Handel's Acis and Galatea was composed as a garden entertainment at Cannons, the noble estate where the composer worked in the late 1710s. The Duke of Chandos was its owner and Handel's patron, and the Chandos Anthems were composed during the same period. Acis and Galatea was termed a serenata, a masque, or a little opera; it might also be regarded as a large pastoral cantata that was apparently lightly staged. A garden entertainment might sound like a light work, but the Duke brought in heavy hitters -- John Gay and ...
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Handel's Acis and Galatea was composed as a garden entertainment at Cannons, the noble estate where the composer worked in the late 1710s. The Duke of Chandos was its owner and Handel's patron, and the Chandos Anthems were composed during the same period. Acis and Galatea was termed a serenata, a masque, or a little opera; it might also be regarded as a large pastoral cantata that was apparently lightly staged. A garden entertainment might sound like a light work, but the Duke brought in heavy hitters -- John Gay and Alexander Pope both had a hand in the tale of a nymph-shepherd romance, which is enjoyable for anybody -- and in fact the work, in English, is sharp, colorful, and in places imposing. Handel is overflowing with good tunes (the Water Music was also just a couple of years in the past), and the entire work, in a single long act or section, just keeps moving forward with kaleidoscopic effect. Sample the crackling chorus and the following material at the beginning of the second CD for a taste....
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