HANDEL, George Frideric (1685—1759), German-English composer, who along with his contemporary Johann Sebastian Bach, is recognized as one of the two greatest composers of the late baroque age. Unlike Bach, Handel was a public figure for most of his life and was not forgotten on his death. However, Handel’s music, misunderstood and defaced by false traditions of scoring and interpretation, had to wait many years longer than Bach’s for full understanding. Many of his works have won acceptance only recently.

乔治·弗里德里希·享德尔（1685年至1759年），英籍-德国作曲家，他与同代人约翰·塞巴斯蒂安·巴赫一起被公认为巴洛克时代晚期最杰出的两位音乐家之一。与巴赫不同，享德尔一生大部分时间都是一位公众人物，而且在他死后也没有被忘记。然而，享德尔的音乐受到了错误的评价和传统解释的误解和损毁，比起对巴赫的全面理解，他不得不等待许多年。他的许多作品直到最近才被接受。

While he made important contributions in nearly every field of music. Handel was primarily a composer for the theater, first in Italian opera, later in English oratorio. His style, like his background, was cosmopolitan. Although his most famous oratorio, Messiah, has become an object of reverence in many Christian, especially Protestant, communities, his art is marked less by religious feeling than by a noble humanism that takes as its province the heroism and sufferings of the individual on the one hand and the harmonious ordering of society on the other. Although his influence on English music was minimal, largely because his work was valued for its supposed ethical content rather than for its artistic achievement, various Continental successors learned from his example. Beethoven acclaimed him as “the master of us all.”

虽然享德尔几乎在每个音乐领域里都做出过重要贡献，但他主要是一位戏剧作曲家，先是意大利歌剧，后是英国宗教剧。就像他的背景一样，他的风格是世界性的。尽管他著名的宗教剧《弥赛亚》已成为了许多基督徒，尤其是新教教徒，社区崇敬的对象，但他的艺术少有宗教的情感，相反是，一方面以英雄主义和个人苦难，而另一方面以社会的和谐秩序为领域的高尚人道主义。尽管他对英国音乐的影响不大，但在很大程度上，是因为评价他的作品是由于它被假定的伦理内容，而不是它的艺术成就，欧洲大陆不同的继承者都学习过他的范例。贝多芬就推崇他是“我们所有人中的大师”。

LIFE

Early years.  Georg Friedrich Handel was born at Halle on Feb. 23, 1685. (In Italy he used the form “Hendel”; in England, where he settled in 1712 and was naturalized in 1727, he adopted the spelling “George Frideric Handel.”) He was the son of a barber-surgeon, who intended him for the law but permitted him to study music under Friedrich W. Zachow. In 1702, Handel entered Halle University and was appointed organist of the cathedral in Halle. He resigned, however, in 1703 and moved to Hamburg, where he played the violin and harpsichord in the opera orchestra. His first opera, Almira, was successfully produced at Hamburg in 1705.

生平

早期  1685年2月23日，乔治·弗里德里希·享德尔生于哈雷。（在意大利，他使用过“Hendel”的形式；在英格兰，1712年他定居在那里，1727年加入英国国籍，因此他采用了“George Frideric Handel.”拼法）。他是一位理发师—外科医生的儿子，父亲打算让他学法律，但也允许他在弗里德里希·W. 察霍的指导下学习音乐。1702年，享德尔进入哈雷大学并被任命为哈雷大教堂的风琴手。然而，在1703年他辞去了职务，去了汉堡，在那他在歌剧院管弦乐队演奏小提琴和大键琴。1705年在汉堡，他的第一部歌剧《阿尔米拉》创作成功。

Handel spent the years 1706—1710 in Italy, where he met many leading composers, including Corelli and the Scarlattis. These years were very important in the formation of his style. His many Italian compositions included two operas, two oratorios, the serenata Aci, Galatea e Plifemo (1708), some Latin (Catholic) church music, and more than 100 secular cantatas with keyboard or instrumental accompaniment. The opera Agrippina (1709) triumphantly crowned his Italian composing career. He also became famous as an organist and harpsichordist.

1706年至1710年这些岁月，享德尔是在意大利度过的，在那里他遇见了许多主要的作曲家，包括科雷利和斯卡拉蒂。那些些年对于形成其风格非常重要。他的许多意大利作品，包括两部歌剧，两部宗教剧，小夜曲《阿奇，加拉蒂亚与波吕斐摩》，一些拉丁语（罗马天主教）教堂音乐，和一百多首键盘或各种乐器伴奏的世俗大合唱。歌剧《阿格丽品娜 》（1709年）使他在意大利的作曲生涯达到了圆满。他也成为了一名著名的风琴家和大键琴师。

In 1710, Handel was appointed Kapellmeister to the Elector of Hannover, the future George I of England. Later that year he went to England and composed Rinaldo, the first Italian opera specially written for the London stage. It enthusiastic reception led him to return in 1712, and, except for a few professional visits to the Continent, he spent the rest of his life in London. He never married.

1710年，享德尔被任命为未来的英格兰乔治一世，汉诺威选举人管弦乐队的指挥。那年的后期，他去了英格兰并谱写了《里纳尔多》，第一部专为伦敦的舞台创作的意大利歌剧。热情的接待使他于1712年返回了伦敦，除了几次对欧洲大陆的专业访问外，他在伦敦度过了自己的余生。他终生未婚。

Handel’s first important settings of English words were a Te Deum and Jubilate to celebrate the Treaty of Utrecht and an Ode for Queen Anne’s Birthday (all 1713). Queen Anne granted him a pension, later increased by her successor George I, to whose granddaughters he served as music master.

享德尔的第一个重要的英语作品场合是为了庆祝《乌特勒支条约》的《欢呼雀跃》和《为安妮女王祝寿的颂歌》（都在1713年）。安妮女王发给他养老金，后来由她的继位者乔治一世再度增加，担任了他的孙女的音乐老师。

From 1712 to 1717, Handel worked mostly for the opera house in the Haymarket. When this closed, he was employed for two years by the Duke of Chandos, at Cannons in Middlesex, where he composed the 12 “Chandos” anthems and the stage masques Acis and galatea (? 1718) and Esther (1720).

从1712年至1717年，享德尔主要为草市歌剧院工作。当这一工作结束后，在米德尔塞克斯的坎农，他为钱多斯公爵工作了两年，他谱写了十二首“钱多斯”颂歌和舞台化装舞会《埃西斯与加拉蒂亚》（？1718年）以及《埃斯特》（1720年）。

Middle Years.  When the Royal Academy of Music was founded at the Haymarket Theatre in 1719, Handel became its unofficial musical director. Among the most outstanding of the 14 operas he wrote for the academy were Radamisto (1720), Giulio Cesare (1724), Tamerlano (1724), Rodelinda (1725), and Admeto (1727). The academy’s later years were marred by political factionalism, financial problems, and quarrels between the partisans of the leading singers. Public support fell off, partly because of the success of John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera (1728), which satirized serious opera, and the academy closed in 1728. During this period Handel also composed four anthems (1727) for the coronation of the new king, George II.

中期  当皇家音乐学院于1719年在草市剧院成立时，享德尔成了它的非正式音乐总监。他为该学院谱写的十四首歌剧中最著名的是《拉达米斯托》（1720年），《尤里乌斯·凯撒》（1724年），《塔莫拉诺》（1724年），《罗德琳达》（1725年）和《阿德梅托》（1727年）。学院的后期由于政治的学派之争，财政问题以及主要歌手党羽之间的争吵受到了破坏。丧失了公众的扶持，部分原因是由于约翰·盖伊的《乞丐的歌剧》的成功（1728年），它挖苦了严肃歌剧，因此学院于1728年关闭。在这一时期，享德尔还为新国王，乔治二世的加冕礼谱写了四首颂歌。

Between 1729 and 1733, Handel wrote six operas—among them the superb Orlando (1733)—for the so-called “Second Academy,” which he ran at the Haymarket Theatre with the impresario Johann Jakob Heidegger. A successful private concert performance of the masque Esther in London in 1732 led to the establishment of English oratorio, a form hitherto unknown. When pirated performances of Esther and Acis and galatea were advertised, Handel retaliated with revised and enlarged versions, using Italian opera singers because of their great public appeal and an English chorus. Because the bishop of London objected to the presentation of a sacred story in the opera house, there was no stage action; but the performances were very popular. In 1733, Handel visited Oxford and gave the first performances of the oratorio Athalia.

在1729年和1733之间，享德尔谱写了六部歌剧---其中华丽的《奥兰多》（1733年）---由于号称“第二学院”，他在草市剧院与经理人约翰·雅各布·海德格尔一同合作。1732年假面舞会《埃斯特》在伦敦的一场成功的私人音乐会导致了迄今陌生的英国宗教剧的建立。当《埃斯特》，和《埃西斯与加拉蒂亚》的盗版演出登出广告时，享德尔用修订过的和扩展的版本进行了报复，使用意大利歌剧的歌手，因为他们很吸引公众，再加上一个英国合唱团。因为，伦敦的主教反对在歌剧院演出圣神的故事，因此故事在舞台表演中没有出现；但该演出非常受欢迎。1733年，享德尔访问了牛津，并首次上演了宗教剧《阿塔利亚》

In the early summer of 1733 a quarrel led to the secession of most of Handel’s Italian singers from his London company and the foundation of a rival establishment, the Opera of the Nobility. The two companies competed for four years, until both were ruined. In 1734, Handel moved to the new theater in Covent Garden. There a ballet troupe led by the French dancer Marie Salle inspired him to a happy expansion in range and variety in such operas as Ariodante and Alcina (both 1735). However, all Handel’ subsequent operas, including his last one, Deidamia (1741), were failures. His major success of the period was the setting of Dryden’s ode Alexander’s Feast (1736).

1733年的初夏，一场争吵导致了大多数享德尔的意大利歌手从其伦敦的公司离职，而且形成了一个竞争对手的贵族歌剧院的成立。两家歌剧院竞争了大约四年，直到两家都破了产。1734年，享德尔去了考文特花园的新剧院。法国舞蹈家玛丽·萨尔在那领衔的一个芭蕾舞团激发了他在歌剧的范围和种类方面进行一番愉快的扩展，诸如《阿廖丹特》和《阿尔辛娜》（都在1735年）。然而，享德尔所有后来的歌剧，包括他的最后一部《戴达米亚》（1741年）都失败了。他这一时期的主要成就是设置了屈莱顿的颂歌《亚力山大的盛宴》（1736年）。

In April 1737, Handel had a stroke that also affected his mind. Following a cure at Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen) he wrote such masterpieces as the Funeral anthem for Queen Caroline (1737); the oratorio Saul (1739); Israel in Egypt (1739), an oratorio with Biblical text; the 12 concerti grossi (Opus 6; 1739); and the ode L’allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato (1740), based on Milton.

1737年4月，享德尔中风了，也影响到他的精神。随着在Aix-la-Chapelle（亚琛）的一段治疗后，他谱写了像《为卡罗琳女王葬礼的颂歌》（1737年）；宗教剧《扫罗》（1739年）；《以色列人在埃及》（1739年）；一部根据圣经文本的宗教剧；十二首大协奏曲（作品6号；1739年）这样的杰作；以及根据米尔顿谱写的颂歌《快乐的人，沉思的人，温和的人》

Last Years.  In 1741—1742, Handel visited Dublin, where he gave the first performance of Messiah (1742). Back in London his life fell into a regular pattern. In the summer he composed; in the late winter and spring, generally during Lent, he conducted London seasons of oratorio. These were all at Covent Garden, except that of 1744—1745 at the Haymarket, which was a financial failure and led to another breakdown in his health. The 1743 season was remarkable for the great success of Samson (based on Milton’s Samson Agonistes) and for the failure of Messiah, under the title of a New Sacred Oratorio. The use of Biblical words in a theater provoked angry controversy, as it had earlier with Israel in Egypt.

晚期  1741年至1742年，享德尔访问了都柏林，在那他进行了《弥赛亚》的首场演出（1742年）。返回伦敦后他的生活又回到了正常模式。在伦特时，通常他在夏天作曲；在冬天和春天，他指挥伦敦的宗教剧演出季。这些都发生在考文特花园，除了1744年至1745年在草剧院外，那次失败导致了他的健康又一次崩溃。在1743年的演出季，值得注意的是《参孙》（根据米尔顿的《力士参孙》）的极大成功以及在改用一个新的神圣宗教剧名的情况下使《弥赛亚》遭到的失败。在剧场使用圣经的话语引起了愤怒的争论，就像早些时候《以色列人在埃及》的情况那样。

Handel composed many masterpieces in the next decade, among them the musical dramas Semele (1744; based on an old opera libretto by William Congreve) and Hercules (1745) and the oratorios Belshazzar (1745), Solomon (1749), Susanna (1749), Theodora (1750), and Jephtha (1752). The most successful of the series wasJudas Maccabaeus, composed in 1746 in tribute to the Duke of Cumberland’s victory over the Jacobites at Culloden.

享德尔在下一个十年谱写了许多杰作，其中有音乐戏剧《赛默勒》（1744年；根据威廉·康格里夫创作的老歌剧剧本），《海格力斯》（1745年）和宗教剧《伯沙撒》（1745年），《所罗门》（1749年），《苏珊娜》（1749年），《西奥多拉》（1750年），以及《耶夫塔》（1752年）。该系列中最成功的是献给坎伯兰公爵在卡洛登战胜詹姆斯二世党人，谱写于1746年的《尤大·马加比》。

Handel also continued to compose instrumental music and occasional work for church and state. These included a Te Deum and an anthem in honor of George II’s victory at Dettingen (1743), Music for the Royal firework, celebrating the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, and the Foundling Hospital anthem (both 1749). The latter was written for the opening of the hospital’s new chapel. Handel was elected a governor of the hospital in 1750 and in the same year began his practice of conducting Messiah in the chapel for the hospital’s benefit. This was the only oratorio performed in a sacred building during Handel’s life; its popularity in London dates from these performances.

享德尔还继续谱写器乐，并偶尔为教会和国家谱写作品。这些作品包括《赞美颂》和为庆祝乔治二世在德廷根胜利的颂歌（1743年），庆祝亚琛条约的《皇家焰火音乐》，以及《弃婴医院赞美诗》（都在1749年）。后者是为医院小教堂的开幕而谱写的。1750年享德尔被选为医院的管理者，同年开始了他在小教堂为医院救济金指挥《弥赛亚》的实践。在享德尔的一生中，这是在一所神圣建筑中唯一演出的宗教剧；在伦敦的广受欢迎都源于这些演出。

Early in 1751, during the composition of his last oratorio, Jephtha, Handel’s sight began to fail. An operation in 1752 was unsuccessful, and he soon became blind. He continued to direct his oratorios from the keyboard, but composition was restricted to a few additions to earlier works, dictated to his pupil John Christopher Smith the younger. His last years were prosperous and free from controversy. He died in London on April 14, 1759, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

1751年初，在他最后的宗教剧《耶夫塔》的创作期间，享德尔的视力开始衰退。1752年的一次手术并不成功，而且不久他就失明了。他通过键盘继续指导着他的宗教剧，但作品限制在对早期作品的一些补充，是口述给他的学生约翰·克里斯多夫·史密斯这位年轻人。他最后几年过的顺心，没有争论。1759年4月14日，他在伦敦去世，葬于威斯敏斯特大教堂。

WORKS

Operas.  Handel’s early career was dominated by opera. His many Italian cantatas are essentially operatic scenes in embryo, and he used the cantata as a testing ground for EXPRESSING dramatic conflict and emotion. Most of his operas, of which 29 survive, were composed for the great Italian singers of the age. According to the conventions of the time, these works consist almost entirely of recitative and solo arias, mostly in da capo form, with few duets and almost no ensemble or choruses; the heroic male parts were taken by high voices (castrati or women).

作品

歌剧  享德尔的早期职业生涯是由歌剧占据着。他的许多意大利大合唱本质上是在萌芽时期的歌剧场景，而他为表达戏剧的冲突和情绪，使用大合唱作为一块试验场。他的大部分幸存下来的二十九部歌剧，都是为那时的意大利大师级歌手谱写的。根据那个时代的惯例，这些作品几乎包括了全部的朗诵调和独唱的咏叹调，几乎都很少有二重唱，以及几乎没有合奏或合唱的反始咏叹调形式；英雄般的男性角色都被高音所取代（阉人歌手或女人）。

Handel’s operas, long regarded as outmoded, have recently been revived with success. They contain a treasury of rich invention, especially in melody and sensuous scoring, and great powers of dramatic organization. While most of the plots are heroic, based on classical or historical themes, the treatment is varied, with notes of irony and humor as well as serious and tragic emotion. The range of characterization is striking. Handel’s insight into the human heart has more in common with Mozart’s than with the classical vision of Gluck.

享德尔的歌剧，长期被视为是过时东西，近来已经成功地复苏。它们包含了一种创造的丰富宝藏，尤其是在旋律和对感觉的冲击以及戏剧组织的强大力量方面。虽然大部分情节都是根据古典或历史主题的史诗，但在处理上是多种多样的，带有讽刺与幽默的音符以及严肃和悲剧的情感。特性描述的范围是惊人的。相比格鲁克的古典视野，享德尔对人类心灵的深刻理解与莫扎特有着更多的共同点。

Oratorios.  The Old Testament oratorios are basically operatic in conception but feature a prominent role for the chorus. They are closely linked with Greek tragedy through the plays of Racine, which provided the framework for Esther and Athalia. Handel, like the Greeks, uses the chorus at once as actor and as commentator.

大合唱  《旧约全书》的大合唱在概念上主要是歌剧风格的，但是对合唱来说要突出主要的角色。它们通过拉辛的戏剧与希腊悲剧紧密联系起来，它为《埃斯特》和《阿塔利亚》提供了框架。享德尔，像希腊人一样，把合唱即当作演员，又当作评论员。

The greatest oratorios have a single central theme, illustrated by the story and underlined by the chorus: resistance to tyranny (Athalia), envy (Saul), the decay of empires (Belshazzar), martyrdom (Theodora), man’s submission to destiny (Jephtha). Similar issues lie behind the classical dramas Semele (ambition) and Hercules (sexual jealousy), which reflect even more clearly the humane, secular, pantheistic, and sometimes pagan temper of Handel’s genius. The greatness of Messiah is undisputed, but only the popularity of its religious subject, which is not typical of the other oratorios, has singled it out.

最重要的大合唱都有一个单一的中心主题，通过故事来说明，并由合唱来强调：反抗暴政（阿塔利亚），嫉妒（扫罗），帝国的衰退（伯沙撒），殉难（西奥多拉），人对命运的屈服（耶夫塔）。类似的问题也是古典戏剧《塞默勒》（野心）和《海格力斯》（性嫉妒）的原因，它们甚至更清晰地反映了人道、世俗、泛神论，以及享德尔天赋中时而出现的异教性情。《弥赛亚》的伟大是无可争辩的，不仅仅是它宗教主题的普及，将它单挑出来，它并不是其它典型的大合唱。

The oratorios are not church music. All were designed for the theater, and most have a clear dramatic inspiration and numerous scenic directions. Many have been staged in modern times. The use of the chorus and native English singers permitted a greater flexibility of design than in the operas, with solo and choral movements alternating according to the dictates of the plot. The oratorios were mistaken for essays in moral instruction even during Handel’s lifetime. This accounts for the fact that they had no worthy successors in England. Their influence, however, can be detected in Gluck, Haydn, and Mendelssohn.

大合唱并不是教堂音乐。所有的都是为剧院设计的，而且大多数都有清晰的戏剧灵感和许多情景的指向。现代已有许多都搬上舞台。使用合唱和英语为母语的歌手比在歌剧中拥有更大的设计灵活性，按照情节的规定，独唱和合唱乐章交替进行。甚至在享德尔的一生中，大合唱都被认为是道德教学的随笔。这就解释了那个事实，在英格兰他们没有配得上的继承人。然而，在格鲁克，海顿和门德尔松那里可以发现他们的影响。

Church music.  Handel’s church music is ceremonial rather than devotional in tone. The Chandos anthems extend and enrich the tradition of the English verse anthem inherited from Purcell Royal choir in St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, and elsewhere, seldom attempt refinement of detail, but their feeling for space and mass and for the acoustics of the buildings concerned make them exactly fitted for their purpose. One or more of the coronation anthems have been sung at every British coronation since 1727.

教堂音乐  享德尔的教堂音乐在音调上是礼仪式的，而非虔诚式的。《钱多斯》颂歌扩展和丰富了从圣·保罗大教堂，威斯敏斯特大教堂继承的英国韵文颂歌的传统，而在别处，很少尝试细节的精致，但它们对空间与质量的感觉和对相关的建筑声学使它们完全适合于它们的目的。从1727年以来，在英国每一个加冕礼上都会演唱一个或多个加冕礼颂歌。

Instrumental Music.  The same adjustment of means to occasion distinguishes Handel’s instrumental music. This ranges from numerous harpsichord works for domestic and instructional use to the Water Music and Fireworks Music involving the broader effects required in open—air performance. The duet and chamber sonatas often develop, with economy and charm, ideas used elsewhere. In the concerti grossi, especially the great set of 12 (Opus 6), Handel carried the baroque concerto to a peak of invention and varied design.

器乐  享德尔的器乐为了适应场合采用了同样的调整方式。这一范围来自家庭和教学的许多大键琴作品，涉及开幕式需要的更广泛影响的《水音乐》和《焰火音乐》---户外演出。伴随着经济性和吸引力，二重唱和室内奏鸣曲往往在其它的领域拓展出思路来。在大协奏曲中，尤其是重要的十二首作品的合集（作品6）中，享德尔使巴洛克协奏曲达到了创造与多样性设计的顶点。

The organ concertos, composed for his own use as interludes between the acts of oratorios, are no less original. However, the fact that he left gaps, sometimes of whole movements, for spontaneous improvisation imposes a burden on the taste of modern performers who must provide music in keeping with the composition. Handel was renowned for his improvisations on the organ and harpsichord, and frequently book up ideas he had used earlier, developing them in new directions. Many of his so-called borrowings, whether from others or, more frequently, from himself, should rather be classed as recompositions. He occasionally lifted whole movements from other composers, especially after his severe illness in 1737. As a rule, however, he repaid his borrowings with interest.

管风琴协奏曲，他为自己谱写的用作宗教剧幕间休息的插曲，仍然具有原创性。然而，事实上，他为本能的即兴创作留下了缺口，有时是整个乐章，给现代演奏者增加了负担，而演奏者必须提供与作品一致的音乐。享德尔以管风琴和大键琴的即兴创作而著名，并将他早期使用过的想法记录下来，在新的方向加以发展。他的许多所谓借鉴，无论是从其他的人，或者，更多的是从他自己那里，准确地说应该被归为再创作。偶尔他会从其他的作曲家那里借用整个乐章，特别是在1737年他大病之后。然而，一般来说，他偿还了他的借贷，并付上了利息。

Style and technique.  Handel’s style is eclectic; German, Italian, French, and English models contributed to the formation of a unity that is both representative of his age and very much his own. Although a master of strict forms, he was essentially a practical musician, not a theorist, preferring direct communication and the empirical approach rather than the more systematic procedure of Bach. Handel’s treatment of counterpoint and fugue, in which polyphonic complexity alternates with homophonic simplicity, is entirely personal and convincing. In the oratorios, in particular, this architectural method, based on broad contrast of mass and dynamics, produces an IMPRESSION of great solidity and splendor.

风格与技巧  享德尔的风格是兼收并蓄的；德国，意大利，法国和英国的模式构成了一种统一的形成，这既代表了他的时代，更代表了他自己。虽然他是一位严格形式的大师，但他本质上是一位实践的音乐家，不是理论家，比起巴赫更为系统的过程更喜欢直接的交流和经验的方式。享德尔对对位法和赋格的处理，其中复调的复杂性与同音简单性的交替，完全是个人的和令人信服的。尤其是在大合唱中，这种基于质量与动力学的广泛对比的建筑学方法，给人一种极为坚实和美妙的印象。

As a melodist, Handel has had few rivals. His fertility in the invention of tunes and the articulation of subtle melodic and rhythmic paragraph was almost unlimited. In his harmony, especially in his early works, he could be as adventurous as Bach. Later he reserved his boldest strokes for moments of extreme emotional or dramatic tension. All of Handel’s music is distinguished by a rare command of the mechanics of sound. His ear for texture and sonority, vocal and instrumental, whether on a simple or on an elaborate scale, was almost infallible.

作为声乐家，享德尔少有对手。他在创造曲调，表达微妙旋律和有节奏的段落方面的能力几乎是无限的。在他的和声中，尤其在他早期的作品中，他可以像巴赫一样大胆。后来，他将其最大胆的笔触融入了极致的情绪或戏剧性张力的乐章中。享德尔的所有音乐都以对声音力学的罕见控制而著名。无论是对简单或复杂的音阶，他的听觉对于音质和宏亮度，声乐和乐器几乎都是不会出错的。

The recent recovery of baroque performance practices and the removal of the varnish deposited by false tradition has shown Handel to be one of the great masters of the orchestra, for whom the “additional accompaniments” supplied by later musicians from Mozart to Beecham are not only superfluous but a disfiguring disaster. Handel introduced a number of unusual instruments. These included a specially built carillon and extra-large drums in some of the oratorios, his scoring at it most massive. In the operas he generally employed more delicate colors. However, he used four trumpets in Rinaldo, four horns in Giulio Cesare, and more than once deployed two orchestras, one in the pit and one on the stage. He wrote for the voice with the insight gained from working with the greatest singers of his age. Here, too, modern experience whose music invariably sounds better in performance than it looks on paper. No composer has gained more than Handel from the attentions of musicology.

近来对巴洛克风格表演实践的恢复与祛除由虚假传统遗留的粉饰表明，享德尔是管弦乐队了不起的大师之一，由后来的音乐家，从莫扎特到比彻姆为他提供了“额外的伴奏”，不仅是多余的，而且是有损形象的灾难。享德尔引入了若干与众不同的乐器。这些乐器包括一种特制的琴钟，一些宗教剧中超大号的鼓，他的贡献最大。在歌剧方面，他通常会使用更微妙的色彩。然而，他在《里纳尔多》中使用了四把小号，在《尤里乌斯·凯撒》中用了四把圆号，还不止一次部署过两个管弦乐队，一个在乐池中，而另一个在舞台上。他从与他那个时代最伟大的歌手一起的合作中获得的洞察力，为声乐谱写作品。同样，就是现代体验他的音乐也总是在演奏上听起来比看乐谱要更好。没有哪个作曲家比享德尔更受音乐学的关注。

                                                                             WINTON DEAN, AUTOR OF

                                                          “Handel’s Dramatic Oratorios and Masques”

                                                       温顿·迪安，“享德尔的戏剧性宗教剧和假面舞会”的作者

                                                                                           2021年2月12日译

（译者注：该词条位列《大美百科全书》1985年版，第13卷，第762页至764页）