MUSIC GCSE NOTES

G.F. Handel: Chorus: 'And the Glory of the Lord' from the oratorio Messiah (1742) Back ground information Ø  George Frederic Handel was born in Germany in 1685. Ø  From about 1710 he lived in England, died in long in 1759 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Ø  He wrote loads of music including oratorios and operas he also wrote choral music and wrote many orchestral pieces.    ‘Messiah’ is a famous Oratorio Ø  He wrote ‘Messiah in 1741, it only took him about 3 weeks to compose it (though he used a few bits from his earlier compositions.) Ø  ‘Messiah’ was originally supposed to be performed at Easter, but was usually sung at Christmas. Ø  It was written for a SATB choir, SATB soloist and a full Baroque orchestra. He wrote parts for: Bassoon Trumpets Timpani Strings              Basso continuo              And often a Harpsichord    It’s divided up into 3 parts 1)      The first section describes the prophecies and Jesus’ birth…