Händel or not Händel
Saturday, I listened for the first time to the "Marian Cantatas & Arias", a CD with sacred works by Händel. This is a gorgeous recording. Swedish mezzosoprano Anne Sofie von Otter is at her best, and is wonderfully accompanied by the Musica Antiqua Köln, conducted by Reinhard Goebel. It was released in 1994.
One of the four works is Il pianto di Maria al Santo Sepolcro di Cristo ("Giunto l'ora fatal", HWV.234). Traditionally attributed to Händel, this cantata is, according to some musicologists, the work of Giovanni Battista Ferrandini.
Who?
Ferrandini (c.1710-1790), a mediocre Italian composer. And there's the rub. Dogs don't make cats. I don't know what led those musicologists to reattribute it to Ferrandini, but as far as I know, a mediocre composer is very rarely struck by genius just for the necessary time to write one work.
And Il pianto di Maria is a powerful cantata. Händel was commissioned for a work of that name in Naples in 1709. The moving text could have inspired him a more dramatic music than he was used to write.
Saturday, I also discovered Johannes Passion, an oratorio attributed by some to Georg Böhm (1661-1733), and by others to Händel.
Georg Böhm? A man who has mostly written works for organ, and a few cantatas. He's better known for having influenced Johann Sebastian Bach.
Again, I don't know him, but what I know is that Johannes Passion is a very beautiful work. One hour of happiness (despite the topic).
Other musicologists attribute it to Johann Mattheson, a friend of Händel's. They worked together in the opera-house of Hamburg, in 1703-1706. But I've read somewhere that Mattheson said that this Passion was by Händel. It was played in 1704. Händel was 19.
My sentiment is that those two works were composed by a young Händel. And I've already listened to them several times with the same pleasure.
One of the four works is Il pianto di Maria al Santo Sepolcro di Cristo ("Giunto l'ora fatal", HWV.234). Traditionally attributed to Händel, this cantata is, according to some musicologists, the work of Giovanni Battista Ferrandini.
Who?
Ferrandini (c.1710-1790), a mediocre Italian composer. And there's the rub. Dogs don't make cats. I don't know what led those musicologists to reattribute it to Ferrandini, but as far as I know, a mediocre composer is very rarely struck by genius just for the necessary time to write one work.
And Il pianto di Maria is a powerful cantata. Händel was commissioned for a work of that name in Naples in 1709. The moving text could have inspired him a more dramatic music than he was used to write.
Saturday, I also discovered Johannes Passion, an oratorio attributed by some to Georg Böhm (1661-1733), and by others to Händel.
Georg Böhm? A man who has mostly written works for organ, and a few cantatas. He's better known for having influenced Johann Sebastian Bach.
Again, I don't know him, but what I know is that Johannes Passion is a very beautiful work. One hour of happiness (despite the topic).
Other musicologists attribute it to Johann Mattheson, a friend of Händel's. They worked together in the opera-house of Hamburg, in 1703-1706. But I've read somewhere that Mattheson said that this Passion was by Händel. It was played in 1704. Händel was 19.
My sentiment is that those two works were composed by a young Händel. And I've already listened to them several times with the same pleasure.