Handel's oratorios and eighteenth-century thought:

In this wide-ranging and challenging book, Ruth Smith shows that the words to Handel's oratorios reflect the events and ideas of their time and have far greater meaning than has hitherto been realized. She explores literature, music, aesthetics, politics and religion to reveal Handel's wor...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Smith, Ruth 1947- (Author)
Format: Electronic eBook
Language:English
Published: Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1995
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Online Access:BSB01
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Summary:In this wide-ranging and challenging book, Ruth Smith shows that the words to Handel's oratorios reflect the events and ideas of their time and have far greater meaning than has hitherto been realized. She explores literature, music, aesthetics, politics and religion to reveal Handel's works as conduits for eighteenth-century thought and sensibility. She provides a full picure of Handel's librettists and shows how their oratorio texts express key moral-political preoccupations and engage with contemporary ideological debate. British identity, the need for national unity, the conduct of war, the role of government, the authority of the Bible, the purpose of literature, the effect of art - these and many more concerns are addressed in the librettos. The book thus enriches our understanding of Handel, his times, and the relationships between music and its intellectual contexts
Item Description:Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015)
Physical Description:1 online resource (xiii, 484 pages)
ISBN:9780511470240
DOI:10.1017/CBO9780511470240

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