, born in the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach and Domenico Scarlatti. By Thomas Hudson (1749)

George Frideric Handel Signature

George Frideric Handel (German: Georg Friedrich Händel; pronounced [ˈhɛndəl]) (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.^[1] 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 and biblical themes, but when he arranged a performance of Messiah to benefit the Foundling Hospital (1750) the critique ended. The pathos of Handel's oratorios is an ethical one. They are hallowed not by liturgical dignity but by the moral ideals of humanity.^[2] 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, with works such as Water Music, Music for the Royal Fireworks and Messiah remaining popular. Handel composed more than forty operas in over thirty years, and since the late 1960s, with the revival of baroque music and original instrumentation, interest in Handel's operas has grown. His operas contain remarkable human characterisation—especially for a composer not known for his love affairs.

Early years[link]

Handel's baptismal registration (Marienbibliothek in Halle)

Handel was born in 1685 in Halle, Duchy of Magdeburg, to Georg Händel and Dorothea Taust.^[3] 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.^[4] 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".^[5] At an early age Handel became a skillful performer on the harpsichord and pipe organ.^[6]

Händel-Haus (2009) – birthplace of George Frideric Handel

Entrance of Teatro del Cocomero in Florence

Handel and his father travelled to Weissenfels to visit either Handel's half-brother, Carl, or nephew, Georg Christian,^[7] who was serving as valet to Duke Johann Adolf I.^[8] 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[link]

The Hamburg Opera am Gänsemarkt in 1726

In 1702, following his father's wishes, Handel started studying law under Christian Thomasius at the University of Halle;^[9] 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.^[10] There he met the composers Johann Mattheson, Christoph Graupner and Reinhard Keiser. His first two operas, Almira and Nero, were produced in 1705.^[11] 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.^[12] 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.^[13] 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,^[14] applauded for Il caro Sassone.

Move to London[link]

George Frideric Handel (left) and King George I on the River Thames, 17 July 1717, by Edouard Jean Conrad Hamman (1819–88).

In 1710, Handel became Kapellmeister to German prince George, Elector of Hanover, who in 1714 would become King George I of Great Britain.^[15] 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, although it was composed quickly, with many borrowings from his older Italian works.^[16] 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.^[17][18]

One of his most important patrons was the young and wealthy Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington.^[19] 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^[20] 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.^[21]

Cannons (1717–18)[link]

The Chandos portrait. The 1st Duke of Chandos was an important patron for Handel.

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.^[22] Romain Rolland stated that these anthems were as important for his oratorios as the cantatas were for his operas.^[23] 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".^[24]

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^[25] and sold before 1720.^[26]

Royal Academy of Music (1719–34)[link]

Handel House at 25 Brook Street, Mayfair, London

In May 1719 Lord Chamberlain Thomas Holles, the Duke of Newcastle ordered Handel to look for new singers.^[27] 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.^[28] By 1723 he had moved into a Georgian house at 25 Brook Street, which he rented for the rest of his life.^[29] This house, where he rehearsed, copied music and sold tickets, is now the Handel House Museum.^[30] 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,^[31] 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.^[32] 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^[33] Between 1711 and 1739, more than 25 of Handel's operas premièred there.^[34] In 1729 Handel became joint manager of the Theatre with John James Heidegger.

A musical portrait of Frederick, Prince of Wales and his sisters by Philip Mercier, dated 1733, using Kew Palace as its plein-air backdrop

The Queen's Theatre in the Haymarket in London by William Capon

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.^[35] 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.^[36]

Opera at Covent Garden (1734–41)[link]

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.^[37] Financially, Ariodante was a failure, although he introduced ballet suites at the end of each act.^[38] 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.^[39] 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 .^[40] To aid his recovery, Handel had travelled to Aachen, a spa in Germany. During six weeks he took long hot baths, and ended up playing the organ for a surprised audience.^[41]

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.^{[citation needed]}

Oratorio[link]

Handel by Philip Mercier

Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, an allegory, Handel's first oratorio^[42] 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.^[43] Another 12 years had passed when an act of piracy caused him to take up Esther once again.^[44] 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^[45] and Athaliah, his first English Oratorio.^[46] In these three oratorios Handel laid foundation for the traditional use of the chorus which marks his later oratorios.^[47] Handel became sure of himself, broader in his presentation, and more diverse in his composition.^[48]

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.^[49] Handel tended more and more to replace Italian soloists by English ones. The most significant reason for this change was the dwindling financial returns from his operas.^[50] 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.^[51]

Caricature of Handel by Joseph Goupy (1754)

In 1736 Handel produced 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.^[52] 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".^[53] 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.^[54] 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.^[55] L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato has a rather diverting character; the work is light and fresh.