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HANDEL'S ARIAS
Sung by STILES-ALLEN
ONE of the earliest criticisms of Handel's arias is quoted by Mr. Newman Flower in his great book on the Master. It came from Johann Mattheson , the young Hamburg musician with whom Handel fought a duel. ' Handel came to Hamburg rich in ability and good intentions,' he says. ' I was almost his first acquaintance and, through me, he was taken round to all the organs, choirs, operas, and concerts. He composed long. long arias and absolutely endless cantatas, but he had not yet got the knack of the right taste.' Handel was only eighteen, but could already claim some experience in composing. He had some success, too, in those early Hamburg days, seeing one of his own operas on the stage-and such youthful experience must have been of the utmost value to him. And the tireless industry which is one of the things we remember best about him, was already showing itself in the unceasing production of music. But, so far from his arias being long, as Mattheson suggests, listeners will very likely feet that many of those, specially from the operas, are quite short. And they do show his wonderful fertility of invention, flowing melodies often springing from only a few words.
Hercules, from which this evening's arias are all taken, was composed in less than a month in the summer of 1744. Before its appearance it was heralded as ' a Musical Drama,' but when published, it was called an Oratorio. It was first performed at the King's Theatre, Haymarket, early in 1745. Theodora, also an Oratorio, came five years later, in 1749, and the Cantata Acts and Gala-tea, much better known to present-day listeners than either of these other two, made its first appearance as a Cantata in Italian as early as 1708, while Handel himself was in Italy. In its English form it was first given with the singers in costume, but without action; that was in London in 1732. Solomon came before Theodora; it was finished in Handel's sixty-fourth year. It is a long and elaborate Oratorio in three acts with only five personages in its story, two of whom, the Queen of Sheba and Pharaoh's daughter, are sopranos.
Kodelinda, an earlier worK, which appeared in London in 1725, with the most brilliant cast which the London world of music could bring together. was broadcast in February of last year, and its melodious numbers are no doubt Still remembered by our listeners.
Saturday's programme includes two of the most impressive numbers from the Messiah, which everybody knows, as well as other arias from less known works ; but the number of these, as of the operas and oratorios from which Wednesday's programme is chosen, do something to make it clear what a great store of music is there to draw upon for any who are compiling a series of Handel programmes.

Source: Radio Times

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This data is drawn from the Radio Times magazine between 1923 and 2009. It shows what was scheduled to be broadcast, meaning it was subject to change and may not be accurate. More