Handel for McCain, Bach for Obama

I can’t even begin to explain how I arrived at the title for this newsletter. Fact is, though, if you know anything about the lives of these two composers, and you think about it, you’ll agree the statement has merit.

Handel was an early poster boy for capitalism. Yes, he had patronage, as a composer and performer, but more importantly, he was an excellent small business man, and quite a risk taker.

At the time of his passing he was worth some 20,000 pounds sterling, a very large fortune, in his day. And that’s after he went through a very bad patch in which an opera company he was heavily invested in went belly up.

Bach, on the other hand, was more of a ‘company man;’ for the nobility in his earlier years, and the city of Leipzig later. No close encounters with entrepreneurism for him.

Now here’s a funny twist.

Handel never married, and was extremely private about his intimate life. Bach had twenty some-odd children.

I think these two facts speak mountains as to their likely positions on the hot-bed issues of family planning and abortion.

So let’s take a look at their music.

Much of Bach’s output championed a spiritual life centered around Christianity. It was a happy union, no doubt, as most of his employment demanded it, and his personal views harmonized with it.

Handel, on the other hand, was probably more of a secularist – he certainly favored popular music, for most of his life. In fact, his composition, the ‘Messiah’, only came about after public interest in opera waned in England and he was forced to move sideways into the dramatic, ‘got religion’ concert works known as ‘Oratorio’.

Purely a business move, on Mr. Handel’s part.

So there you have it. Hope I haven’t offended or burst anyone’s bubble where these two titans of music are concerned. Both offer violinists absolutely wonderful vehicles for growth and expression.

And, as luck would have it, Beginners Circle players working on Month 11 material are getting a good dose of Bach this month with a charmingly elegant dance known as a ‘Loure’.

Month 6 Allegro Players are taking on a whole, 4 movement Handel Sonata; at once regal, stately, meditative, and jolly-romping good fun.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. The days are growing shorter, and so is the time left to register for the biggest question-answering, tail-kicking, technique-building, expression-expanding master class in the South-West of North America. I won’t be able to say, ‘all aboard!’ too much longer on this one folks. Come do what you need to do now.