HANDEL
By Thomson
Handel became a naturalized English subject and lived far into the reign of George II. When he died in 1751, he was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Handel’s contribution toward building up our modern Orchestra is that he helped make it more solid, more sonorous and more vital.
The balance of Handel’s Orchestra was very different from ours, because of the overwhelming number of woodwind instruments. If he had twenty-five strings, he would sometimes have as many as five oboes and five bassoons! The clarinet had not then come into use, and some stringed and some woodwind instruments that Handel used became obsolete after his death. Handel was particularly fond of the oboe: it is often conspicuous in his scores.
Handel made his Orchestra a very strong ally of his operas and his oratories. He conducted seated at the clavier, or organ, and accompanied the singers with the most marvellous art possible to imagine, following their fancies and pleasures and whims; and then, when they had finished, he would improvise to suit his own taste. His audience was always enraptured.
It is little wonder, therefore, that Handel’s orchestration sounds scanty to our ears, if his works are played from the original scores; for we miss the filling in of all this elaborate work done on the spur of the moment and in all the excitement and exhilaration of the concert-hall before the audience who had learned what to expect.
We are told that when Handel conducted one of his oratorios the chorus had their leaders who listened to the organ from which they took their cues. The Orchestra was divided into three sections. Section No. I was the Concertino, consisting of a first and second violin and a solo violoncello. Section No. II was the Concerto Grossi, consisting of eight first violins, eight second violins, six violas, four to six violoncellos and four double basses. Section No. III was the Ripienist, or the supplementary band, consisting of six first violins, six second violins, four violas, three to four violoncellos and three basses. This Ripienist band was employed to fill in the harmonies, or to support the solos, and the concertante parts.