With the first month of 2021 almost finished, we are edging ever closer to the goal of the vaccinations and return of rehearsals. The choir is doing everything it can to keep spirits high by staying in touch with each other, and I am sure we will very much appreciate each other’s company when we can rehearse in person once again.

Before I begin my section on composers of the month, I’d like to give my condolences to the family of Rob Tolland. Rob was always great company, a committed chorister, and had a great sense of humour. He was known to take music home with him to ensure he always kept up to speed with the rest of the guys whenever he could not attend rehearsals. I am grateful to have met such an admirable human being, and may he rest in peace.

Composers of the Month

George Frideric Handel (23rd February 1685 – 14th April 1759)

George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel was a German-born Baroque composer becoming well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi and organ concertos. Handel received his training in Halle and worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London in 1712, where he spent the bulk of his career becoming a naturalised British subject in 1727. He was strongly influenced both by the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition and by composers of the Italian Baroque.

He was the subject of various incidents in his life –one of which was when he duelled with fellow composer Johann Mattheson in 1704. For reasons apparently unknown, the two had a fierce quarrel in which Mattheson almost killed Handel with his sword, which fortunately struck a button on Handel's chest rather than the chest itself!

Handel was such a popular opera composer that he was allowed to pick his own leading ladies. However, this perk led to an almighty bust-up between sopranos Faustina Bordoni and Francesca Cuzzoni, two rival singers of the day, who ended up having a scrap on stage during a performance of Bononcini's opera Astianatte. They both had to be dragged off stage to stop them pulling bits off each other's costumes. Talk about a composer that incites violence – you might suggest he would fit right in the current American political situation…!

He is possibly most famous for his oratorio Messiah, but he has also written many coronation anthems, including Zadok the Priest, written for the coronation of King George the 2nd in 1727. Here is the choir of Westminster Abbey performing it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiXgOQ9_-RI

Felix Mendelssohn (3 February 1809 – 4 November 1847)

Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy(!) was a German composer who came from a wealthy Hamburg family who mixed with many of Germany’s leading artists and musicians. A frighteningly clever child prodigy, the young Felix excelled as a painter, poet, athlete, linguist and musician. When he was six, Felix began taking piano lessons from his mother. After the family moved to Berlin, Felix and his three siblings studied piano. He made his public debut at the age of nine. Between the ages of 12 and 14, Mendelssohn wrote 12 string symphonies influenced by Bach, Beethoven and Mozart. His first published work, a piano quartet, was written by the time he was 13. At 15 he composed his first symphony. The following year, Mendelssohn completed his String Octet in E-flat major, the first work that demonstrated his true genius.

As well as composing, Mendelssohn was a highly proficient conductor, being given the plum job of music director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in 1835, when he was just 26. His concert programmes included many of his own works as well as pieces by his contemporaries. He was deluged by offers of music from rising composers including Richard Wagner.

He was a great admirer of Britain – particularly Scotland – and enjoyed much of his success in performances here. Mendelssohn’s oratorio Elijah was given its premiere in Birmingham in 1846 to an ecstatic audience of 2,000 people. It had taken him some ten years to prepare, including penning most of the libretto himself. It was very much the Messiah of its day: hugely popular, cementing Mendelssohn’s position as one of the greatest composers of sacred music; a sentiment echoed by Queen Victoria, who described Mendelssohn as 'the greatest musical genius since Mozart' and 'the most amiable man’.

Here is Durham Cathedral Consort of Singers performing his Hear My Prayer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM8PEk20gVI

Gioachino Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868)

Gioachino Antonio Rossini was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards for both comic and serious opera before retiring from large-scale composition while still in his thirties, at the height of his popularity. Even after retirement, he continued to mentor emerging young composers, including Verdi, who greatly admired Rossini’s work.

When he did write operas, he was prolific with his writing. Between 1812 and 1822, Rossini wrote 30 operas, the majority of his lifetime output. In addition at the age of 23, Rossini composed his famous comic opera The Barber of Seville in less than three weeks. (He claims 12 days!). Despite being hissed at its premiere, The Barber of Seville is Rossini’s most popular work. It was in the top five most performed operas in the 2019 season with 534 performances worldwide.

Rossini was also an expert chef who, judging from his well-rounded physique, enjoyed consuming healthy portions of his culinary masterpieces as much as he did preparing them! Yet whatever his lack of physical agility, his music possesses a refinement, textural transparency and sleight-of-hand flair all of its own.

Even though he lived to the age of 76, Rossini celebrated his actual 19th birthday on February 29th before his death later that year.

Here is Sherill Milnes performing Figaro’s aria from The Barber of Seville:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhLxK2xGqqo

I hope you enjoy these extracts – there’s a lot of fun in Rossini’s extract especially! I also hope this year brings you happiness and health.

Stay safe!

Tomos