The great deal
The great Handel is a British film biography of Norman Walker from the year 1942 . Its theme is the German-British composer Georg Friedrich Händel, played by Wilfrid Lawson . Elizabeth Allan and Malcolm Keen are cast in leading roles.
action
When King George II ascended the British throne, he commissioned George Frideric Handel to compose the Coronation Anthems .
In 1738 Handel's opera business was in crisis. Handel's impresario Johann Jacob Heidegger speaks successfully to Friedrich Ludwig von Hannover , the Prince of Wales , to ask for support for the next opera season. Handel is reluctant to have to rely on the complacent prince. Meanwhile, his successful singer Susanna Maria Cibber arranges Phineas for him as a butler.
The next opera, Faramondo , was also a failure, partly because Handel did not put up with the prince's condescending behavior. A little later the prince denied him any support; the creditors insist and insist on getting their money back. Handel proposes that his courtly mask play Acis and Galatea be performed again.
A little later, Handel takes in the two sons of the oboist Jean Christian Kytch, who had died shortly before because he was no longer able to eat. Handel shames his overly demanding creditors when he shows them the fate of Father Kytch. He accommodates the Kytch siblings in the Foundling Hospital founded by Captain Thomas Coram .
During the next few years, Handel also had to struggle with bankruptcy and fell seriously ill. The patron and librettist Charles Jennens asks him to set the oratorio libretto Messiah, which he has compiled from the Bible, to music. Reluctantly at first, Handel agrees and goes to work with great effort. The performances in December 1742 in Dublin and in March 1743 in London with the participation of Susanna Maria Cibber were a great success.
production
Production notes
The film was produced by Lord Rank's GHW Productions Ltd. Created in collaboration with Independent Producers at Denham Studios in Technicolor. Company boss J. Arthur Rank criticized after a private screening that the film lacks a glamorous charisma. The London Philharmonic Orchestra plays . Music from Handel's oratorio Messiah , libretto: Charles Jennens , sung by Elizabeth Allan with the voice of Gladys Ripley and a choir, orchestral direction: Ernest Irving.
history
Georg Friedrich Handel (1685–1759) was a German-British composer of the Baroque . His main work consists of 42 operas and 25 oratorios , among which the Messiah with the world-famous choir “ Hallelujah ” deserves special mention. He also wrote church music for the English court, cantatas, orchestral music as well as chamber and piano music. The composer is considered one of the most important musicians in history.
The Coronation Anthems was composed by Handel for the coronation of George II and Queen Caroline in Westminster Abbey in 1727 . Anthem I: Zadok the priest has since been played at every British coronation ceremony, the last time in 1953 on the occasion of the coronation of Elizabeth II. The piece is also known as the signature tune of the UEFA Champions League . Friedrich Ludwig von Hannover (1707–1751), the Prince of Wales , was the eldest son of George II of Great Britain and his wife Caroline. He died nine years before his father; the exact cause of death is not known. The relationship between him and Handel was difficult. The Prince of Wales sponsored aristocratic opera.
Faramondo is Handel's first opera after the collapse of the Third Opera Academy in 1737. Although Faramondo was initially enthusiastically praised, the opera only had seven performances when it was first performed.
Jean Christian Kytch (died 1738) was a Dutch baroque oboist, known as Handel's oboist. The distress that his sons found themselves in after their father's death is said to have prompted the establishment of the fund to support the children of impoverished musicians, to which Handel generously contributed.
Handel's oratorio Messiah , which is based on Bible texts in an English-language compilation by Charles Jennens, was composed in the summer of 1741 and premiered in Dublin in April 1742. The work is still one of the most popular examples of sacred music in the Christian West. The most famous movement in the work is the Hallelujah , which closes the second of the three parts. It is customary to get up when it rings.
Publication, success
The film was not a box office success at the time. It was published in the United Kingdom on November 9, 1942, and in the United States on September 9, 1943 in New York. It was released in Portugal on November 12, 1943, in Sweden on April 20, 1946 and in Austria under the title Der Große Handel in December 1950. The film was also published in Greece and Romania. He did not appear in Germany. So far there has been no release on DVD with a German soundtrack.
criticism
On the English page Prayerfoundation, there was talk of an elaborate time drama that deals with exams and the victory of one of the most gifted composers, whose gifts to posterity are extraordinary and whose legacy is priceless.
Web links
- The great Handel in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Great Mr. Handel (1942) see page allemovie.com
- The Great Mr. Handel (1942) see letterboxd.com (English)
- The Great Mr. Handel Original film excerpt with the "Hallelujah"
- The Great Mr. Handel full original film at talkclassical.com
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Sue Harper: Picturing the Past: The Rise and Fall of the British Costume Film. British Film Institute, 1994 (English).
- ↑ The Great Mr. Handel (1942) see page bfi.org.uk (English)
- ↑ The Great Mr. Handel see page prayerfoundation.org (English). Retrieved March 20, 2019.