(qw - promoted by hhex65)
Long about last May I read an interesting essay by Michael Marissen on the anti-semitic elements behind the construction of Handel's Messiah-- it includes forensic textual analysis of the libretto and learned interpretations of the piece's symbolic musical content, especially as it progresses towards the beloved "Hallelujah" chorus:
Handel's music makes its own contribution to the troubling theological message here. The mood of the "Hallelujah" chorus is over-the-top triumph.
For the first time in "Messiah" trumpets and drums are used together, although they would have been appropriate or welcome at several earlier places. In Baroque music trumpets with drums were emblems of great power and of victory. In "Messiah" the combination is saved for celebrating the destruction of Jesus' crucifixion-provoking "enemies" (read: Jews) prefigured in Psalm 2.
It's like the Hostel of music. At this juncture, the essay is returning 600 hits searched by title. Reading through the list it seems to have provoked right-wing angst along with fascinating musicological responses and an article announcing that Handel's "Messiah" is to be performed in Branson, MO.
One thing I know for sure is that the Nazis themselves deemed Handel's music insufficiently anti-semitic. Even though they fawned over Handel and incorporated his work into their mythology they still found that it took some effort. For example, "cultural dictator" Alfred Rosenberg set about transforming Handel's biblical oratorio Israel in Egypt into Mongol Fury to cleanse its Jewish content.
Arnold Schoenberg fled Berlin for Paris in 1933 and there reconverted to Judaism. In that summer, he "freely transcribed and developed" the lovely Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra in B flat after Handel's Concerto Grosso Op. 6, No. 7. Here is some good analysis of the piece from Gradone:
Schoenberg dually reveals antipathy and veneration for the music of Handel...
The opening 32 bars of the exposition of the fugue subject of the allegro are maintained almost intact, with the subtle addition of one or two inner contrapuntal lines. The changes begin when Schoenberg begins to chromaticize cadential patterns and replace sequences with very chromatic and virtuostic sections for the string quartet (m. 41-41 and 57-60). As the movement progresses, the orchestration becomes more and more bombastic, and chromaticism is continually added until the piece becomes a harsh caricature of itself...
The confrontation is indeed compelling but Schoenberg himself summarized the concept of the piece by saying: "I was mainly intent on removing the defects of the Handelian style." This is why I often exhort my friends in the Neo-Consumptive community to concentrate on building themselves a big strong tomb before they pull the Dutch act-- remember, Schumann only attempted suicide. |
