Western religious music from different centuries.
Today we will listen to music from two rivals: Georg Friedrich Händel and Giovanni Bononcini.
The Academy of Ancient Music had invited Bononcini to England, mainly to have him compose operas and frustrate Händel’s success. English opera fans subsequently fell into two musical camps, though there was also a political side to this ‘opera war’.
In this program we focus of course on religious (or sacred) music. We start with one of the Chandos Anthems from Händel, who was affiliated with James Bridges, the Earl of Carnarvon — later the Duke of Chandos — from 1717 to 1720. He had put together a small ensemble at his estate Cannons for which Händel composed a few anthems. Originally these were meant for a small size ensemble and not a full orchestra, but Händel later arranged them for solo voices, choir and orchestra. In this episode we will play you Let God arise in its original arrangement.
Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1759)
1. Let God arise (HWV 256a)
Ensemble William Byrd, L’Académie Sainte Cécile conducted by Graham O’Reilly
(CD: “Music for Cannons – 3 Chandos anthems” – l’empreinte digitale ED 13072, 1997)
Bononcini not only composed operas, but also religious music for the Academy of Ancient Music among others. They might have commissioned also his Te Deum, which he arranged later in Vienna. The choir in the Te Deums by Händel – for example in the Utrecht Te Deum – has been given een important role, but in Bononcini’s arrangement it’s the soloists that lead.
Giovanni Bononcini (1670-1747)
2. Te Deum
Rowan Pierce, soprano. Esther Lay, mezzo-soprano. Helen Charlston, alto. Guy Cutting, tenor. Giles Underwood, bass. Choir of Queen’s College Oxford, Academy of Ancient Music conducted by Owen Rees
(CD: “How are the mighty fallen” – Signum Classics SIGCD905, 2024)
addition:
Georg Friedrich Händel, arr John Marsh (1752-1828)
3. Zadok the Priest (HWV 258)
Johannes Geffert, organ
(CD: “Händel in London” – Querstand VKJK 0115, 2002)
Image: Cannons House (Wikipedia)
