Comus (Handel)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There in blissfull shades and bow'rs (German Dort in seligen Schatten und Lauben or Comus HWV 44) is the musical epilogue to a performance of the play Comus by John Milton at the Earl of Gainsborough's seat in Exton Hall , Exton , Rutland in June 1745.

Emergence

Although Handel worked as an opera and oratorio composer for the London theaters for nearly fifty years, he wrote little actual incidental music for plays. The only major project was the music to Tobias Smollett's Alceste (see Handel's Alceste ), but the performance planned for 1750 at the Covent Garden Theater never took place. However, one of his first opera overtures (to Rodrigo ) was used as stage music for a re-performance of Ben Jonson's The Alchemist in 1710 (see The Alchemist ). Only three songs for pieces by John Gay ( The What D'ye Call It , 1715), James Miller ( The Universal Passion , 1737) and William Congreve ( The Way of the World , 1740) were composed specifically for English theater and to Handel's lifetime listed. In 1745 he composed the epilogue for a private production of John Milton's Masque Comus .

The music to Comus is a rediscovery of the modern age. Betty Matthews published a number of letters in 1959, in which a hitherto unknown journey is mentioned, which Handel made in June 1745 to the Earl of Gainsborough at Exton Hall in Rutland . During his stay, the Gainsborough family decided on an open-air performance of Comus - in only a slight modification of the version of Milton's mask play written by John Dalton and Thomas Augustine Arne , which was successful in London from 1738 - and persuaded Handel to write a new musical epilogue, which as

"[...] three songs made by Mr. Handel [...] with the chorus at the end of each of them."

"[...] three songs by Mr. Handel [...] each with a choir at the end."

- Benjamin Martyn : Letter to the Earl of Shaftesbury , Exton, August 1, 1748

has been described by writer and politician Benjamin Martyn . The music was considered lost because a great fire destroyed Exton Hall in 1810 and possibly burned the autograph as well . Anthony Hicks discovered a copy originally by Charles Jennens in the Manchester City Library in 1969, in the Newman Flower Collection . The title is Serenata à 9 , but the numbering of the pieces from 21 to 24 suggests that this title refers to Comus as a whole and not just to Handel's epilogue. The text goes back to Milton's epilogue, the last speech of the Attendant Spirit (lines 984 to 1011), in which the Guardian Spirit describes the heavenly regions to which he will soon return.

The letters found by Betty Matthews, one of which the brother of the Earl of Gainsborough, James Noel, wrote to the Earl of Shaftesbury, provide information about the circumstances that led to the creation of the work, as well as the performance by Handel's hosts and his family:

“We had a Theatrical Entertainment here about a fortnight ago which was performed in Celebration of an Anniversary Festival. The piece was COMUS; but Dalton and Arne were judged not altogether equal to Handel and Milton in which opinion I am pretty sure your Lordship will concur. [...] As Handel came to this place for Quiet and Retirement we were very loath to lay any task of Composition upon him. Selfishness however prevailed; but we determined at the same time to be very moderate in our requests. His readiness to oblidge soon took off all our apprehensions upon that account. A hint of what we wanted was sufficient [...] We laid our plan accordingly and reserved his music for an [?] At the close of this entertainment. We likewise intermix'd the Poem with several of his former Compositions […] which I think gave it great life and beauty. The whole scheme was concerted and executed in five days […] Mr. Handel left us about ten days ago. He is gone to Scarborough and will visit us again in his return back, which he believ'd would not be long. "

“We had a theater entertainment here two weeks ago as part of an anniversary festival. The play was COMUS, but Dalton and Arne were not on a par with Handel and Milton. I'm pretty sure your lordship would agree. […] When Handel came here to enjoy peace and quiet, we were very reluctant to give him a commission to compose. We selfishly decided to approach him with a very moderate request. His willingness relieved us of all our fears. And a touch of what we originally wanted was enough [...] We made some planning and put his music in an [epilogue?] At the end of this piece. We also used some of the earlier compositions [Arne] [...] in the poem, which I think makes the piece very lively and beautiful. The project was agreed and carried out in five days [...] Mr. Handel left us about ten days ago. He went to Scarborough and will visit us again on his return, he also thinks it won't be long. "

- James Noel : Letter to the Earl of Shaftesbury , Exton, June 23, 1745

Another performance of the same kind followed three years later, in July 1748.

The masque

Il regno del dio Como , Lorenzo Costa , early 16th century, Louvre

John Milton's work with the original title A Mask presented at Ludlow Castle 1634: on Michelmas night, before the right honorable John, Earl of Bridgewater, Viscount Brackley, Lord President of Wales, and one of His Majesty's most honorable privy council. was written at Ludlow Castle , for the Earl of Bridgewater in 1634 and first performed on Michaelmas Day (29 September) 1634, shortly before the ceremony to mark the earl's bestowal of the post of Lord President of Wales . The original incidental music was from Henry Lawes , who also played the Attendant Spirit in the work. The play was then published anonymously in 1637 and adapted for the London stage under the name Comus a hundred years later, in 1738 by Dalton and Arne, henceforth very popular and ran in London for more than seventy years.

The story tells of a young girl who gets lost in the forest and meets the magician Comus , son of Bacchus and Circe . Comus and his entourage, the exuberant ghosts of the night, swarm around the virgin and try to seduce her with all possible forms of sensual pleasure. But chastity triumphs over temptation: She remains steadfast and is freed by her two brothers under the guidance of the Guardian Spirit , ultimately with the support of the river goddess Sabrina .

music

The performance of the incidental music is around 16 minutes. Apparently, Gainsborough (as Comus), his two daughters (also as Sabrina and Attendant Spirit) and his son (as one of the bacchants ) performed the piece themselves, so the opening bass aria was designed with the limited vocal and performing skills in mind des Earl's cautious, while the soprano arias are of exquisite quality. There sweetest flowers (No. 3) above all is a memorable example of Handel's mature pastoral style, whose delighted contentment is streaked with melancholy. The chorus Happy, happy, happy plains (No. 2), set predominantly homophonically and only carefully brightened up by contrapuntal sections, is repeated after each of the three arias, so that the entire sequence forms an independent small cantata that differs from the rest of the masque settles. The style of the entire Serenata , not least this choir, is reminiscent of Acis and Galatea . Barely a year later, Handel used almost all of the music from Comus again in his Occasional Oratorio to another group of Miltonian texts, the music losing much of the freshness of its original inspiration.

In the performance of June 1745, Qual portento mi richiama (No. 17 from Alcina ) was apparently sung as an invocation of the protective spirit by the river goddess Sabrina (the English river Severn was named after her ) and must have been very effective.

The text

Air
There in blissful shades and bow'rs
Revels the gay, jocund Spring;
There the rosy-bosom'd Hours
All their choicest bounties bring.
Winter never dulls the plains,
There eternal Summer reigns.

Chorus
Happy, happy, happy plains!
There eternal summer reigns.

Air
There sweetest flowers of mingled hue,
Water'd with Elysian dew,
Live in everlasting bloom;
And ever on his musky wings
Balmy breezes Zephyr brings,
Wafting round the rich perfume.

Chorus
Happy, happy, happy plains!
There eternal summer reigns.

Air
There youthful Cupid, high advanc'd,
Holds his dear Psyche sweet entranc'd,
After her wand'ring labor long;
Till free consent the gods among
Make her his eternal bride,
And from her fair unspotted side
Two blissful twins are to be born,
Youth and Joy; so Jove hath sworn.

Chorus
Happy, happy, happy plains!
There eternal summer reigns.


There in blissful shade and arbor
the spring delights itself in indulgence;
where the rose-breasted hours
bring their most precious gifts.
Winter does not cloud the floodplains,
summer reigns there forever.


Happy, happy, happy meadows!
Summer rules there forever.


The sweetest flowers of all colors
drink the Elysian dew there,
and live in everlasting bloom; Zephyr
brings
balsamic breezes on its musk wings,
which spread the wonderful scent.


Happy, happy, happy meadows!
Summer rules there forever.


Up there, the young Cupid holds
his dear psyche in sweet rapture
after a long and laborious hike;
until the advising gods agree
to give
her to him as a bride for ever, and their immaculately pure side
should give birth to two lovely twins,
youth and joy; so Zeus swore.


Happy, happy, happy meadows!
Summer rules there forever.

Instrumentation and orchestra

Two sopranos , bass , two oboes , strings, basso continuo .

Discography

  • L'oiseau-Lyre (Decca) DSLO 598 (1982): Patrizia Kwella (soprano), Margaret Cable ( mezzo-soprano ), David Thomas (bass)
Academy of Ancient Music ; Dir. Christopher Hogwood (16 min)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Anthony Hicks: Theater Music Vol. II . Translated from the English by Henning Weber, L'oiseau-Lyre (Decca) DSLO 598, London 1982.
  2. ^ Editing management of the Halle Handel Edition : Documents on life and work. In: Walter Eisen (Hrsg.): Handel manual: Volume 4 , Deutscher Verlag für Musik , Leipzig 1985, ISBN 3-7618-0717-1 , p. 416.
  3. ↑ a b c d Christine Martin: Comus, HWV 44. In: Annette Landgraf and David Vickers: The Cambridge Handel Encyclopedia , Cambridge University Press 2009, ISBN 978-0-521-88192-0 , pp. 160 f.
  4. ^ A b Bernd Baselt : Thematic-systematic directory. Stage works. In: Walter Eisen (Ed.): Handel Handbook: Volume 1 , Deutscher Verlag für Musik , Leipzig 1978, ISBN 3-7618-0610-8 . Unchanged reprint, Kassel 2008, ISBN 978-3-7618-0610-4 , p. 506
  5. ^ Editing management of the Halle Handel Edition : Documents on life and work. In: Walter Eisen (Ed.): Händel-Handbuch: Volume 4 , Deutscher Verlag für Musik , Leipzig 1985, ISBN 3-7618-0717-1 , p. 393.
  6. ^ Winton Dean , John Merrill Knapp : Handel's Operas 1704–1726. The Boydell Press, Woodbridge 2009, ISBN 978-1-84383-525-7 , p. 329