The Handel Festival of 1857 was a series of concerts of music by George Frideric Handel, given by a large orchestra and chorus at the Crystal Palace in London. Its success led to the Triennial Handel Festival, held at the same venue, which continued until 1926.
In 1856, Robert Kanzow Bowley, treasurer of the Sacred Harmonic Society, [1] conceived the idea, favourably received by the Society, of commemorating the genius of George Frideric Handel on the centenary (in 1859) of his death by performing some of his works on an unprecedented scale. No building in London being large enough to contain the necessary orchestra, the attention of the Society was directed towards the Central Transept of the Crystal Palace (of which they had already had experience in the performance of the music at the opening of the Palace on 10 May 1854) as the most likely venue. The Directors of the Crystal Palace Company entered warmly into the project, and it was determined to hold a preliminary festival in 1857. [2]
A large orchestra was assembled, with a grand organ, built by Gray and Davison expressly for the occasion. With the chorus of the Society as a nucleus, a choir of upwards of 1,200 picked singers was formed in London, which was supplemented by others from towns in the United Kingdom until the whole numbered 2,000. The orchestra, similarly constituted, numbered 396. The meeting, under the title of "The Great Handel Festival", was held on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 15, 17, and 19 June 1857, with a public rehearsal on the preceding Saturday. The musical performances were organized by the Society, the Company taking charge of the other arrangements. The oratorios The Messiah , Judas Maccabaeus and Israel in Egypt were performed, the principal singers including Clara Novello, Charlotte Dolby, Sims Reeves and Karl Formes, and the conductor being Michael Costa, as conductor of the Society. [2]
This festival established that the Central Transept of the Palace might be made a fitting locality for the Commemoration in 1859, which took place under the same management, on the 20, 22 and 24 June. The Messiah and Israel in Egypt again occupied the first and third days, the second being devoted to the Dettingen Te Deum and a selection from various works. The orchestra was augmented to 460, and the chorus to upwards of 2,700 performers; Michael Costa was conductor, and the principal singers included Clara Novello, Sims Reeves, and Giovanni Belletti. The acoustic was improved by enclosing the orchestra with wooden screens, and covering it in with an enormous awning of oiled and hardened canvas. The three performances and the public rehearsal were remarkably successful, and attracted 81,319 visitors. [2]
This success led to the determination that similar festivals should be held periodically under the name of the Triennial Handel Festival. The early festivals were held in 1862, 1865, 1868, 1871, 1874, 1877, 1880, 1883, 1885 (the festival of 1886 being anticipated in order that it might coincide with the bicentenary of the composer's birth) and 1888. [2]
The band was augmented in 1865 to 495 performers, and the chorus in 1874 to nearly 3,200. The sonority of the orchestra was increased by the erection in 1862 of a boarded roof covering in the whole space occupied by the performers, and extending 24 feet beyond the front. The concerts were conducted by Michael Costa until 1880, afterwards by August Manns. [2]
Excerpts of a performance of Israel in Egypt at the 1888 festival were recorded on wax phonograph cylinders, creating the first known recordings of classical music. [3]
The Triennial Festivals continued until 1926. [4]
Messiah is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel. The text was compiled from the King James Bible and the Coverdale Psalter by Charles Jennens. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742 and received its London premiere a year later. After an initially modest public reception, the oratorio gained in popularity, eventually becoming one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in Western music.
The French overture is a musical form widely used in the Baroque period. Its basic formal division is into two parts, which are usually enclosed by double bars and repeat signs. They are complementary in style, and the first ends with a half-cadence that requires an answering structure with a tonic ending. The second section often but not always ends with a brief recollection of the first, sometimes even repeating some of its melodic content.
Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne is a secular cantata composed by George Frideric Handel to a libretto by Ambrose Philips, of which the first line, "Eternal source of light divine", provides an alternative title for the work. It was probably composed during January 1713 for a performance on 6 February 1713, although there is no record of the performance having actually taken place. Other catalogues of Handel's music have referred to the work as HG xlvi A; and HHA i/6.
Sir Michael Andrew Angus Costa was an Italian-born conductor and composer who achieved success in England.
Clara Anastasia Novello was an acclaimed soprano, the fourth daughter of Vincent Novello, a musician and music publisher, and his wife, Mary Sabilla Hehl. Her acclaimed soprano and pure style made her one of the greatest vocalists, alike in opera, oratorio and on the concert stage, from 1833 onwards. In 1843 she married Count Gigliucci, and retired in 1861. Charles Lamb wrote a poem in her praise.
Classical music of the United Kingdom is taken in this article to mean classical music in the sense elsewhere defined, of formally composed and written music of chamber, concert and church type as distinct from popular, traditional, or folk music. The term in this sense emerged in the early 19th century, not long after the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland came into existence in 1801. Composed music in these islands can be traced in musical notation back to the 13th century, with earlier origins. It has never existed in isolation from European music, but has often developed in distinctively insular ways within an international framework. Inheriting the European classical forms of the 18th century, patronage and the academy and university establishment of musical performance and training in the United Kingdom during the 19th century saw a great expansion. Similar developments occurred in the other expanding states of Europe and their empires. Within this international growth the traditions of composition and performance centred in the United Kingdom, including the various cultural strands drawn from its different provinces, have continued to evolve in distinctive ways through the work of many famous composers.
The Handel and Haydn Society is an American chorus and period instrument orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. Known colloquially as 'H+H', the organization has been in continual performance since its founding in 1815, the longest serving such performing arts organization in the United States.
Israel in Egypt, HWV 54, is a biblical oratorio by the composer George Frideric Handel. Most scholars believe the libretto was prepared by Charles Jennens, who also compiled the biblical texts for Handel's Messiah. It is composed entirely of selected passages from the Old Testament, mainly from Exodus and the Psalms.
Judas Maccabaeus is an oratorio in three acts composed in 1746 by George Frideric Handel based on a libretto written by Thomas Morell. The oratorio was devised as a compliment to the victorious Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland upon his return from the Battle of Culloden. Other catalogues of Handel's music have referred to the work as HG xxii; and HHA 1/24.
Esther is an oratorio by George Frideric Handel. It is generally acknowledged to be the first English oratorio. Handel set a libretto after the Old Testament drama by Jean Racine. The work was originally composed in 1718, but was heavily revised into a full oratorio in 1732.
The Handel festival or "Commemoration" took place in Westminster Abbey between 26 May and 5 June 1784, to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the death of George Frideric Handel in 1759.
Sir August Friedrich Manns was a German-born British conductor who made his career in England. After serving as a military bandmaster in Germany, he moved to England and soon became director of music at London's Crystal Palace. He increased the resident band to full symphonic strength and for more than forty years conducted concerts at popular prices. He introduced a wide range of music to London, including many works by young British composers, as well as works by German masters hitherto neglected in England. Among his British protégés were Arthur Sullivan, Charles Villiers Stanford, Hubert Parry, Hamish MacCunn, Edward Elgar and Edward German.
Ebenezer Prout was an English musical theorist, writer, music teacher and composer, whose instruction, afterwards embodied in a series of standard works still used today, underpinned the work of many British classical musicians of succeeding generations.
The Chicago Symphony Chorus began on September 22, 1957, when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) announced that Margaret Hillis would organize and train a symphony chorus. The music director Fritz Reiner's original intent was to utilize the chorus for the two weeks of subscription concerts that season, performing George Frideric Handel's Messiah in December and Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem in April. When Bruno Walter informed the orchestra's management that his March 1958 appearances would be his last in Chicago, the board president, Eric Oldberg, insisted that Walter conduct Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Requiem utilizing the new chorus. During that first season, it was logistically impossible for Hillis to audition and prepare a new Chorus for three major works within less than four months. As an interim fix, the Apollo Chorus of Chicago was used for the Christmas Messiah concerts.
As pants the hart is an anthem composed by George Frideric Handel for the Chapel Royal of Queen Anne and subsequently revised. There are five versions of the work, the first being completed in 1713, and the final in 1738. HWV 251a was the first anthem Handel composed for the Chapel Royal.
John Francis Barnett was an English composer, pianist and teacher.
Robert Kanzow Bowley, was an English amateur musician, and later an early music administrator.
Aure soavi e liete is a Baroque dramatic secular cantata in the key of E-flat major composed by George Frideric Handel in 1707 while he was serving as Kapellmeister to the Ruspoli family in Rome. The author of the text is unknown. Other catalogues of Handel's music have referred to the work as HG l,12. The cantata is scored for solo soprano voice and basso continuo. It is divided into four separate movements with a typical performance lasting approximately seven and a half minutes.
Sing Unto God, is an anthem composed by George Frideric Handel. It was performed for the royal wedding on 27 April 1736 at the Chapel Royal in St James's Palace, London with Francesca Cuzzoni-Sandoni, Carlo Broschi "Farinelli", and Francesco Bernardi "Senesino". The text was adapted from verses of Psalms 68, 106 and 128.
The Sacred Harmonic Society (1832-1888) was an amateur musical organization of London. It was organized for the weekly practice of sacred music and the performance of oratorios and other sacred music.
Attribution