Messiah Musings Part Nine:

By Josiah Tazelaar

Because the Fort Street Chorale is performing works by the two great Baroque masters, G.F. Handel and J.S. Bach, I thought it proper to end my "Musings" with two looks at these composers, first examining their similarities (Part 8) and now, in Part 9, their differences.  They began their lives differently and, even in death, they were treated vastly differently:  Handel was buried at Westminster Abbey with great honors, including a statue, while Bach was put into an unmarked grave, in Leipzig.

    Back to their births:  In those days, a boy was born into the trade:  if the father was a farmer, he was expected to become a farmer.  If a shoemaker, a shoemaker; if a shipbuilder, a shipbuilder; a barber, a barber.  And that's what Handel should have become.  His father was a barber and surgeon.  Yes, barbers were also surgeons.  You could get a shave and a lobotomy from the same guy.  I exaggerate.  But the knife that cut hair could also cut the skin open for bleeding, and bleeding was a very common means of curing all sorts of ailments.  Music was totally out of the question as an option for a career for little Georg Friederich.  And yet the little boy adored music and could not live without it.  His older brother understood, and managed to smuggle a little spinet into the attic, where, in the middle of the night, the child practiced for hours.  The sound was so tiny that the father never heard it.  Only when 7-year-old Georg accompanied his dad to the court of the Duke one day and found an organ there and played it, he astounded everyone with his skill.  The Duke insisted that the boy should become a musician, and gave him lots of money for lessons, and father Handel reluctantly consented.  So began Handel's musical career.

    For J.S. Bach, it was expected.  For seven generations, the Bach family's business was music.  All Bachs were musicians.  'Nuf said.  But an older brother, maybe out of jealousy, thwarted little Johann's eagerness to learn, and refused to let the boy have access to his library of instrumental music, which meant that the little guy (in the middle of the night!) had to copy everything secretly by hand, while his brother was asleep.  One day, the brother found out, and destroyed all of Johann's work. 

    (Having spent so much time on their childhoods, I must be very terse in listing the rest of the differences).

    Handel was cosmopolitan.  He traveled to Italy and England, and felt at home everywhere.

    Bach was provincial.  He never once traveled outside Germany.

    Handel composed music mostly for the theater.  Operas, oratorios, and Royal Events were his passion.

    Bach composed for the church.  As Cantor of the Thomas-Church in Leipzig, he was required to write music (cantatas, etc.) for every Sunday service, train the choir of recalcitrant boys to learn the music, added some men to complete the choir, and then conduct it.  Every Sunday.

    Handel had something like "Rock Star" status in England.  When he strode the streets (and strode he did!), people would stand in awe:  There goes the great Mr. Handel!  He had his enemies, but he was adored by the public.

    Bach was seen as a drudge.  Okay, true musicians recognized his genius and was considered to be an excellent organist and organ composer.  But the general public ignored him.  There was nothing glamorous about him. 

    Handel was a religious man, but mainly on the surface, like most people.  He really had more interests beside religion.  He wanted to please the public.

    Bach was truly devout.  Each composition was prefaced with:  "God help me," and ended with "Soli Deo Gloria" ("To God Alone the Glory").  He wanted to please God.

    Now it's dangerous, even foolish, to make blanket judgments, but here goes:  while both men wrote glorious music, there seems to be considerably more depth of feeling in Bach's music than in Handel's.  I think it's due to their character.  Having said this, we know that "Messiah" is a work of inspiration and we cannot deny that there is a great depth of feeling in this marvelous oratorio. 

    Handel never married. In fact, nothing is known about his private life.  Did he have affairs with ladies secretly?  Was he gay? Celibate?  No one has ever been able to find out.  He was very discreet.

    Bach was married twice.  He had twenty children.  Many of them died in infancy or in childhood, sadly.  Those that remained were all musicians, of course. 

    Finally, a look at how the musical world has regarded the two men.  The honors bestowed upon Handel continued after his death.  Bach was forgotten.  Two of his sons were considered far superior as composers in the 75 years or so after his death.  Many of his scores were sold for pennies and many were used for butcher paper, to wrap meats in, or for burning in stoves. 

    Then, things changed.  In 1829, the 20-year-old Felix Mendelssohn, who had come upon a score of Bach's St. Matthew Passion some years earlier, audaciously conducted a performance of that work in Berlin.  It had an astounding effect that resulted in a Bach revival that just grew and grew.  "Bach Societies" sprang up everywhere.  By the time the 20th Century began, Bach was considered one of the greatest composers, and there are many, including today, who consider him the greatest composer of all time. 

    Meanwhile, what about Handel?  Surely, "Messiah" never died out.  During the Victorian Era, it was sung by choirs of thousands of people.  Today, it is still sung, more than ever, but more in the style of Handel's time, with smaller forces and quicker tempos. The work simply has a life of its own.  "Messiah Mania" is in full flower.  But his other music slowly lost favor around the world.  Opera companies wouldn't dream of staging his operas.  There were no singers who could make those operas work anymore.  Singers simply weren't trained for that, and castration was by now illegal.  Occasionally one of his opera arias would be part of a recital program, almost always at the beginning, "to warm up the voice" (always slow, legato pieces, like the "Largo" or "Care selva").  And his oratorios suffered nearly the same fate, other than "Messiah." of course.  And orchestras might open a program with his "Water Music" or "Royal Fireworks," but that was about it.  Sir Thomas Beecham, one of the few Handel champions, tried to prop him up with his lavish orchestrations of obscure works, and create suites like "Love in Bath.”

    At long last, thanks to such groups as the Handel-Haydn Society, a revival slowly arose.  Thanks to singers such as Joan Sutherland, Marilyn Horne, and Beverly Sills, and a shocking rediscovery of the countertenor voice by the likes of Alfred Deller and Russell Oberlin, a few gingerly steps to put on long-neglected Handel operas such as "Giulio Cesare" and "Rinaldo" and oratorios "Saul," "Judas Maccabeus" and "Semele" emerged from the shadows.  Today, we have a crowded pool of true Handel singers, and the great man has resumed his position as one of music's superheroes.

    It has been a pleasure to write these "Musings", and I've been gratified to hear that more and more people are reading them and enjoying them.  This ends the series, but I've been asked to do the same for the St. John Passion, so I'll get to work and resume writing in January.

 

                                                Respectfully submitted,      Josiah Tazelaar

 

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Index Page