★★★★
Ordered to mourn a popular queen, George Frideric Handel raided his own scores for reusable tunes. He was commissioned on December 5, 1737 for a funeral on the 12th — a week to compose 40 minutes of music with texts of his own choosing. This was not a negotiable deadline.
He furnished the opening lamentations — “The ways of Zion do mourn” and “How are the mighty fall’n” with music from his Chandos Anthems and some older occasional pieces, slowed down for solemnity. His transcendent fifth section — “When the ear heard her, then it blessed her” — came from his oratorio The Triumph of Time and Truth, written just a few months beforehand. The message might just as much apply to the composer. Handel wrote for willing ears with short memories.
But he was not done with this music. Having composed Caroline’s funeral, he liked his score so much that he reused much of it two years later in his dramatic oratorio, Israel in Egypt. Close listeners may also detect fragmentary anticipations of Messiah. Mozart, a keen admirer, would later take “Ways of Zion” music for his own deathbed Requiem. Handel was a bottomless resource for himself and others. He makes time pass so agreeably.
The flawless performers on this album are the Basle choral ensemble Zeronove and instrumental group I Pizzicanti. They need to be invited to summer festivals. This music is far too attractive to be confined to sad occasions.
