George Frideric Handel: Thou shalt break them Messiah Part II Context George Frideric Handel’s Messiah has remained one of the composer’s most beloved works. Incredibly, Handel completed this 260-page oratorio in just 24 days during the summer of 1741. The scriptural text was compiled by Charles Jennens, with the Read more…
George Frideric Handel: He That Dwelleth in Heaven Messiah Part II Context George Frideric Handel’s Messiah has remained one of the composer’s most beloved works. Incredibly, Handel completed this 260-page oratorio in just 24 days during the summer of 1741. The scriptural text was compiled by Charles Jennens, with Read more…
Percy Grainger: Willow Willow Context Willow Willow was Percy Grainger’s first setting of a traditional tune, which was written for voice and piano in 1898. In years to come, Grainger wrote an orchestral version which featured strings and guitar with voice for the song, both versions are performed today, but Read more…
George Frideric Handel: Why do the nations so furiously rage together Messiah Part II Context George Frideric Handel’s Messiah has remained one of the composer’s most beloved works. Incredibly, Handel completed this 260-page oratorio in just 24 days during the summer of 1741. The scriptural text was compiled by Charles Read more…
George Frideric Handel: How Beautiful are the Feet Messiah Part II Context George Frideric Handel’s Messiah has remained one of the composer’s most beloved works. Incredibly, Handel completed this 260-page oratorio in just 24 days during the summer of 1741. The scriptural text was compiled by Charles Jennens, with Read more…
George Frideric Handel: Thou Art Gone Up On High Messiah Part II Context George Frideric Handel’s Messiah has remained one of the composer’s most beloved works. Incredibly, Handel completed this 260-page oratorio in just 24 days during the summer of 1741. The scriptural text was compiled by Charles Jennens, with Read more…
Libby Larsen: A Lover’s Journey Context Commissioned by The King’s Singers, Libby Larsen’s six-part male vocal suite A Lover’s Journey tells the story of love. A Lover’s Journey is set into four separate songs, with Larsen using text from William Shakespeare and James Joyce. The work was premiered on Valentine’s Read more…
Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel: An Suleika Context Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel is, for many, one of the most celebrated female composers today. Her incredible catalogue of chamber music in particular has pleased many musicians and audiences alike over the last few decades. However, this has not always been the case. Hensel was often limited, Read more…
Giuseppe Verdi: Libiamo ne’ lieti calici Context Composed between Il trovatore (1853) and Les vêpres siciliennes (1855), La Traviata was part of Giuseppe Verdi’s ‘middle period’ of composition. Previous to La Traviata came 16 other operas including the ever-popular Nabucodonosor (1842) and Rigoletto (1851). Based at the start of the Read more…
Howard Blake: Walking in the Air Context Voted as one of the most popular Christmas songs ever written, Howard Blake’s Walking in the Air can be found in the pivotal travelling scene of the 1982 animated film The Snowman. The original was written for a choirboy with a pre-broken voice. Read more…