Thesis (B.A.)--Haverford College, Dept. of History, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (doctoral)--Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität zu München, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 218-220).

Treatise (D.M.A.) Florida State University, 2006. / Advisor: Stanford Olsen, Florida State University, College of Music. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed 7-3-07). Document formatted into pages; contains 54 pages. Includes biographical sketch. Includes bibliographical references.

The oratorio, La Resurrezione (1708) is considered by many to represent the summary of George Frederic Handel's Italian compositions. This achievement would not have been realized without the support of Handel's young and ambitious Roman patron, Francesco Ruspoli. The money and effort that Ruspoli spent on the staging of this oratorio confirm that it was planned as the climax for the Easter musical festivities in 1708. The preliminary chapters of this thesis present the background to the presentation of La Resurrezione and include discussions on Handel's presence in Rome, his relationship with Ruspoli, the role of the Accademia dell' Arcadia, and a biography of Carlo Capece, the librettist of the oratorio. Musical issues relating to the oratorio are discussed in chapter four. These include: manuscript sources, the performers of the work, and Handel's musical response to Capece's libretto. The use of a buffo bass (and the notion of Lucifer as a comic character) is traced back to the mid-seventeenth-century. The focus of chapter five is on the music of La Resurrezione, and on examples of Handel's subsequent re-use of the music. As well, the stimuli that prompted Handel to refer to a particular borrowing source are examined. Often a similar dramatic situation prompted Handel's recollection of a previous source; at other times a comparable textual affect, a similar phrase or even a single word in common provided the stimulus for borrowing. The five borrowing groupings discussed in the chapter are chosen because they represent the various means that prompted Handel's recollection of a previous source. Each grouping is organized by an appropriate term which reinforces the argument that it is a textual word, phrase or affect that is the key to understanding the borrowings. A consideration of the borrowings highlights Handel's great talent for portraying people and varying dramatic situations. / Arts, Faculty of / Music, School of / Graduate

No description available.

Handel's Messiah occupies a unique position in the musical life of South Africa. No item from the canon of 'classical' European choral music has been performed more often, over a longer period of time, and in a wider range of social contexts. This thesis seeks to answer two broad and interrelated questions: what were the social processes which brought this situation about; and how were perceptions of Messiah's meaning affected by its performance in social contexts markedly different from those of its origins? I concentrate on the two South African choral traditions for which Messiah has been central- those of the 'English' and 'African' communities - and on the period from the first documented performance of any item from Messiah until the emergence of a pattern of annual performances, which I take as a significant indicator of the historical moment at which the music could be regarded as firmly established in its new context. The history of Messiah's performance and reception in South Africa is traced using previous research on South African musical history and my own archival research and interviews. Following the broad outline of 'depth hermeneutics' proposed by John Thompson, I regard performances of Messiah as symbolic forms in structured contexts, and I interpret them through an analysis of relevant aspects of Jennens's libretto and Handel's music, of the discourse that surrounded the performances (where examples of this have survived), and of the social contexts and processes in which the performances were embedded. In examining the interactions of these different aspects, I draw on a variety of theoretical and methodological strands within musicology, cultural studies, and South African historical research. The cultural value accorded to Messiah emerges as a central theme. As a form of symbolic capital highly valued by dominant groups (the 'establishment') in the relevant South African contexts, it became an indicator of 'legitimate' identity and therefore of status. For both the English settlers and the emerging African elite (the primary agents in the establishment of Messiah in South Africa), it could represent the cultures in relation to which they defined themselves, towards which they aspired and within which they sought recognition: respectively, those of the metropole and of 'Western Christian civilization'. In political terms, this had the potential both to reinforce existing patterns of domination and to challenge them. Examples are given of the ways in which, at different moments in its South African history, Messiah was mobilized to support or to subvert an established political order, as a result of the specific meanings that it was understood to convey. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--City University of New York, 2005. / Includes abstract and glossary. Includes bibliographical references (p. 482-526).

This dissertation explores the ways in which Handel's late operas intersect with other forms of theater in mid-eighteenth-century London. It seeks to explain how certain comic features of these late works--from the lighter subject matter of the libretti to Handel's unconventional musical settings--can be seen to echo the heated criticism leveled at Italian opera seria during this period, criticism usually voiced by satirical pamphlets and operatic parodies. It concludes that so-called "serious opera" was not always taken too seriously by London audiences, or even by Handel himself. Instead, opera reception in eighteenth-century London was much more complex, sometimes even contradictory: avid operagoers were often generous patrons of operatic burlesque, and considered ridicule, disruption, and laughter an integral part of their operagoing experience. By tracing the points of contact between Italian opera and British theatrical life, this dissertation examines the ways in which the "comedies" of opera seria, both as historical phenomena and as potentially fruitful sites for theoretical investigation, offer a new picture of the eighteenth-century dramma per musica.

Thesis (M.M.)--Boston University. A thesis presented to the faculty of the School of Fine and Applied Arts [Boston University], in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Music, August 1963.

There is an increasing interest in the operas of Georg Frideric Handel, both from a scholarly perspective, and that of the modern, professional opera company. Producers of Handelian opera have moved away from productions similar to those staged in Halle, Germany, in the 1920s, which featured vastly reduced recitative and stripped the da capo aria to a single statement of the 'A' section. Modern productions have restored Handel's musical text, and in addition have attempted to recreate the original dramatic conditions and ethos of the work. The problem faced by the Halle producers still exists, however. How does the modern producer satisfy the expectations of the modern audience, while remaining faithful to the intention of the composer and the original production. This paper will investigate a possible approach to staging Handelian opera, with specific reference to the 'Mad Scene' from Handel's opera Orlando. Included in this examination will be a discussion of eighteenth-century British staging practices. These elements will be considered in the light of stage design and scenic practices of the period.