Handel's English church music spans the complete period of his active career in London: his first anthem and the Utrecht Te Deum were composed soon after his arrival in London, and his last works nearly 40 years later. The repertory, which includes the Coronation Anthem Zadok the Priest, forms one of the most impressive and engaging areas of Baroque church music. Most of it was stimulated by Handel's creative contact with the English Chapel Royal, a group of professional singers in a different tradition from the opera stars with whom he worked in the theatre. Appearing in paperback for the first time, this first full-length study of Handel's English Church music traces the background to the diverse items in the repertory, which relates directly to Handel's constant but changing relationship with the Hanoverian British royal family, and was affected by political and dynastic events. It also examines the circumstances of Handel's performances, the building which (unlike his theatres) still survives in London today.
Reviews
...of lasting value coming from so thorough and reliable an author as Burrows. This is a major contribution to the study of English church music in the broadest sense...Burrows Chapel Royal will surely remain the canonical text...and many a non-specialist would find the coverage as absorbing as will music historians. * Peter Williams The Musical Times *



Book Information
ISBN 9780199550968
Author Donald Burrows
Format Paperback
Page Count 680
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 1028g
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 156mm * 36mm