Restoring Handel to His Proper Place

4;.,

Common Illusions About Him Are Disappearing
By MICHAEL COREN
THIS YEAR marks the two hun- English have devotedly performed lived and soon disappeared from
dredth anniversary of the many of Handel's oratorios for the the catalog. Westminster has re-
death of George Frederick Handel. last two hundred years, but in leased "Israel in Egypt" and "Ju-
Ann Arbor musicians in keep- America only the "Messiah" has das Maccabeus." Earlier Sherchen
ing'with musicians everywhere are not sunk into oblivion, recorded "Messiah" for West-
honoring the great master, devot- It seems somewhat of a shame minster based on the Coopersinith
ing much attention to his works. to play one work to death and ig- restoration edition. While the per-
In addition to the annual perform- nore more than thirty other ora- formance is subject to Sherchen's
ance of the "Messiah," an all torios to Handel's credit, especially eccentricities, it is probably the
Handel concert was presented by since many of them are of monu- best Handelian choral effort avail-
the Baroque Trio, and the Univer- mental stature, containing some able to date,
sity Symphonic "hand commemor- of the finest music ever written. Angel also has a fine "Messiah"
ated Handel's death at its an- on the market under Sargent. In
nal spring concert. THE BICENTENNIAL celebra- addition Angel has released "Solo-
Visitors, notably the Societa tion will seemingly add impetus mon" with Lois Marshal (who in-
Corelli and Renata Tebaldi- also to the Handel revival which has cidentally will sing at the May
paid homage to Handel by includ- been underway for some 35 years. Festival performance of "Solo-
ing short selections in their rca- In Germany during the 1920's, mson") and a more successful
pective programs. And at May interest was renewed in Handelian "Israel in EEgypt" than Westmin-
Festival this afternoon the ora- opera which had hitherto been ster's.
torio, Solomon, will be performed. obscured by the operatic efforts of No less than five different re-
All this is quite remarkable be- Gluck, Mozart, and Weber. cordings of the twelve concerti
:ause Handel, though acknowl- Handelian opera seemed "stiff" grossi comprising opus six are
sdgeda a musical genius, custom- and "conventional" by compari- available. Also available are organ
arily receives very little attention son; arias and choral sections were concerti, flute sonatas, some of the
in the American concert hall, The connected with "long, dull recita- Italian cantatas, and many suites
tives." To label earlier Baroque for harpsichord, not to mention
opera as dull and lacking in pro- other works.
Michael Cohen is a music fundity is perhaps somewhat justi-
reviewer for The Daily. fied, but Handel in exploiting the ONE of the biggest problems of
form to an unprecedented degree both concerts and recordings
gave it new meaning and greater alike, however, is that of restora-
depth. tion.
The advent of the long pla3 ing The music of Handel has been
record has stimulated much inter- unbelievably distorted since his
est in Handel. Before 1948, most death. The oratorios in particular
music lovers attended a rather have undergone drastic changes in
"drugged" performance of the the size of the chorus and orches-
"Messiah" annually, and spent the tra, in instrumentation, and in the
rest of the year being consoled by number of cuts.
their one, lone Handel recording Restoration is even more com-
of the Sir Hamilton Hardy ar- plicated since Handel often left
rangement of the Water Music. cadenzas to be improvised, marked
many passages ad libitum, and
ONE OF THE first groups to ap- left figured bass parts to be filled
pear on the long playing rec- in by the performer. In the "Han-
ord scene was the so-called Han- del Gessellschaft" we find the ad-
del Society which released two mission that the manuscripts may
oratorios, "Judas Maccabeus" and not be identical with the instru-
Saul." mental parts of Handel's day.
Undertaking these projects was Nonetheless, efforts are being
a step in the right direction. Un- made to perform Handelian works.
fortunately, however, a large num- Many of the newer recordings,
her of arias and recitatives were notably Archives, approach Baro-
brutally slashed leaving only a que authenticity.
hodgepodge of the more "listen- As the revival takes hold and
able" arias and choral sections. Handel is restored to his proper
These recordings were soon dis- place, the common illusions of
s ,r continued. "the boring church composer" and
L'oiseou Lyre released "Sosarme" "the English Bach minus profun-
and "Semele" but these were short dity" will disappear.

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MAGAZINE
Vol. V, No. 8 Sunday, May 3, 1959
RESTORATION OF HANDEL
By Michael Cohen Page 2
GIVE 'EM WHAT THEY WANT
By Al Phillips Page 3
A MILLION SATURDAY NIGHTS
By Eli Zaretsky Page 6
THE UBIQUITOUS PAPERBACK
By Fred Schaen Page 7
ARTISTIC SETTING FOR YOUNG ARTISTS
By Daniel Walter Page 8
GLENN GOULD
By Selma Sowya Page 9
NBA: SALEABILITY OR QUALITY
By W. G. Rogers Page 11
THE BEATS: NOTHING LEFT TO BELIEVE IN
By Al Young Page 12
CHALLENGE OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC
By Gordon Mumma Page 13
FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT
By Jan Rahm Page 14
SCULPTURE: FORM AND MATERIAL
By David Guillaume Page 15
MAGAZINE EDITOR - David Tarr
COVER-Glenn Gould, sculpture and Interlochen all are discussed in
articles in this special issue of The Daily Magazine.
PHOTO CREDITS--Cover: National Music Camp; Museum of Modern
Art, New York; Daily-lan MacNiven. Page 2: Metropolitan Mu-
seum of Art. Page 3: Daily--Michael Rontal. Page 4: Daily-
Dick Gaskill. Page 7: Daily-Allan Winder. Page 8: National
Music Camp. Page 9: Daily-lan MacNiven. Page 13-Gordon
Mumma. Page 14: Daily-Allan winder. Page 15: Museum of
Modern Art, New York.

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