Vocal Music

  Operas    List of Handel's 42 Operas

                Handel's earlier operas tended to be of a lighter nature, although there are intermittent 
        moments, such as the prison scene from Almira (1705), which are highly dramatic.  Handel's 
        music for his first operas in England was often derived from musical ideas and idioms found 
        in his cantatas and other works written during his time spent in Italy (1706–09).  For example, 
        the characteristic harmonic structure of Agrippina (1709) is obviously a retention of material 
        from this Italian period.  In general, the orchestrations of Handel's earlier operas tended to be 
        richer and smoother than in his later works, utilizing additional instruments like bassoons to
        achieve different tone colors.  The music for Rinaldo (1711) notably used four trumpets, an 
        instrumental choice that Handel never repeated elsewhere.

                Beginning with Ottone (1722), Handel composed numerous operas for the Royal Academy 
        of Music during the 1720s.  With the exception of Flavio (1723), the operas from this period
        are more serious in tone and the musical expression is more astutely aligned to the opera's 
        drama than in his earlier operas.  Of particular importance from this period is Giulio Cesare 
       (1724), which contains one of Handel's most expansive and emotively powerful scores.  The
       sumptuous music and deft characterizations found in this work has made it one of the more 
       frequently revived Handel operas during the 20th and 21st centuries.  Also of note are the 
       striking leading tenor roles in Tamerlano (1724) and Rodelinda (1725) that Handel wrote 
       specifically for Francesco Borosini. 

                 During the 1730s, Handel returned to writing operas of a comic and fantastic or heroic 
        nature, largely because he no longer had to cater to the tastes of the Academy when choosing 
        librettos.  These works, such as Partenope (1730), Orlando (1733) and Alcina (1735), were 
        influenced by the operas of Leonardo Vinci and Leonardo Leo and are written in a pre-class- 
        ical manner.  During this period, Handel began to more frequently utilize the scena in his 
        works, and by the mid-1730s he was writing some of his most dramatically moving arias, such 
        as the mad scene of Orlando and the end of Act 2 of Alcina.  The  size of the orchestras for 
        these works was also larger, with Handel typically employing 12 violins, 8 violas, 6 cellos, 
        4 double basses, and two harpsichords in addition to four bassoons and a number of other
        wind instruments.  In operas like Oreste (1734), Handel attempted to synthesize Italian opera 
        with French opera in the sequences of dances and choruses, but made no further experimen-
        tation in this area outside of the operas of 1734 and 1735.  Two of the operas from this period, 
        Ariodante (1735) and Atalanta (1736), were a departure from the traditionally heroic librettos 
        used by Handel, adopting a more realistic romantic intimacy.

       Agrippina  (1709) 

       Rinaldo  (1711)  

       Acis and Galatea  (1718)  - Not really an opera

       Giulio Cesare  (1724)  

       Tamerlano (1724)   

       Rodelinda (1725) 

       Orlando  (1732) 

       Ariodante  (1735) 

       Alcina  (1735) 

       Serse (1738) 

       Semele  (1742)   - Not really an opera  


  Oratorios   List of Handel's 28 Oratorios

                An oratorio is a large musical composition fo orchestra, choir, and soloists.   Like an 

        opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable 

        characters, and arias.  However, opera is musical theatre, while oratorio is strictly a concert 

        piece—though oratorios are sometimes staged as operas, and operas are sometimes presented 

        in concert form.

                In an oratorio there is generally little or no interaction between the characters, and no 

        props or elaborate costumes.  A particularly important difference is in the typical subject 

        matter of the text.  Opera tends to deal with history and mythology, including age-old 

        devices of romance, deception, and murder, whereas the plot of an oratorio often deals with 

        sacred topics, making it appropriate for performance in the church. Protestant composers 

        took their stories from the Bible, while Catholic composers looked to the lives of saints, as 

        well as Biblical topics.

                 Oratorios became extremely popular in early 17th-century Italy partly because of  

        the success of opera and the Catholic Church's prohibition of spectacles during Lent.  

        Oratorios became the main choice of music during that period for opera audiences.

 Handel's Most Popular English Oratorios:

      Israel in Egypt  (1739)   

      Messiah  (1742)   

      Sampson  (1743)   

      Hercules  (1745)   

      Judas Maccabaeus  (1746)   

      Solomon  (1749)   

      Theodora  (1750)   

      Jephtha  (1752)   


  Other Handel vocal compositions

       Anthems (30)  (Zadok the Priest - The British coronation anthem)
       Incidental music (4)  (music for plays)
       Cantatas  (100+)  (roughly, a cantata is a short opera or oratorio)     
       Italian duets (21)     
       Italian trios (3)
       Hymns (12)   
       Italian arias (15) 
       English songs (25) 
       German church cantatas (7) 
       Italian sacred cantatas (3) 
       Latin church music (17 - these are motets & psalm settings) 
       Canticles (6)   (a liturgical song taken from the Bible)