Well since I finally found sources, I can begin to write my blog! I have decided to write
on Giulio Cesare by George Frideric Handel. The first book that I got is entitled Memoirs
of the Life of the Late George Frederic Handel, by John Mainwaring. For starters, I find it
odd that the title of this book says the “late George Frederic Handel”, when in fact he
died in 1759 and this book was written in 1964. But whatever the case, the book seems
to address the subject in the form of a biography, and uses fairly old English. The book
definitely is chronological, and gives a brief introduction at the beginning on his life.
The beginning section deals with his life, how he grew up, and where he was going.
Then there’s a section called the “Catalgue of the works of George Frideric Handel”
where it lists all of the works he’d composed. I think this book will be a great source on
the history of his life, and a good figure of the things he’s worked on.
The second book I checked out was The Life of Handel by Victor Scheolcher, written
in 1979. Rather similar to the last book, but this book is a little larger and goes into
larger detail than the previous. It talks about his life and how he began writing, and
then rather than just a list of pieces it talks about how he wrote them and why he was
writing them at the time. So I think this book will be good to refer to more for music
and the pieces he wrote. It also has a large list of references the author used when
writing the book, so that would be a good place to check if I can’t find more resources.
Book three is entitled Handel by Winton Dean and was written in 1983. Obviously I
may need to hit the library again a few more times, because I have yet another book
focusing on the life times of Handel. This book discusses his life in Italy, London and his
studies; it also discusses things he did in opera, oratorios, keyboard and chamber
music, music for orchestras, church and vocal chamber music, and even his character
and personality! This would be a good resource for, again, details into his music and all
the different types of genres he composed in, and also maybe how he was as a person.
I’m interested to read the section about his character and personality, to maybe learn a
little bit 1985, more about how this composer lived.
The fourth book is Essays on Handel and Italian Opera by Reinhard Strohm, and was
written in 1985. This book talks about Handel’s “Journey as a European experience”, so
probably more history information, but it also talks about his operas and opera career.
It discussed his opera seria and also him as an opera producer. This book includes a lot
of scores of the pieces he’d written, which I’m sure will be helpful to look at when I’m
trying to compare operas.
And my fifth book is our textbook! So I think I have a good start on getting
resources, and I definitely need to find some more focusing on his specific pieces, and
maybe one even on the opera Giulio Cesare.
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