♪ Music Notes ♪

GEORGE FREDERIC HANDEL (1685-1759) was born in Halle, Germany. One of the most prolific, successful and revered composers and musicians of the Baroque period, he is to this day considered to be one of the greatest composers of that era, enjoying both public favour and royal patronage during his lifetime. Despite his eagerness to become a musician, he was disallowed by his father, and so had to conduct his musical training in secret. After spending a brief spell in Italy studying law to appease his father, but at the same time expanding his musical pursuits while out of his father’s control and knowledge, Händel was appointed as Kapellmeister for Prince George of the German Hanoverian family in 1710. He moved with Prince George to London, England, where the prince was crowned King George I of Great Britain and Ireland. At this point Händel became George Frederic Handel, and in 1712 he decided to settle in England permanently, receiving an annual income of £200 from the royal family. His compositional output was immense: 42 operas, 29 oratorios (including Messiah, which has taken its rightful place as one of the most frequently performed and most beloved choral works of all time), more than 120 cantatas, duets, trios, arias, anthems, chamber music, organ works, sonatas and concertos. Three days before his death in 1759 Handel signed a codicil to his will saying he hoped he might be buried in Westminster Abbey, and desired that his executor erect a monument for him. The funeral was attended by about 3,000 people and the choirs of Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral and the Chapel Royal sang the service. His black marble gravestone in the south transept reads: GEORGE FREDERIC HANDEL BORN YE 23 FEBRUARY 1685 DIED YE 14 OF APRIL 1759.

JOSEPH PARRY (1841-1903) was a Welsh composer. Born into a large family, he left school to work in the local coal mine when he was nine years old. In 1854, the family emigrated to the United States, and settled in Pennsylvania, where Parry again found employment at an iron works. Though he had a great interest in music, he had no opportunity to study it until there was a temporary closure of the facility. Some of his co-workers were also musicians, and they offered music lessons while the iron works was closed, so Parry joined a music sight-reading class taught by one of the men. He continued to study harmony with another co-worker, and at the same time, learned how to read and write. During a return visit to Wales, after having received numerous awards for his compositions, both in the United States and Wales, Parry was offered two music scholarships, but was unable to accept due to family obligations, so a fund was established for the support of him and his family while he studied music. As a result, he went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music, and later received a Doctorate in Music from the University of Cambridge. Parry was a prolific and facile composer of songs, choruses, anthems, hymns, operas, and some instrumental works, and was a predominant figure in the Welsh musical life of his day. His hymn tune “Aberystwyth” (heard in this morning’s opening hymn) has become a classic.

CHARLES WESLEY (1707-1788) was an English leader of the Methodist movement, most widely known for writing about 6,500 hymn texts. He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, and after graduating with a master’s degree in classical languages and literature, Charles followed his father and brother into Anglican orders in 1735. He was a younger brother of Methodist founder John Wesley, and Anglican cleric Samuel Wesley the Younger, the father of musician Samuel Wesley, and the grandfather of musician Samuel Sebastian Wesley.

GEORG PHILIPP TELEMANN (1681-1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he entered the University of Leipzig to study law, but eventually settled on a career in music, against his family’s wishes. He held important positions in a number of German cities before settling in Hamburg in 1721, where he became musical director of that city’s five main churches. One of the most prolific composers in history (at least in terms of surviving works), Telemann was considered by his contemporaries to be one of the leading German composers of the time, and was compared favourably both to his friend Johann Sebastian Bach, and to George Frideric Handel, whom he also knew personally. His music incorporates French, Italian, and German national styles, and he was at times even influenced by Polish popular music. Telemann’s enormous output, perhaps the largest of any classical composer in history, includes parts of at least 31 cantata cycles, many operas, concertos, oratorios, songs, music for civic occasions and church services, passions, orchestral suites and abundant amounts of chamber music – his music stands as an important link between the late Baroque and early Classical styles.

MARTIN HERBST (1654-1681) was a German Lutheran clergyman. He was educated at the St. Lorenz School in Nüremburg, and then went on to study theology and philosophy at Âltdorf and Jena. In 1680, Herbst was appointed pastor of St. Andrew’s Church in Eisleben, and also became rector of the church’s gymnasium (high school), but tragically died only a year later of the plague.

OWEN ALSTOTT (b. 1947) is a prolific composer with a special mastery of adapting, translating and setting texts to music for assemblies and choirs. Born and raised in Oregon, he attended high school seminary and was a novice at Mt. Angel Abbey – a Benedictine monastery in the Williamette Valley. Alstott holds a BA in philosophy from Mt. Angel, and he also attended university for advanced studies in pipe organ. In 1992, he moved to London, England, where he founded a company that publishes and distributes religious education materials.

WILLIAM BYRD (ca. 1540/42-1623) was an English composer, keyboard player and teacher. Widely considered to be one of the greatest composers of the Renaissance, and one of the greatest of all British composers, he had a huge influence on composers both from his native England and those on the continent. He wrote in many of the forms current in England at the time, including various types of sacred and secular polyphony, keyboard, and consort music. Although he produced sacred music for Anglican services, sometime during the 1570s he became a Roman Catholic and wrote Catholic sacred music later in his life. Byrd’s exceptionally long lifespan meant that he lived into an age in which many of the forms of vocal and instrumental music which he had made his own were beginning to lose their appeal to most musicians. The native tradition of Latin music which Byrd had done so much to keep alive more or less died with him, while consort music (instrumental ensembles) underwent a huge change of character at the hands of a brilliant new generation of musicians.

JAMES WILLIAM ELLIOTT (1833-1915) was a popular British composer of the Victorian period, best known for his nursery rhyme music, and for his work on hymnals in the 1870s. As a child, he sang in the Leamington Parish Church in Warwickshire. In those days, choristers were given lessons in all facets of church music, including organ lessons, theory, and more, in exchange for providing an extraordinary level of service to their parish church. The result was that most choristers who completed their studies received an excellent music education, and Elliott was no exception. After starting his career as an organist and choirmaster at a countryside church, his talent became obvious, and he moved to London, where he assisted Sir Arthur Sullivan (of Gilbert and Sullivan fame) in editing hymns. Several of Elliott’s hymn tunes are still in use today in many hymnals, most notably, his hymn tune “Day of Rest”, heard in this morning’s closing hymn.

JOHN ERNEST BODE (1816-1874) was a British Anglican priest, educator, poet, and hymnist. He was educated at Eton, the Charter House, and then at Christ Church, Oxford, where he received both his bachelor and masters degrees. A prominent scholar of the time, his most well known hymn text is “O Jesus, I Have Promised”.

ANTONIO VIVALDI (1678-1741) was an Italian Baroque composer, virtuoso violinist, teacher, and Roman Catholic priest. Born in Venice, the capital of the Venetian Republic, he is regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread across Europe. Vivaldi’s main teacher was probably his father, Giovanni Battista, who in 1685 was admitted as a violinist to the orchestra of the San Marco Basilica in Venice. Vivaldi composed many instrumental concertos for the violin and a variety of other musical instruments, as well as numerous sacred choral works and more than forty operas. Many of his compositions were written for the all-female music ensemble of the Ospedale della Pietà, a home for abandoned children. He worked there as a Catholic priest and teacher from 1703 to 1715 and from 1723 to 1740. Vivaldi (who earned the nickname “The Red Priest”, due to his distinctive reddish hair) also had some success with expensive stagings of his operas in Venice, Mantua and Vienna. After meeting the Emperor Charles VI, he moved to Vienna, hoping for royal support. However, the Emperor died soon after Vivaldi’s arrival, and Vivaldi himself died in poverty less than a year later.