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HANDEL'S MESSIAH: A Rhetorical Guide by Judy Tarling

£30.00

Published August 2014

(see postage costs below)

This is a book for all lovers of Handel's Messiah, whether performer or listener, choir member or director, solo singer or orchestral musician. The story of the creation of the Messiah is followed by a close unpicking and rhetorical analysis of the biblical text as presented to Handel by his friend Charles Jennens. Then Handel's setting of the text to music is described, showing how devices such as word-painting, repetition, questions and exclamations portray and enhance the Christian message and add to its impact on the listener. This is followed by a performer's guide to delivering Handel's ideas using rhetorical techniques of delivery; the book finishes with a review of the audience's reception of this great work, put into the context of contemporary ideas about what constituted the sublime, and revealing many layers of rhetorical craft beneath the familiar music.  See also:

Rhetorical ideas from Classical Roman and Greek authors are used alongside texts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which were written to help people to read and understand the Bible in the Protestant Church tradition. Judy Tarling's book The Weapons of Rhetoric introduced musicians and audiences to the connection between performing music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and the techniques of oratory. This book takes us from the general to the particular: not for nothing were many of the great works of Handel described as Oratorios.

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 If ordering together with copies of Baroque String Playing and/or any other of our editions, the post & packing cost per book will be much reduced.

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BSP 1

BAROQUE STRING PLAYING by Judy Tarling

£30.00

Second edition, newly updated June 2013

(see postage details below)

All you ever wanted to know about performing early music, but were afraid to ask. Well, fear no more. Subtitled . . . for ingenious learners . . . . this is a landmark publication that sets out in meticulous detail the many varied skills required for playing string music from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. It will be required reading for amateurs and professionals alike. In a lucid and practical style, Judy Tarling has distilled 30 years of experience in playing chamber and orchestral music of the period, and her brilliantly researched book sets out all the finest points with copious quotations from dozens of historical sources. All bowed string instruments are dealt with; there is extensive information about playing basso continuo and a host of other important topics. Included in the book is a CD with recorded examples to illustrate the finer points of interpretation.

Subjects discussed in the book: Affect, articulation, bow vibrato, bow-hold, bowings, buying Baroque equipment, the 'cello, chords, consort style, continuo instrument choice, dance, dissonance, divisions, dotted notes, double bass, double stopping, dynamics, editions, ensembles, facsimiles, figured bass, fingering choice, harmony, holding the instrument, identifying French & Italian style, inequality, intervals, messa di voce, ornamentation, pitch, position changing, publishers, range, recitative, repeats, rhetoric, rhythm, rubato, rules, scordatura, signs, slurs, speed, staccato, strings, temperament, tempo, time signatures, treatises, tuning, the viola, vibrato, violone.

Musical examples by: L'Abbé le fils - Bach - Biber - Bonporti - Caccini - Castello - Cima - Corelli - Corrette - Couperin - Feuillet - Geminiani - Gibbons - Handel - Leclair - Locke - Lully - Marais - Mattheson - Matteis - Mealli - L. Mozart - Muffat - Ortiz - Piani - Playford - Purcell - Quantz - Rameau - Schmelzer - Simpson - Tartini - Walther - Westhoff - Veracini - Vivaldi - Zanetti.

PLEASE CONTACT US FOR POST & PACKING INFORMATION

 If ordering one copy each of Baroque String Playing and Handel's Messiah please contact us for a quote.

Postage costs vary according to destination and weight of package. We will find the cheapest and most effective rate for you.