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FULL HÄNDEL IN ROME TV-Documentary Germany 2006
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: HÄNDEL IN ROM
- Composer: Handel George Frideric aka Händel Georg Friedrich
- Libretto:
- Venue & Opera Company: German TV
- Recorded: 2006
- Type: Other
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
Goethe in Italy—that is well known, but Handel? Even the famous guidebook from the Italian Automobile Club mentions a certain Mr. Hitler as a visitor to the Eternal City, yet fails to list Handel. Rome, after all, offers the curious more surviving sites associated with Handel than the whole of Germany did after 1945. Information on this subject in biographies is scarce and riddled with contradictions. This gave Olaf Brühl ample reason to trace the footsteps of the young Handel on location in a documentary film. Old and modern Rome blend together. Georg Friedrich Handel (born 1685 in Halle an der Saale) was not yet twenty-two years old when he arrived in Rome for a stay that would last several years.
“Il caro sassone”—”the dear Saxon,” as he was known—brought with him from Hamburg experience in opera, familiarity with the world’s elite, and… a chest full of scores. On top of that, he was handsome, immensely gifted, and possessed a tireless work ethic. It is no wonder that such a man was welcomed with open arms and that the wealthiest patrons vied to showcase him in their palaces and churches. A true genius, he composed one original work after another.
Handel was captivated by the cheerful sensuality, the monumental scale, and the musical richness of the Baroque papal city. Driven by a passion for opera, he also traveled to Venice, Florence, and Naples. The ideas and melodic inspirations he gathered there shaped his entire body of work. Even his final oratorios are imbued with that remarkable reservoir of creativity the young master built up in Italy—without which *Messiah* itself would be unthinkable.