# Handel's musical style?



## Gondur (May 17, 2014)

If you were to ascribe a particular style to Handel's music, which would it be? I hear German influence, Italian influence and English influence in his music. I do not know of these styles in greater depth and so I hope that you are able to provide insight this. My listening to his music also leads to believe that he favoured one of these styles over the others.


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## GGluek (Dec 11, 2011)

If forced to choose one, I would choose Italianate over the others -- especially in his operatic and oratorio works.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Handel always seemed to me the most international - maybe the most universal (if we may shrink the universe a bit!) - of composers. During his early years in Italy he was able to master the melodic, vocally gracious Italian style, enriching it with a thorough mastery of counterpoint and his own sense of drama and color. After moving to England he created the choral style we know from his oratorios, blending his Italian fluency and pathos with festive pomp and sonorous brilliance; his choral writing, encompassing every technique and texture but especially impressive for its dramatic contrast of contrapuntal passages with powerful chordal blocks of sound, has never been equaled. I agree with you that the Italian influence is predominant in Handel, but feel that there really was no style in the music of his time that he could not use and, generally, improve upon.


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