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Handel's use of the double choirDate: December 18, 2012 by Bob Ingalls  Views: 1555
Handel used the double choir in many of his oratorios. In "Solomon's" Throughout the Land (for instance) he writes for the choir to sing as a single unit for the 1st half of the piece and then splits to a double choir structure for the 2nd half. I'm hoping that some of you music historians can help me understand if anyone knows how Handel conceived that the choir would be positioned for his oratorio performances/premieres. Were the oratorios typically sung in a Cathedral or concert setting? If the former, was the chorus physically split to the sides of a chancel, setup across the back,...? If the latter did they sing from the sides of a stage, back of a stage, from a pit...?
Thanks,
Bob
Replies (5): Threaded | Chronological
John Howell on December 18, 2012 12:00pm
Bob: Unless some contemporary paintings or engravings exist (and they might, since I've seen pictures of Haydn's opera stage with the orchestra seated rather awkwardly in a small pit), there's no real way to know.
But his oratorios were, I believe, never intended to be presented in church, despite their sacred subjects. He had entree to the opera stages, and I've always assumed that he used them, but without costumes, staging, or stage movement, to appease the Bishop of London.
(I believe that "Messiah" was indeed premiered in a church in Dublin, but I've read accounts that suggest that there was considerable controversy surrounding it and that it was approved by the church authorities only at the last minute. And we would also have to look into the practice in Italy, when Handel was there, and to whether oratorios were performed in churches there. The very name, "oratorio," derives from the fact that originally these quasi-dramatic works were performed in the Oratories of churches, not the sanctuaries, and not during formal services of the Mass or Holy Office.)
But I'm not sure a single answer to your question is even possible. We have to start with the knowledge that he was an opera composer, and would have had staging in the back of his mind. But we also have to blend that with his desire NOT to give the impression of putting on a "concert opera" in order to comply with the Bishop's ruling. So I would have to look at the specific choruses, what their texts were, and what kind of story-telling effect the splitting of the chorus might have had in the course of each dramatic story line.
And we should not project OUR idea of a proper chorus onto Handel, either. He may well have considered 20 professional singers quite adequate (and I believe that he was known to have used the boys from the Chapel Royal rather than women), which means that splitting his choral forces would have left about 10 in each half--not nearly the logistical problem that we might imagine with our very large choruses.
So it may be that the performances after Handel's death, which were really the start of the festival chorus tradition, would give us a better idea of how this was handled in terms of larger, amateur choruses. And these would also probably have a higher chance of having been preserved in either written accounts or drawings.
More questions than answers, I'm afraid. But such INTERESTING questions!!!
All the best,
John
Applauded by an audience of 2
Bob Ingalls on December 19, 2012 10:23am
John,
Thanks for your insight! Yes, there are generally more questions than answers in this regard. In my case I'm specifically interested in "Solomon"; although the general case is definitely of interest as well. It will be interesting to see if others can shed more light on the subject.
Sincerely,
Bob
John Howell on December 19, 2012 11:58am
Bob: Thanks to the IMSLP website I was able to download the full vocal score and look through it. (Huge score!!! Over 200 pages. I didn't even attempt to download the complete full orchestra score!)
1748--fairly late in the game for Handel, and well after his operas had fallen out of favor, while his English oratorios had been gaining. And according to the score, it IS an opera in every way except, apparently, for costuming and staging. And no longer necessarily restricted to performances during Lent, although its first three performances under Handel did take place in March. The soloists are all very specific characters in the story and not generic voice types, and the chorus(es), in Greek Chorus style, represent the Priests or the Israelites in general. And the script is divided into both Acts and Scenes. He was CLEARLY thinking opera!!!
Also fascinating (although not indicated in the Novello vocal score) is that Solomon was apparently cast as an ALTO, but in Handel's performances was sung by a woman, as it was in all but the most recent modern recordings. In his operas Handel would definitely have used a castrato or countertenor, often given heroic roles, but he doesn't seem to have held to that pattern in his oratorios.
And his mixture of choral voicings is absolutely fascinating: some in straightforward SATB, more in 5-part SSATB, and quite a few for 8-part double chorus. BUT, while some of the double chorus numbers could benefit from stereo placement, the SATB and SSATB choruses argue rather stongly AGAINST very much spreading out. Especially the 5-part choruses where the two treble parts obviously need to be in pretty intimate contact.
So I would probably want to think in terms of spaciousness, but not in terms of a Venetian-like separation of separate choirs. And with a large modern (double) choir it probably would not work at all well to have them moving from point A to point B in the course of a performance.
It's really amazing to see so MUCH wonderful music, written within just a few months, that I'm simply not at all familiar with. As I suggested previously, "Messiah" is great music, but perhaps we need to expand our concept of what Handel has left us.
All the best,
John
Applauded by an audience of 1
Bob Ingalls on December 20, 2012 12:49am
Great insight John. After reading your post I did some additional investigations. It appears that many of Handel's operas and oratorios were specifically written for Covent Garden (where Solomon was also first performed) and had their premieres there. Assuming he had that venue in mind when he composed the oratorio, any thoughts about what his spatial conception might have been? I'm not familiar with the venue nor how productions were done in his day.
Bob
on December 26, 2012 11:30am
Anyone else want to weigh in with an opinion on this discussion?
Thanks...Bob
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