Word: handeled
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...Hall and baroque opera have one thing in common: both are absurd. Plodding, unsubtle, ridiculous plots in unvaried da capo musical structure keep works like Handel's Acis and Galatea out of the usual repertoire. But given a performance (even in concert form) of last Monday's quality, many of the better points of the genre can be exploited...
Librettist John Gay (of Beggar's Opera fame) drew upon an ancient Neapolitan myth: in the jealousy of the evil giant Polyphemus drives him to kill Acts, beloved shepherd of the goddess Galatea. Handel's occasionally inspired setting of the text reaches a high-point in the opening of Act Two. This chorus is beautiful and clever, true baroque artifice in a humorous double fugue...
...accompaniment for Acis was spirited yet discrete. The eight-piece ensemble of flute, two oboes, strings, and harpsichord was led by first-violinist Stanley Ritchie. Except for the "Happy we" chorus which was far too fast, tempi tended to lapse into a tempo ordinario, a common pitfall of Handel's music...
...less skilled singers there is the Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus. David Smith has solved the boredom problem in Handel oratorios: Israel in Egypt is mostly choruses. Next term will be devoted to a wide range of pieces more technically demanding than the Handel. As for Harvard's forgotten children, the grad students, they too have vocal group--the Graduate Chorale. Gerald Moshell, conducting for his third year, will continue to emphasize twentieth-century repertoire. John Stewart has been commissioned by the Grad Chorale for this year's piece by a Harvard student...
While the city ruminates on its revised history, the fire will be commemorated in a concert on the lawn of the Chicago Historical Society by the Chicago Chamber Orchestra Association, which will offer its own brand of fireworks: Haydn's "Fire" Symphony, Handel's Royal Fireworks Music, Ives' Fireman's Parade on Main Street and Dittersdorf's The Fall of Phaethon (about a god who burned to death...