Tag: Christopher Hogwood

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Handel in Cambridge

By Tony Watts

In 1733 Handel visited Oxford at the invitation of its University’s ViceChancellor. Although Handel was reported as not accepting a doctorate offered to him, it was a great occasion, attended by many Heads of Houses from Cambridge, and included the first performance of his new oratorio, Athalia in the Sheldonian Theatre. So far as we know, Handel never visited Cambridge. But it was reported that he refused a doctorate here too (though no documented evidence of either offer exists), and he had other contacts with Cambridge: for example, Thomas Morell, one of his main librettists, was a Fellow of King’s. But subsequently, Cambridge has made a huge contribution to both Handel scholarship and Handel performance, at least comparable to that of Oxford. The Cambridge Handel Opera Company (CHOC) is part of that tradition.

The collection of Handel autographs in the Fitzwilliam Museum is second in importance only to the Royal Collection in the British Library. Handel was the great hero of the Museum’s founder, Viscount Fitzwilliam, who acquired all the material that had not been bound and presented to King George III. This comprised over 500 leaves of complete, incomplete and uncompleted works, fragments and sketches, written between about 1708 and Handel’s death – now bound in 15 volumes. This collection has subsequently been extended, notably by Francis Barrett Lennard’s gift in 1902 of 67 volumes of early copies of Handel’s scores. In addition, the Fitzwilliam holds the terracotta model of Roubiliac’s famous statue of Handel erected during Handel’s lifetime in the Vauxhall Gardens: public statues of living individuals other than monarchs were rare in England at that time, and the informality of Handel’s attire and pose are strikingly realistic.

There are also important Handel collections in several College libraries. In particular the Rowe Music Library in King’s contains a substantial collection of both contemporary manuscript sources and of 19th century copies assembled by A.H. Mann (1850- 1929), and its Rowe Collection is even richer in first editions of Handel’s music. In addition, the Wren Library in Trinity houses several scores of Handel’s English oratorios which were edited and/or published in Cambridge in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

The first biography of Handel – published in 1760, a year after the composer’s death – was written by John Mainwaring (c.1724-1807), a graduate and Fellow of St John’s. A later biography was written by Edward Dent (1876- 1957), a Fellow of King’s and Professor of Music. Dent was also responsible for bringing to Cambridge a number of eminent musicians to escape Nazi persecution, including the great scholar Otto Erich Deutsch (1883-1967), cataloguer of Schubert’s compositions: while in Cambridge (1939-51) Deutsch collected material for his Handel: A Documentary Biography (1955), which served for decades as the ‘bible’ of Handel biography and was the precursor to Handel: Collected Documents. The most substantial work on Handel’s music, the monumental three volumes on his operas and oratorios, was by Winton Dean (1916-2013), a graduate of King’s: his work is widely recognised as seminal in musicology as a whole, a benchmark for analytical and perceptive scholarship, based on comprehensive and strongly contextualised documentary research.

Christopher Hogwood (1941-2014), a graduate and Honorary Fellow of Pembroke and also an Honorary Fellow of Jesus, was a leading figure in the early-music revival of the late 20th century, wrote yet another biography of Handel, and was involved in several concert performances and recordings of Handel operas and oratorios by the Cambridge-based Academy of Ancient Music, of which he was the founder. More recently, Andrew Jones, a Fellow of Selwyn, was founder and conductor of the Cambridge Handel Opera Group (see below), and is currently preparing an edition of Handel’s continuo cantatas; and Ruth Smith, an independent Cambridge-based Handel scholar, is author of Handel’s Oratorios and Eighteenth-Century Thought and of many essays in programmes for Handel productions both in the UK and internationally.

Many of the most important books on Handel have been published by Cambridge University Press. These include the five volumes of Handel: Collected Documents, The Cambridge Companion to Handel, The Cambridge Handel Encyclopaedia, and several monographs.

Only one performance of Handel’s works is recorded as taking place in Cambridge during his lifetime: Acis and Galatea at Trinity in February 1756, conducted by John Randall, Professor of Music in the University. Randall subsequently performed Messiah in the Senate House a month after Handel’s death, in May 1759, following this over the next few years with a series of other Handel oratorios in the same location: a number of these were designed to raise funds for the new Addenbrooke’s Hospital (echoing the role famously played by Handel’s own performances of Messiah in fund-raising for the Foundling Hospital in London). Between 1789 and 1809 The Musical Society at the Black Bear Inn in Market Street was almost a Handel Society, an average of three out of eight items at their monthly concerts being devoted to Handel. The first performance in England of Mozart’s arrangement of Alexander’s Feast was given in the Senate House in 1819; and the first revival in England of Semele in the Guildhall in 1878, under Sir Charles Stanford.

A particularly significant series of Cambridge productions was the staged performances of Handel’s oratorios between 1925 and 1948, following the powerful movement in Germany to stage these works – which, though highly dramatic, were not designed by Handel for staged performance. The stage première of Semele was mounted in 1925 by Dennis Arundell, a Fellow of St John’s: a reviewer noted that the artists included two Borzoi dogs, a fantail pigeon, and two goats, which “appeared to require a little more stage experience”. This was followed by staged performances of Samson, Jephtha, The Choice of Hercules, Susanna, Saul and Solomon, some at the Guildhall and others on the back lawn of King’s. They were conducted by Cyril Rootham of St John’s and later by Boris Ord of King’s, with staging by Camille Prior, and costumes and sets by Gwen Raverat – all famous Cambridge figures. The 1935 performances were part of a substantial Cambridge Handel Festival.

In the 1980s Andrew Jones founded the Cambridge Handel Opera Group (CHOG). Its first production, Rodelinda (1985), was followed by 14 further productions of Handel operas, every two years, usually with four performances, at West Road Concert Hall. A distinctive aim of these productions was to observe principles of 18th century performance practice in visual as well as musical respects. They were always in English, with new translations by Andrew Jones that were often used elsewhere, notably at the Coliseum in London. They were accompanied by a Study Afternoon on the opera being performed, with presentations by Handel scholars and, usually, the Stage Director.

Alongside CHOG, there have been other recent staged Handel productions in Cambridge, including by Colleges, like Xerxes at Fitzwilliam (2007), and by Cambridge University Opera Society, like Jephtha (2015). Particularly notable have been productions by English Touring Opera, of which there were at least ten in Cambridge between 2007 and 2014 at the Arts Theatre and West Road, many produced by James Conway.

CHOG ended in 2013, but King’s graduate Julian Perkins has subsequently revived it as CHOC. Its first production was Rodelinda (2018) at The Leys; Tamerlano is its second. CHOC reaffirms the staging principles which underpinned CHOG’s work, and has also sustained the tradition of the Study Afternoon, now extended by the “Green Room” online seminars, again linked to the production – both curated by Ruth Smith. CHOC’s production values, and its commitment to promoting relevant scholarship alongside its productions, give it a unique position in the world of Handel performance. It has also mounted a concert performance of John Eccles’s Semele in Trinity, recorded in a much-praised CD, in collaboration with the Academy of Ancient Music and Cambridge Early Music – bringing together the vibrant earlymusic scene in Cambridge. In all these respects, CHOC is building upon and extending a long, rich and widely influential tradition.

The CHOC production of Tamerlano will be staged in Cambridge on 5, 6, 8 and 9 April. Tickets are available from Cambridge Live: https://www.cambridgelive.org.uk/tickets/events/cambridge-handel-operacompany-presents-handels-tamerlano

Meanwhile, CHOC is holding three online ‘Handel’s Green Room’ discussions in February/March, curated by Ruth Smith, on preparations for the Tamerlano production. For details, and to subscribe to CHOC’s News Bulletin, see: https://cambridgehandel.org.uk/

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Handel in Japan

Tadashi Mikajiri

While the links between Japan and European music go back to the Christian missionaries of the 16th century, the closing of the country for two centuries meant that there was a long gap until the late 19th century. By 1900, however, Western art and music were part of cultural life in the larger cities, and this grew after the Second World War, with music from the classical and romantic eras leading the way, later extended to include older and later genres.

The walls of elementary and middle schools’ music rooms in Japan nowadays usually contain portraits of great European composers. Handel is always included. A diligent music teacher will introduce pupils to a couple of works of each one. In the case of Handel, a guidebook for teachers includes such works as ‘Hallelujah’ from Messiah, the Water Music, the Harmonious Blacksmith, ‘See the conq’ring hero comes’ from Judas Maccabaeus, and ‘Ombra mai fu’ from Serse; only one or two of these will be selected to be heard in the classroom. In addition, Handel’s music is widely used at events and as background music for TV programmes and commercial advertisements. For example, ‘See the conq’ring hero comes’ is not infrequently played (though slowly) in ceremonies of sports events, including Sumo wrestling. Thus many people know the melodies of this and of ‘Hallelujah’, ‘Ombra mai fu’, ‘Lascia ch’io pianga’, and the Alla Hornpipe from the Water Music, even if most are not aware who composed them.

Piano lessons for young children are popular in Japan, and Bach’s keyboard works are in the regular curriculum together with pieces by Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin, for those who have gone through basic training. So most musicians, professional or amateur, have learned to appreciate baroque music through Bach. Handel is not as popular yet, except Messiah, which is performed well over 100 times every year across the country.

One of the early contributions to the study and introduction of Handel and his works was a biography (1966) written in Japanese by the late Keiichiro Watanabe (1932-2001), who is also known in the scholarly world through his philological studies. Christopher Hogwood’s biography of Handel was translated into Japanese in 1991 by Toshiki Misawa, who studied with Watanabe. In the memorial year of 2009, The Cambridge Companion to Handel, edited by Donald Burrows, was translated into Japanese by Koko Fujie, Hiroko Kobayashi and Tadashi Mikajiri, and won an award from The Music Pen Club Japan.

Almost all the scholars/researchers of Handel are in their 50s, 60s or older, and there are few younger people studying him. Papers related to Handel seldom appear in the journals of the Musicological Society of Japan or universities/colleges. We need more young people to enter this field.

Performances of Handel’s works, however, are in much better condition. The ‘period instruments’ movement came to Japan in 1970s and 1980s, and gradually led to more performances of Handel’s chamber works, together with those of Bach, Vivaldi and Telemann. For a while, performances of Handel’s larger-scale works were limited to Messiah and some rare exceptions up to the end of 1980s. The tide changed when Keiichiro Watanabe started collaborating with Telemann Institute Japan in Osaka to premiere a series of oratorios. Solomon (1995), Hercules (1996), L’Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato (1997), Deborah (1998), Athalia (1999), Susanna (2000) and Theodora (2001) saw national premieres during this period. Simon Standage was invited to lead the orchestra for some of these concerts.

Now there are two active groups specialising in Handel: the Handel Institute Japan, founded by Keiichiro Watanabe in 1998, focusing mainly on operas; and Handel Festival Japan, founded in 2002 by Toshiki Misawa, covering various genres, especially oratorios.

The Handel Institute Japan, formed to promote researches, performances and enjoyment of Handel’s music, consists of musicians, musicologists, researchers of related areas and listeners. It offers half a dozen lectures/meetings annually on the researchers’/listeners’ side, and studies stage practices of the period, especially baroque gesture, on the performance side. It staged Rinaldo in 2002* (asterisk indicates Japanese premiere) in memory of the late Keiichiro Watanabe, Serse (2003), La Resurrezione (2004), Agrippina (2005), Il Pastor Fido (2008), Ottone (2009) (with Laurence Cummings invited to direct), Alessandro (2010), Partenope (2012)*, Flavio (2015), Deidamia (2017) and Ariodante (2018).

Handel Festival Japan aims at performing both vocal and instrumental music, to expand Handel’s image beyond the traditional view as a composer of Messiah. It performed Acis and Galatea (2003* and 2011), La Resurrezione (2004), The Choice of Hercules* with Concerti Grossi Op.6 (2005), Hercules (2007), Water Music and Coronation Anthems (2007), Tamerlano (2008*, concert style), Messiah (2009), L’Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato with the Ode for St Cecilia’s Day (2010) (which the late Christopher Hogwood was invited to conduct), Samson (2012), Alcina (2013, concert style), Saul (2014), Alexander’s Feast (2015), Jephtha (2016), Belshazzar (2017), Theodora (2018) and Solomon (2019).

In addition to these two groups specialising in Handel, several others have started staging Handel’s operas. The Vivava Opera Company in Osaka/Kobe area, although they do not confine themselves to Handel, have staged a lot, including a number of Japanese premieres: Flavio (2004), Alcina (2005), Deidamia (2006), Imeneo (2007), Tolomeo (2008), Orlando (2009), Lotario (2010), Radamisto (2012)* and Rodelinda (2013)*. Nationally/internationally recognised opera/music companies are now including Handel’s operas and oratorios in their programmes: Nikikai, the largest opera company in Japan, has performed Giulio Cesare twice (2005, 2015) and Alcina once (2018). Alcina was also staged by the Tokyo Chamber Opera Theatre (2008). Bach Collegium Japan, which specialises mainly in Bach, performed Israel in Egypt (2007), Judas Maccabaeus (2008) and Rinaldo (2009, concert style). The New National Opera Theatre (Opera Palace), run by a governmental body, will include Giulio Cesare in its 2019/20 season. There are also more amateur chorus groups beginning to sing Israel in Egypt, Judas Maccabaeus, Dixit Dominus and the Chandos Anthems.

All of these performances were mainly played and sung by Japanese musicians. There were also occasions when western companies came to perform, including Giulio Cesare by Berlin Staatsoper (1980), Ottone by King’s Consort (1992) and Ariodante by Bayerische Staatsoper (2005).

In total, this is a good long list and shows considerable progress from the pre-1985 period. But only a few works are played each year; the venues are limited to Tokyo and Osaka/Kobe, the two biggest metropolises of the country; and most are single performances. Famous titles, like Giulio Cesare, Alcina, Ariodante, Serse and Rinaldo have been produced several times, and seem to have acquired repertoire status, but most others have been performed only once or twice. More than half of Handel’s operas/oratorios remain on the waiting list. It would be good to see more titles staged in Tokyo and Osaka/Kobe, and more performances in other cities in the country.

Later operas – by Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, Puccini – have already acquired solid popularity in Japan. Baroque operas, that were constructed in a different dramaturgy, a different social/political context and with different stage practices, could be misunderstood as boring unless their charms are clearly and vividly presented. While the technical ability of musicians – instrumentalists and singers alike – have improved considerably in the last 30 years, it is the duty of musicologists to place these great works in the proper light to be appreciated by modern audiences.

There are more than 40 music colleges/universities in the country, only four of which have undergraduate courses dedicated to period instruments and historically-conscious playing/singing. So, at bachelor level, baroque technique is still a minor part of the curriculum. Several schools, however, offer optional classes for those who are interested in historical performances. In addition, with the growing appreciation of period-style music in the country, more postgraduate musicians are seeking opportunities to study historical technique, and the number who have had such training in Europe is now well over a few hundred. Thus the resources for playing Handel’s works are increasing.

Looking back at my school days in the 70s and 80s, only a few discs were released each year, and it was quite possible to buy all the new LPs of Handel’s works. My record shop manager used to call me when a new title appeared, and I bought every one of them. New releases increased after CDs appeared, and it is now realistically impossible to buy all the Handel CDs and DVDs. It is dreamlike that we now can enjoy Handel’s music in such abundance. However, real enjoyment of Handel’s works, especially operas and oratorios, lies in opera houses and concert halls. We need to promote more live performances.

Fortuitously, the next Emperor, Naruhito, was born on 23 February, the same day as Handel. His succession is in May 2019, and his birthday will be a new national holiday. Since it coincides with Handel’s, this should provide good enhanced opportunities to play and enjoy Handel’s music in Japan.

Tadashi Mikajiri teaches at the Opera Studio of the New National Theatre, Tokyo, and at the graduate schools of Kunitachi College of Music and Kyoto City University of Arts.