Handel

Handel is a book by Romain Rolland, translated by A. Eaglefield Hull, with an introduction by the editor, 17 musical illustrations and 4 plates. The preface says that for a proper appreciation of the colossal work of Handel many years of study and a book of some two hundred pages are very insufficient. The preface describes the book as a little book that does not pretend to be anything more than a very brief sketch of the life and technique of Handel.

The text finds in Zachau a sketch for the monumental constructions of Handel in his Hallelujahs, the colossal Amens which crown his oratorios like the dome of St. Peter at Rome. The text says the first feature to notice in general is the want of definition in the choice of instruments for which the music was written, and that the composer left it to the players to choose the instruments. The text says that, despite Handel's great physical power, his touch was extraordinarily smooth and equal.