George FridericHandel was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training in Halle and worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London in 1712, where he spent the bulk of his career and became a naturalised British subject in 1727. He was strongly influenced both by the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition and by composers of the Italian Baroque. In turn, Handel's music forms one of the peaks of the "high baroque" style, bringing Italian opera to its highest development, creating the genres of English oratorio and organ concerto, and introducing a new style into English church music. He is consistently recognized as one of the greatest composers of his age.
Antonio Caldara was an Italian Baroque composer.
The year 1707 in music involved some significant events.
La resurrezione, HWV 47, is an oratorio by George Frideric Handel, set to a libretto by Carlo Sigismondo Capece (1652–1728). Capece was court poet to Queen Marie Casimire of Poland, who was living in exile in Rome. It was first performed on Easter Sunday, 8 April 1708 at Rome, with the backing of the Marchese Francesco Ruspoli, Handel's patron at this time. The work details the events between — and during — Good Friday and Easter Sunday, with the action carried forward in recitative, and exploration of character and delineation of mood taking place in the arias. The characters of the liturgical drama that appear in the oratorio are Lucifer (bass), Mary Magdalene (soprano), an angel (soprano), John the Evangelist (tenor), and Mary Cleophas (alto).
Clori, Tirsi, e Fileno, Cantata a tre, subtitled Cor fedele in vano speri, is a 1707 comic cantata by George Frideric Handel. The subject is a pretty shepherdess who loves two young men, but loses both when they discover her fickleness. Believed lost for many years, the score is the source of arias in some of Handel's later, more celebrated operas.
The House of Ruspoli is historically one of the great aristocratic families of Rome, but is originally from Florence. Following World War II and the fall of Fascism, the newly established Italian Republic officially abolished titles and hereditary honours in its 1946 Constitution, with the exception of the papal nobility of Rome, as those titles had been created by papal authority.
Dalla guerra amorosa is a secular chamber cantata for either bass or soprano written by Georg Frideric Handel in Italy during 1708–9. Other catalogues of Handel's music have referred to the work as HG l,34;. The title of the cantata roughly translates as "From the war of amorous passion".
Apollo e Dafne is a secular cantata composed by George Frideric Handel in 1709–10. Handel began composing the work in Venice in 1709 and completed it in Hanover after arriving in 1710 to take up his appointment as Kapellmeister to the Elector, the later King George I of Great Britain. The work is one of Handel's most ambitious cantatas and is indicative of the brilliant operatic career to follow in the next 30 years of his life.
Ero e Leandro, also known after its first line as Qual ti reveggio, oh Dio, is a 1707 Italian-language cantata by George Frideric Handel, composed during his stay in Rome to a libretto believed to be written by Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni. It is a reworking of the Greek myth of Hero and Leander, with the soprano soloist taking the role of Hero. In it, Hero finds her love, Leander, drowned, tears out her hair, thus symbolically rejecting the beauty which had led to Leander's fascination with her, then drowns herself. It is composed for a soprano solo, and a small orchestra consisting of two oboes, and two string sections: a concertino of solo violin and violoncello, and a concerto grosso made up of two violins, a viola, and continuo. In Ero e Leandro, Recitatives alternate with arias, as was normal at the period for not only cantatas, but oratorios and operas as well; however, unusually, Ero e Leandro ends with a recitative, instead of an aria.
The Handel organ concertos, Op. 4, HWV 289–294, are six organ concertos for chamber organ and orchestra composed by George Frideric Handel in London between 1735 and 1736 and published in 1738 by the printing company of John Walsh. Written as interludes in performances of oratorios in Covent Garden, they were the first works of their kind for this combination of instruments and served as a model for later composers.
Un'alma innamorata is a dramatic secular cantata for soprano and instruments written by George Frideric Handel in 1707. Other catalogues of Handel's music have referred to the work as HG liiB,92; and HHA v/5,97. The title of the cantata translates as "A soul in love".
O lucenti, o sereni occhi is a dramatic secular cantata for soprano written by Georg Frideric Handel in 1707. Other catalogues of Handel's music have referred to the work as HG li, 28;. The title of the cantata translates as "O shining, o serene eyes".
Del bell'idolo mio is a dramatic secular cantata for soprano written by Georg Frideric Handel in 1707–09. Other catalogues of Handel's music have referred to the work as HG l,48. The title of the cantata translates as "Of my beautiful idol".
Tra le fiamme (Il consiglio) (HWV 170) is a dramatic secular cantata for soprano and instruments written by George Frideric Handel in 1707. Other catalogues of Handel's music have referred to the work as HG liiB,66; and HHA v/5,55. The title of the cantata translates as "In flames (Counsel)".
George Frideric Handel's Gloria is a sacred solo cantata, a setting of the Gloria, the liturgical part of the Mass, for soprano and strings. Handel may have composed it in Germany before departing for Italy in 1706. The composition was lost for many years and was attributed to Handel again only in 2001.
Allor ch'io dissi addio is a dramatic secular cantata for soprano written by Georg Frideric Handel in 1707–08. Other catalogues of Handel's music have referred to the work as HG l,8. The title of the cantata translates as "Then I said goodbye".
Agrippina condotta a morire or Dunque sarà pur vero, HWV110, is a dramatic secular cantata for soprano, two violins and continuo, composed by George Frideric Handel while he was in Italy, at some time between 1707 and 1708. The anonymous text depicts Roman empress Agrippina the Younger on the way to her execution, which was ordered by her son, the emperor Nero, whom she had schemed to put on the throne. The cantata is approximately fifteen minutes in length; its title may be translated as "Agrippina condemned to die".
Don Francesco, Principe Ruspoli is an Italian banker who is the 10th Principe di Cerveteri, 10th Marchese di Riano, 15th Conte di Vignanello and Prince of the Roman Papal State. He is the son of Alessandro Ruspoli, 9th Prince of Cerveteri, and French aristocrat Nancy de Girard de Charbonnières.
Carlo Sigismondo Capece was an Italian dramatist and librettist. Capece was court poet to Queen Maria Casimira of Poland, who was living in exile in Rome, and is best remembered today for the libretto of La resurrezione a sacred oratorio by George Frideric Handel. He also provided the Libretto for operas including Domenico Scarlatti's Tolomeo e Alessandro (1711) and Ifigenia in Aulide (1714), as well as Caldara's Tito e Berenice (1714).
