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Bringing great music from the past back to life is a splendid thing. But all the same, it is sometimes hard to avoid the impression of self-denying worthiness that clings to some Handel opera performances, particularly the unstaged concert versions. The Victorians may have regarded his oratorios with pious awe, but they also revelled in the size and sonority of their huge choruses and orchestras. It was an acceptable form of sensuality. How much sensuality, how much genuine delight, can one read on the faces of a modern audience who sit for
over three hours through an unbroken series of solo arias and recitatives? Handel wasn’t at all an austere composer, but his operas are highly stylised and depend on the manipulation of a limited range of forms. Limitation can be a great stimulus to an artist, but even if we fully accept and enjoy the conventions Handel used with such wit and skill, we’re still left with an awful lack of variety for a full evening’s entertainment. Don’t the devout Handel fans ever yearn for a chorus or a vocal ensemble? Wouldn’t they enjoy a bit more orchestral colour? Or even some dancing now and then?
There’s nothing so depressingly old-fashioned as a 30-year-old recording of baroque music. But one vital element is still missing. Handel operas live or die by the singing, and we’re not hearing what really thrilled his original audiences: the male castrato voice. In the early days of the Handel opera revival, the castrato parts tended to be transposed down an octave for tenors. Now they’re usually given to male countertenors or to women.
Respect for the original texts is another very splendid thing, but the dogma that nothing must be changed and nothing cut ensures that we are spared no longueurs or weaknesses. Handel worked under enormous pressure, and no one can claim that he always composed at the highest level. Any full-length work, even the best of them, has its less than inspired patches. Minor pieces, too, are accepted as though they’re major ones, a lack of discrimination similar to the respect accorded to every note composed by Mozart.
With so much vocal and instrumental talent around, and with so many groups prepared to investigate obscure corners of the baroque repertory, there’s no need to allow Handel a monopoly. Seven Handel operas in London within a few months is all very well, but not one of our major companies has ever produced anything by Rameau, his great French contemporary, a magnificent composer whose stage works contain far more variety than anything Handel can offer.
Yes, Handel is wonderful. Of course he’s a great dramatist. Of course we’re lucky to be able to hear and see his operas again. But there’s no disrespect in suggesting that something is out of proportion. As it happens, there are plenty of people, a surprising number of them professional musicians, who find the Handel cult puzzling.
1
What according to the passage can be termed as ‘sensual’ on part of the Victorians?
a. The regard for Handel’s oratorios with pious awe.
b. The invocation of a sense of abstinence.
c. The magnitude and the resonance of the ensemble.
d. Both (a) and ©
2
Which limitation being faced by modern audiences of Handel gets acknowledged, albeit guardedly, by the author?
a. The unbroken series of solo arias and recitatives
b. The dependence on the manipulation of a limited range of forms
c. The operas being highly stylised
d. The acceptance and enjoyment of the conventions Handel used.
3
What is the tone of the author in this passage?
a. Critical
b. Perceptive
c. Analytical
d. Sardonic
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