HANDEL IN LONDON

How refreshing, to read a book about music written for a music lover and not a musicologist. In clear, lucid, entertaining prose, Jane Glover makes those of us who lack musical literacy better understand and appreciate Handel’s divinity – Donna Leon, author of Handels Bestiary and the Inspector Brunetti mysteries Handel in London is the profound exploration of the life and legacy of the self-taught musical prodigy, George Frideric Handel. From his modest beginnings in Germany to his meteoric rise in the heart of Georgian London, Handels life was as melodious as his compositions. Handel, only twenty-seven, would travel to London and be at the heart of musical activity in the city for the next four decades, composing masterpiece after masterpiece, including the glorious coronation anthem, Zadok the Priest, operas such as Giulio Cesare, Rinaldo and Alcina or the great oratorios, culminating, of course, in Messiah. Jane Glover, who has conducted Handels work in opera houses and concert halls across the globe, draws on her profound understanding of music and musicians to tell Handel’s story. It is a story of music-making and musicianship, of practices and practicalities, but also of courts and cabals, of theatrical rivalries and eighteenth-century society. It is also the story of some of the most remarkable music ever written, music that has been played, sung and loved throughout the world for over three hundred years.