Handel's Path to Covent Garden


 

"You have taken far too much trouble over your opera.  Here in England, that is a mere waste of time."   ~ Handel to Gluck
 
Handel's Path to Covent Garden is a provocative  exposé of Handel's progression within the tumultuous opera culture of London during the 1720s and 1730s.

 This book presents theories relating to the circumstances that ultimately led Handel to Covent Garden, and elaborates on previously accepted analysis concerning Handel's opera career in London.  
 
Did Handel nearly destroy his own career?
 
 Many Classical music lovers are familiar with the composer George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) for his famous “Messiah” oratorio, but are not aware his preferred area of composition was Italian opera seria.   Biographical books explore his career as an opera composer and the rise of the new pious genre when Italian opera was no longer popular in London, but rarely do we find detailed accounts or discussions of that strange period in the 1730s when this shift in popularity forced Handel to leave the Haymarket theatre and join with John Rich at Covent Garden where he tried to carry on the Royal Academy opera company in competition with the new Opera of the Nobility venture founded by the Prince of Wales before he was finally forced to abandon opera in favour of the oratorio. 
 
This book explores this rocky transition period and how it affected Handel’s work, namely, his addition of French elements into his operas and other novel innovations in order to regain his chagrined public. There are discussions exploring the possibility Handel was his own worse enemy with regards to his business decisions as impresario-composer, alienating the Italians of London and his public, which nearly cost him his career.  A fascinating study for Handel admirers.
 


  In this book, new theories are also offered concerning the formation of the rival Opera of the Nobility company, and features commentaries on Handel's progression and innovative operatic style during his years at Covent Garden. 

 Handel's Path to Covent Garden offers a fresh, new perspective on Handel's motivations, his psychological need for artistic independence, and his endeavor to maintain complete control over his productions, thereby opening new avenues for debate and further study, and will appeal to all Handelian admirers, amateurs and professionals, musicologists, and opera aficionados. 

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Handel's Path to Covent Garden






Book Details

Batalha Publishers
Hardcover 2nd Edition August 13, 2010
258 pages

ISBN:9899684430
(ISBN13: 9789899684430)


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***** 
 
The book is not out of print.  You can also order through other marketplace vendors on Amazon, and is also available at other online bookstores.  If you do not wish to shop online, you can also order the book from your local brick and mortar bookstore.

*****

Reviews:


Review by Randal Radic, Posted on February 1, 2011, BlogCritics.org

Most music lovers go ga-ga over Handel’s famous oratorio ‘Messiah,’ as well they should. However, what most music lovers don’t know is that Handel established his fame upon the bedrock of Italian opera. Handel wrote many operas. During one twelve month span, while at the Royal Academy of Music, Handel wrote three operas, Giulio Cesare, Tamerlano, and Rodelinda. All three were big hits and wildly successful at the box office.

In 1728, just as Handel’s contract with the Royal Academy expired, Italian opera fell out of vogue. The listening public decided they preferred the English style of opera. Still, Handel kept the faith. He started a new company, going into partnership with John Jacob Heidegger, who was the manager of the King’s Theatre in the Haymarket. Handel and Heidegger continued to produce Italian operas successfully for a few years. Then in 1733, a rival opera company – the Opera of the Nobility – opened for business, bringing in such superstars as Johann Adolf Hasse, Nicolo Porpora, and Carlo Boschi, who was better known as Farinelli. Handel and Heidegger couldn’t vie with such big names. Their venture effectively failed and Handel and Heidegger parted ways.

Instead of retiring, as most thought he would, Handel moved on to Covent Garden, where he joined up with John Rich. For three years, the two impresarios struggled financially and artistically. This period of adversity – from 1734 to 1737 – and how it changed Handel’s life, career, and fortune is the subject of E.A. Bucchianeri’s remarkable book, Handel’s Path to Covent Garden.

Bucchianeri examines the intrigues, back stabbings, jealousies, and rivalries that existed at the Royal Academy of Music. The examination reveals that, as in today’s music world, egos and money are greater motivators than musical expression. To put it simply, everyone was caught up in power plays, trying, like a bunch of spoiled brats, to get their way. It makes for amusing reading, especially as it took place almost 300 years ago.

Of particular interest is John Rich’s arrangement with Handel. According to Bucchianeri, unlike most people in his position, John Rich wasn’t motivated by ego or money. "Rich aspired to succeed in overcoming the deficiencies in Italian opera." Therefore, Rich disregarded "a practical business approach on this one project, he may have decided to afford every opportunity to Handel," who he recognized as England’s "best composer."

The result of this "opportunity" was Handel’s growth and change as a composer. Bucchianeri relates this adaptation in detail, using the evolution of Handel’s opera Ariodante to illustrate Handel’s genius and creativity. For one thing, Ariodante had no magical content, which meant it was neither heroic nor anti-heroic. In other words, Handel was doing something totally different. The difference wasn’t shocking or scandalous. It was simply unique. And, according to Bucchianeri, this distinctiveness eventually found its way into Handel’s oratorios.

What makes Handel’s Path to Covent Garden so much fun to read is the author’s scholarship and the author’s ability to express that same erudition in simple language. In other words, although Bucchianeri does occasionally get technical, Handel’s Path to Covent Garden is a book for the average Joe or Susie. One doesn’t have to have a musical background or a doctorate to enjoy the book. At the same time, the book is just technical enough to appeal to music lovers. For the latter group, the book fills in a gap surrounding Handel’s life and work.

On the Read-O-Meter, which ranges from 1 star (terrible) to 5 stars (delightful), Handel’s Path to Covent Garden comes in at 5 stars.



Lyric FM, Classical Music Radio Ireland
 
   "Keep an eye out for this new book by E. A. Bucchianeri, which traces Handel's progression within the tumultuous opera culture of London during the 1720s and 1730s. ...the book offers new theories relating to the circumstances that ultimately led Handel to Covent Garden ."

   Reviewed by David Adams on Into the Evening March 13, 2003; Lyric FM:

   "... There were so many details raised and questions asked which make the reader really excited and interested in the period and what was happening. ... There are many, many details which just suddenly bring home to you, 'My goodness, it was different in those days!'  ...  There are many things that jumped out of this book at me ... "

 
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