Unger M.P. Historical Dictionary of Choral Music

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Hammerschmidt worked closely with the local Kantor, and de-

spite the deprivations of the war, he was able to compose a great

deal of music, which brought him considerable renown. The church

contained three organs and so was ideal for the concerted style of

music for which Hammerschmidt became known. He published 14

volumes of vocal works containing more than 400 individual pieces.

Most of them are sacred works with German texts. Many of them

employ the concerto principle, whether written for only one or two

voices and continuo or for larger forces. Some of them anticipate the

German church cantata with their heterogeneous texts and sectional

forms. Also included are 16 Latin missae breves for five to 12 and

more voices (all except one consisting of paired Kyrie and Gloria

only). His secular vocal publications consist of three volumes entitled

Weltliche Oden; they contain 68 solo songs, duets, and trios with

violin obbligato.

HANDEL, GEORGE FRIDERIC (23 FEBRUARY 1685–14 APRIL

1759). German-born composer who spent much of his career in Eng-

land, counted as one of the greatest composers of the high Baroque.

He wrote works of every type, but a few of his instrumental works

and oratorios have tended to overshadow all the others. Born in

Halle, he studied organ, harpsichord, and composition under Fried-

rich Zachow. Leaving Halle in the summer of 1703, he established

himself as a budding opera composer in Hamburg when Reinhard

Keiser left the city for a while. His most successful work of the time

was the German opera, Almira. From 1706 to 1710 he lived in Italy

(in particular, Rome, Florence, and Naples), where he met important

composers, including Arcangelo Corelli. In Rome he wrote the ora-

torios Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno and La resurrezione, as

well as sacred and secular cantatas. In Florence, Naples, and Venice,

he established himself as an important new theatrical composer with

Rodrigo, Galatea (a dramatic cantata), and Agrippina. In 1710 he

moved back to Germany, where he accepted a position as Kapell-

meister to the Elector of Hanover. Generous terms of employment

allowed him to travel to Düsseldorf and London that same year.

In London, opera in the Italian style was just being established,

and Handel was able to make his mark with Rinaldo, the first Italian

opera to be composed originally for that city. It was a great success.

In June 1711 he returned to Hanover. He stayed only until the end of

172 • HANDEL, GEORGE FRIDERIC

1712, when he returned to England with the understanding that his

stay would be temporary. Nevertheless, Handel settled in London,

producing more operas as well as choral works, including the Te

Deum and Jubilate (1713), written in celebration of the peace of

Utrecht. In June of 1713 he was dismissed from his Hanover post.

By the end of the year he had entered the service of Queen Anne,

whose health was failing. Nevertheless, the Elector (who was heir to

the English throne) continued to hold him in high esteem, and when

the Elector assumed the English throne as King George I on 1 August

1714, Handel was kept on; he even received retroactive pay from

the Hanover position. In 1717 he became chapel master to James

Brydges, later Duke of Chandos, for whom he wrote the so-called

Chandos anthems (two of which are based on earlier anthems, and

another one constituting a revision of the Utrecht Jubilate), and a Te

Deum. About this time he also wrote a setting of Barthold Heinrich

Brockes’s Passion libretto. He recycled some of the music in his first

English oratorio, Esther (1718), and in 1719 evidently sent the score

to Johann Mattheson in Hamburg for a performance.

That same year Handel was commissioned to contract singers for

the Royal Academy of Music, a joint stock company newly estab-

lished with help from the king for the purpose of producing Italian

operas. The first season began in 1720, and thereafter Handel sup-

ported himself primarily by composing operas (later, oratorios) for

the public. As composer for the Academy, he shared duties with oth-

ers, principally Giovanni Bononcini. Handel gained prominence over

Bononcini after the Jacobite conspiracies were uncovered (putting

all Catholics under suspicion), but ultimately rivalry among the two

principal singers (the diva Francesca Cuzzoni, who first appeared

in January of 1723, and Faustina Bordoni, who arrived in 1726),

opposition from some of the directors and subscribers who were tir-

ing of continued demands for more support, and a turn in the public

taste (marked by the successful London production of John Gay’s

Beggar’s Opera, which satirized Italian opera and the Academy’s

troubles) led to financial failure in 1728.

However, Handel was slow to give up Italian opera. In 1729, under

the king’s patronage, he began a second academy. Despite numer-

ous obstacles—the establishment of a rival company (supported

by the Prince of Wales and other gentry) and unrelenting financial

pressures—Handel continued to produce Italian operas. Eventually,

HANDEL, GEORGE FRIDERIC • 173

he wrote over 40 of them. However, the escalating rivalries and

financial challenges ultimately caused him to switch to English ora-

torio—a genre he is credited with inventing, and an outgrowth of his

ongoing activity as a composer of choral music. In 1732 two earlier

works, the masque, Acis and Galatea, and his first English oratorio,

Esther, were revived in London performances. Nevertheless, Handel

did not turn decisively to oratorio until 1739, after having suffered

a stroke in 1737 and having gone to Germany for convalescence.

Once committed to the genre, he penned many English oratorios

and music dramas (secular theatrical works for concert performance)

in rapid succession: Saul (1739), Israel in Egypt (1739), Messiah

(1742), Samson (1743), Semele (music drama, 1744), Joseph and

His Brethren (1744), Hercules (music drama, 1745), Belshazzar

(1745), Occasional Oratorio (1746), Judas Maccabaeus (composed

to celebrate the victory against the second Jacobite rebellion, 1747),

Joshua (1748), Alexander Balus (1748), Susanna (1749), Solomon

(1749), Theodora (1750), The Choice of Hercules (music drama,

1751), Jephtha (1752), and The Triumph of Time and Truth (1757).

Most popular has been Messiah, an atypical work in that it does

not have a plot in the usual sense (as is also the case with Israel in

Egypt). Instead, the libretto, prepared by Charles Jennens, tells the

story of Jesus’s mission (except for the account of his birth) in an

indirect manner, by means of scriptural texts (most taken verbatim

from the King James Version of the Old Testament, though some

modified according to the Book of Common Prayer). Its purpose is

didactic: to demonstrate that Jesus fulfilled Messianic prophecies of

the Old Testament and to contemplate the ultimate redemption to be

found in him.

Handel’s other oratorios follow more predictable narrative outlines,

with most plots being taken from Old Testament accounts. The ora-

torios’ style and formal structures are essentially operatic—Italian-

style recitatives alternate with arias (but now in English), and the

orchestral writing provides color. New, however, are the choruses,

which comment on or participate in the action, and which are mod-

eled largely after the English anthem. In fact, Handel’s first two

English oratorios, Esther (rev. version 1732) and Deborah (1733),

each include two of his previously composed coronation anthems.

Another influence on Handel’s oratorios was the German Passion

oratorio, an example of which Handel had composed c. 1716 (the

174 • HANDEL, GEORGE FRIDERIC

so-called Brockes Passion mentioned above—Der für die Sünde der

Welt gemartete und sterbende Jesus).

Handel also wrote other choral works: orchestrally accompanied

odes, motets, anthems, and other liturgical works, many of them

intended for particular ceremonial occasions. From his time in Italy

there are three Vespers psalm settings: Dixit Dominus, Laudate pueri

Dominum, and Nisi Dominus. The first of these is particularly wide-

ranging in technique and effect. His English sacred works include

the Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate (for the Peace of Utrecht, 1713),

11 anthems on psalm texts for James Brydges, Duke of Chandos

(whose chamber ensemble did not include altos or violas—Handel

later reworked several of the anthems with expanded instrumentation

for the Chapel Royal), and four outstanding coronation anthems

for the enthronement of King George II and Queen Caroline, per-

formed at Westminster Abbey on 11 October 1727: Let Thy Hand

Be Strengthened, My Heart Is Inditing, The King Shall Rejoice, and

Zadok the Priest (sung at every subsequent British coronation). Later

sacred works include wedding anthems, a funeral anthem for Queen

Caroline (The Ways of Zion Do Mourn)—which quotes fragments of

Lutheran chorales and music of other German composers (includ-

ing Jacobus Handl’s funeral motet Ecce quomodo moritur justus),

and the Dettingen Te Deum of 1743, a large-scale work that borrows

a considerable amount of material from a Te Deum by Francesco An-

tonio Urio. Among Handel’s odes are Ode for the Birthday of Queen

Anne (1713), Alexander’s Feast (1736), and Ode for St. Cecilia’s

Day (1739).

Handel’s music demonstrates his gift for melody, harmonic design,

and dramatic effect. Handel’s style, which did not change much over

the course of his life, synthesizes elements of international trends

current during his early career. Throughout his life he borrowed

musical material from others without acknowledgment. The extent

of this practice is still not fully known. He also often made major

revisions to works before they were performed.

After Handel’s death his choral works (especially the oratorios)

were held up as examples of the sublime in music. Beginning in

1784, English commemoration festivals celebrated and consolidated

this sense of sublime grandeur with large-scale performances of Han-

del’s oratorios, which in turn helped stimulate interest in these works

on the Continent. The establishment of English choral societies in

HANDEL, GEORGE FRIDERIC • 175

the 1800s further strengthened the veneration accorded Messiah and

others of the oratorios, leading to even more massive festival perfor-

mances, which became celebrations of national pride. It was not until

after World War I that a reevaluation of Handel’s works, seeing them

in dramatic rather than religious terms, occurred.

HANDEL AND HAYDN SOCIETY. See SINGING SOCIETIES.

HANDL [GALLUS], JACOBUS (BORN 15 APRIL–31 JULY 1550;

DIED 18 JULY 1591). Composer who worked in Austria, Moravia,

and Bohemia (the latter two now part of the Czech Republic). He re-

ceived training at various monasteries and is reported to have served

as a choirboy in 1574 at the imperial court chapel in Vienna; however,

his age at the time argues against this claim. From 1579/80 to 26 July

1585 he served as choirmaster to the Bishop of Olomouc, Moravia.

Shortly after 1585 he became the Kantor of St. Jan na Brzehu in

Prague, where he remained until his death. Acknowledged as an

expert in the intricacies of Franco-Flemish counterpoint (including

canonic technique), he was also famous for his polychoral works,

which call for as many as 24 voices. Most of his approximately 500

compositions are sacred. A total of 374 motets (for four to 24 voices)

appear in Opus musicum, a four-volume collection of pieces for the

festivals of the liturgical church year. Also extant are 20 masses for

four to eight voices, and 100 secular pieces on moralizing texts: three

volumes for four voices called Harmoniae morales (1589–90), and

one volume for five, six, and eight voices called Moralia (1596). He

often used borrowed material; for example, many of the masses are

parodies of his own motets or those of others. He was skillful in

handling large-scale forms, inventive in his harmonic language, and

imaginative in the use of word-painting. In many ways his music

represents a culminating synthesis of Renaissance sacred styles.

HANSON, HOWARD (28 OCTOBER 1896–26 FEBRUARY 1981).

American composer, educator, and conductor. After studies at Luther

College (Wahoo, Nebraska), the Institute of Musical Art (later the

Juilliard School), and Northwestern University, he taught at the Col-

lege of the Pacific. Upon winning the Rome Prize in 1921, he went to

Italy for three years, where he studied orchestration (with Ottorino

Respighi) and Italian visual art. Upon returning to the United States,

he served as director of the Eastman School of Music from 1924 until

1964. As a conductor and educator, he consistently promoted Ameri-

176 • HANDEL AND HAYDN SOCIETY

can music, and in 1964 he founded the Institute of American Music

at the Eastman School for that purpose. He extended his influence

also through his involvement in various national music organizations,

particularly in the area of arts advocacy.

His choral works, like his other compositions, are generally neo-

Romantic in style. Those with orchestra include North and West, op.

22, a textless symphonic poem, for chorus obbl. and orch. (1923);

The Lament for Beowulf, op. 25 (1925); Three Songs from Drum

Taps, op. 32, on a Walt Whitman text, for Bar., chorus, and orch.

(1935); The Cherubic Hymn, op. 37 (1949); Song of Democracy, op.

44, on a Whitman text (1957); Song of Human Rights, op. 49 (1963);

Psalm 121, for Bar., chorus, and orch. (1968, arr. for mixed chorus,

1969); Streams in the Desert (1969); The Mystic Trumpeter, on a

Whitman text, for nar., chorus, and orch. (1970); the oratorio New

Land, New Covenant (1976); and Symphony no. 7 “The Sea,” on a

Whitman text (1977). Other choral works include How Excellent Is

Thy Name, op. 41, for female vv. and pf. (1952); and Psalm 150, for

male chorus (1965).

HANUŠ, JAN (2 MAY 1915–30 JULY 2004). Czech composer who

also worked as a music editor, involved especially with the complete

editions of Antonín Dvorˇák and Leoš Janácˇek. His music, which

builds on the national styles of his predecessors, is characterized by

a loosely tonal harmonic language, lyricism (punctuated by sharp dis-

sonances), and dramatic expressiveness. Choral compositions include

the cantatas The Earth Is Speaking, op. 8 (1940), and Song of Hope,

op. 21 (1948)—both of which call for soloists, chorus, and orchestra;

Fragments from Prometheia II, op. 54b, a vocal suite for reciter, vo-

cal soloists, choirs, orchestra, and electronics (1974); Opus spirituale

pro juventute, op. 65, a set of 10 sacred works for children’s choir

(1977); the oratorio Ecce homo, op. 97 (1980); Symphony no. 7

(“The Keys of the Kingdom”), op. 116—which includes choral set-

tings of the Te Deum and the Beatitudes; Flos florum, op. 118, a set

of 3 Latin motets for unaccompanied chorus (1992, rev. 1999); and

8 masses—among them, Requiem, op. 121, for soloists, chorus and

orchestra (1994).

HARBISON, JOHN (20 DECEMBER 1938– ). American composer.

He was educated at Harvard University, the Berlin Conservatory, and

Princeton University. In 1969 he was appointed to the faculty of the

HARBISON, JOHN • 177

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His musical style is eclectic

and ever changing yet controlled, avoiding displays of personal emo-

tion while stressing structural and contrapuntal clarity. Important

influences include the music of Johann Sebastian Bach (especially

the cantatas) and Igor Stravinsky as well as jazz. He has composed

in most genres. His choral works (many of which were composed

in connection with his involvement as principal guest conductor of

Emmanuel Music, Ensemble-in-Residence at Emmanuel Episcopal

Church, Boston, include Ave Maria, for female chorus (1959); Music

When Soft Voices Die, for chorus and hpd./org. (1966); Five Songs

of Experience on Poems of William Blake, for SATB, 2 perc., and

str. qt. (1971); Nunc Dimittis, for male chorus (1975); The Flower-

Fed Buffaloes, for Bar., chorus, fl., cl., t sax., vn., vc., db., and perc.

(1976); The Flight into Egypt, a cantata for S, Bar., chorus, org., and

orch. (1968)—for which he won the Pulitzer Prize; Ave verum cor-

pus, for SSATB and opt. str. qnt./str. orch. (1990); Two Emmanuel

Motets (1990); Communion Words (1994); O Magnum Mysterium

(1992); Concerning Them Which Are Asleep, for SSATBB (1994);

Juste judex, for Bar., A, chorus, and orch. (fifth movement of Re-

quiem der Versöhnung); Recordare, for S, A, T, B, and orch. (from

Requiem der Versöhnung, 1995); Emerson, for double chorus (1995);

Veni creator spiritus, for male chorus (1996); Four Psalms, for S,

Mez., T, B, chorus, and orch. (1999); and We Do Not Live to Our-

selves (2002).

HARLEM BOYS CHOIR. See BOYS CHOIR OF HARLEM.

HARNONCOURT, NIKOLAUS (6 DECEMBER 1929– ). Austrian

conductor, cellist, and viol player. In 1952, while still a cellist in

the Vienna Symphony Orchestra (1952–69), he formed Concentus

Musicus Wien, an ensemble dedicated to presenting early music on

period instruments, which is largely responsible for launching the

“authentic instrument movement.” Beginning in 1962, the ensemble

began making recordings, which included Johann Sebastian Bach’s

St. John Passion (1965), Mass in B minor (1968), St. Matthew Pas-

sion (1970), and Christmas Oratorio (1972). Together with Gustav

Leonhardt, Harnoncourt recorded all of Bach’s sacred cantatas

(1971–90), using males to sing almost all of the treble parts. In more

recent years he has applied historically informed perspectives to

the repertoire of the Classical and Romantic eras. In 1972 he was

178 • HARLEM BOYS CHOIR

appointed professor at Salzburg University and the Salzburg Mo-

zarteum. His ideas have been disseminated in lectures, articles, and

books, among them, Musik als Klangrede: Wege zu einem neuen

Musikverständnis (Salzburg: Residenz Verlag, 1982; English transla-

tion by Mary O’Neill as Baroque Music Today, Portland: Amadeus

Press, 1988).

HARRIS, ROY (12 FEBRUARY 1898–1 OCTOBER 1979). Ameri-

can composer, best remembered for his symphonies and chamber

music. He composed in a bold, programmatic style, with broad

melodies (often reminiscent of American hymn tunes or folksongs)

and rugged, asymmetrical rhythms, resulting in music that is dis-

tinctively American in color. Melodies are often “polymodal”—a

tendency evidently arising from the composer’s interest in chant and

Renaissance polyphony. Harmonies are based on the overtone series

(with intervals of fourths and fifths playing an important role), while

formal procedures are essentially organic, with phrases germinating

from preceding material.

Harris often revised his works and/or borrowed material from

earlier compositions, resulting in pieces that are musically related.

Of some 50 choral compositions (most of which are to secular texts),

more than a dozen are with orchestra. Among them are Folksong

Symphony (Symphony no. 4) (1940); Freedom’s Land, for Bar.,

SATB, and orch. (1941, also for male vv. and band, 2 versions,

1942); and Symphony no. 10 (Abraham Lincoln), for speaker,

SATB, brass, 2 pf., and perc. (1965, movts. 1–3 rev. for unison vv.

and pf., 1965). A similar number of pieces with piano and/or other

instruments include the Easter motet, Alleluia, for SATB, brass, and

org. (1945, rev. SATB, and org., 1946, rev. SATB, str., and org.,

1947); the Hebrew-texted Mic chomocho, for T/Bar., SATB, and org.

(1946); and a mass for male vv. and org. (1948). Among some 18

unaccompanied works are a half-dozen to texts by Walt Whitman,

among them, Symphony for Voices (1935), Whitman Triptych (1938),

Year That Trembled (1941), and Freedom, Toleration (1941). Other

significant works include Freedom’s Land, for vv./female vv., and

pf./org. ad lib. (1941).

HARVARD GLEE CLUB. American collegiate male chorus. It was

founded in 1858 as a small ensemble by students associated with

the University Pierian Sodality, an organization preoccupied with

HARVARD GLEE CLUB • 179

celebrating brandy, cigars, and the serenading of young women. Until

the end of the century, the loosely organized group sang lighthearted

repertoire, often to the accompaniment of a few instruments (banjos,

mandolins, etc.). In 1912 members who were also singing in the Har-

vard University Choir persuaded Archibald T. Davison, the conductor

and university organist, to coach the Glee Club. He raised the choir’s

musical standard, expanded its repertoire, and occasionally combined

the choir with the Radcliffe Choral Society to perform large choral-

orchestral works. In 1917 choir members asked Davison to become

the group’s official conductor, agreeing to allow him control of the

repertoire.

Thereafter the choir’s renown grew quickly, and in 1921 it ac-

cepted an invitation from the French government to undertake an

extensive performance tour of France, an event that was covered

broadly in the French and American press. Since then the choir

(which now numbers about 65) has toured regularly throughout the

United States and abroad. It has also continued to perform large-scale

works for choir and orchestra. From 1917 until the mid-1970s, it col-

laborated regularly with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Since the

mid-1930s it has made recordings.

The Harvard Glee Club has had remarkably few conductors: Ar-

chibald T. Davison (1919–33), G. Wallace Woodworth (1933–58),

Elliot Forbes (1958–70), F. John Adams (1970–78), and Jameson

N. Marvin (since 1978). Composers who have written (or have been

commissioned to write) works for the choir include Francis Poulenc,

Darius Milhaud, Virgil Thomson, Randall Thompson, Gustav

Holst, Elliot Carter, Leonard Bernstein, Irving Fine, John Har-

bison, Toru Takemitsu, John Tavener, Stephen Paulus, Steven

Sametz, Morten Lauridson, and Dominick Argento.

HARVEY, JONATHAN (3 MAY 1939– ). English composer. He was

educated at Cambridge and Glasgow Universities, and subsequently

taught at Southampton University, University of Sussex, and Stan-

ford University (U.S.). His compositional style has evolved through

the successive influences of Béla Bartók, Benjamin Britten, Ar-

nold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, Olivier Messiaen, Karlheinz

Stockhausen, and Milton Babbitt. His mature works have also been

influenced by the writings of Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925), who

believed that, as contemplation provides a path to experiencing the

spiritual world, so the essential quality of a note expands into har-

mony and melody, ultimately touching the spirit.

180 • HARVEY, JONATHAN

Although known especially for his electroacoustic music, Harvey

has composed in most genres. Much of his music avoids functional

harmonies: in his words, “the bass moves into the middle.” His choral

works (many of which are sacred) form a significant part of his out-

put, and include Cantata I, for S, Bar., SATB, str., and org. (1965);

Iam Dulcis Amica, SSATBB (1967); Carol, for 4 vv. (1968); Ludus

amoris (Cantata IV), for S, T, spkr., SATB, and orch. (1969); Can-

tata VI: On Faith, for SATB and str. (1970); Cantata VII: On Vision,

for S, T, SATB, orch., and tape (1971); The Dove Descending, for

SATB and org. (1975); Sobra un extasis de alta contemplacion (St.

John of the Cross), for SATB (1975); I Love the Lord, for SSAA-

TTBB (1976); Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, for 2 SATB and org.

(1978); Hymn, for SATB and orch. (1979); O Jesu Nomen Dulce

(1979); Resurrection, for 2 SATB and org. (1980); The Path of Devo-

tion, for SATB and orch. (1983); Come, Holy Ghost, for SSAATTBB

(1984); Forms of Emptiness (1986); God Is Our refuge, for SATB

and org. (1986); Lauds, for SATB and vc. (1987); Thou Master-

ing Me God, for SATB and org. (1989); Praise Ye the Lord (1990);

The Angels (1994); Missa Brevis (1995); Dum transisset sabbatum

(1995); How Could the Soul Not Take Flight, for 2 SATB (1996);

Rumi, for SSAATTBB (1996); Ashes Dance Back, for SATB, and

electronics (1997); Marahi (1999); Mothers Shall Not Cry, for S,

T, SA semi-chorus and chorus, orch., and electronics (2000); and

Sweet/Winterheart, for SATB and vn. (2001). He also wrote a church

opera for 16 characters, small chorus, and chamber orchestra entitled

Passion and Resurrection (1981).

HASSE, JOHANN ADOLPH (BAPTIZED 25 MARCH 1699;

DIED 16 DECEMBER 1783). Preeminent composer of operas

in Germany and Italy from 1720 to 1770. He studied in Hamburg,

then gained operatic singing experience in Hamburg and at the

Brunswick court, where he held the position of Kapellmeister. In

the early 1720s he visited several cities in Italy, settling in Naples,

where he soon emerged as the leading opera composer. His bid to

be appointed supernumerary maestro di cappella at the royal cha-

pel succeeded in 1729, after some initial opposition. In 1730, after

spending some months in Vienna, he accepted an appointment as

Kapellmeister to the Dresden court, although he and his wife, the

singer Faustina Bordoni, did not arrive until July 1731. By the end

of that year he was back in Italy, where he produced new works in

various cities.

HASSE, JOHANN ADOLPH • 181