The orchestra and its instruments . he lived in great magnifi-cence. For instance, he had a guard of a hundredSwiss soldiers and a chapel like those of Italy. HisOrchestra was of the best. Handel stayed at Cannons three years and thenhe became director of the Italian opera in London,where he produced one opera after another, some ofwhich brought forth witty satires from Addison andSteele, but all of which attracted large of them were on mythological subjects, werewritten in the Italian style and were superbly , a beautiful aria from one or another ofthese oper
The orchestra and its instruments . he lived in great magnifi-cence. For instance, he had a guard of a hundredSwiss soldiers and a chapel like those of Italy. HisOrchestra was of the best. Handel stayed at Cannons three years and thenhe became director of the Italian opera in London,where he produced one opera after another, some ofwhich brought forth witty satires from Addison andSteele, but all of which attracted large of them were on mythological subjects, werewritten in the Italian style and were superbly , a beautiful aria from one or another ofthese operas appears on a programme to-day; and itis so noble and lovely that we long to hear the oldoperas themselves. As a rule, these arias are accom-panied by several instruments supporting one thatplays an obbligato part; and these show what Handeldid to develop and exhibit the technique of variousinstruments. The last years of his life were devoted to composingthe magnificent oratorios of Saul, Samson, The Mes-siah and Israel in HANDEL By Thomson THE ORCHESTRA 189 Handel became a naturalized English subject andlived far into the reign of George II. When he diedin 1751, he was buried in Westminster *^HandePs contribution toward building up our mod-ern Orchestra is that he helped make it more solid,more sonorous and more vital. The balance of Handels Orchestra was very dif-ferent from ours, because of the overwhelming numberof woodwind instruments. If he had twenty-fivestrings, he would sometimes have as many as fiveoboes and five bassoons! The clarinet had not thencome into use, and some stringed and some woodwindinstruments that Handel used became obsolete afterhis death. Handel was particularly fond of the oboe:it is often conspicuous in his scores. Handel made his Orchestra a very strong ally ofhis operas and his oratories. He conducted seated atthe clavier, or organ, and accompanied the singerswith the most marvellous art possible to imagine,following their fancie
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectmusicalinstruments
