Handel's Muse: Patterns of Creation in his Oratorios and Musical Dramas, 1743-1751

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Acknowledgements
Introduction
Writing the Score
The Process of Creation: Forethought and Spontaneity
The Quest for Melodic Diversity
Handel as Harmonic Blacksmith: Changes in Tonal Structure
Texture as Form
The Rough Places Made Plain: Closure vs. Continuity
Texts, Musical Form, and Dramatic Impact
Musical Imagery as Drama
Singers and the Creative Process
Conclusions
Bibliography
Index of Handel's Compositions
General Index

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Handel's frequent and extensive alterations to his scores yield much valuable information on musical and extra-musical matters. This book represents the most thorough study to date of Handel's compositional procedures in his English oratorios and musical dramas. David Hurley examines six major works composed between 1743 and 1751 (Semele, Hercules, Belshazzar, Solomon, Susanna, and Jephtha), explores changes in the autograph scores, and, where possible, traces the progress of musical ideas from sketches and/or borrowings through drafts to the first performance version. By studying recurring types of revisions, Hurley identifies Handel's regular musical concerns while also addressing changes arising from specific dramatic situations. The later chapters of the book offer fresh insight into the relationship between music and text, evaluating for the first time the role of word painting in Handel's compositional process and furthering our knowledge about Handel's interactions with librettists and singers during the oratorio years.

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Music and Letters

It would be hard to overstate the value of this excellent book. In having the courage to go right back to the unfashionable sources, David Ross Hurley has blown away a number of Handelian cobwebs, and raised substantial questions for future research

Music and Letters

A detailed investigation of Handel's revisions to librettos leads effectively into the chapter 'Musical Imagery as Drama', which may be seen as the book's most brilliant section

Music and Letters

This book is the first extended study of multiple aspects (including borrowing) of Handel's compositional methods ... Hurley brings to this study an intimate knowledge of all the relevant sources

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