Inspired with Godly Mirth
by Ken Myers
The year he turned twenty-one (1706), the energetic and obviously talented George Frideric Handel accepted an invitation from a member of the de Medici family to come to Italy. For the next four years, he worked for various patrons composing sacred motets, oratorios, secular cantatas, and two operas. His flair for dramatic composition was celebrated, and in 1710, he relocated to London, where—theaters having been closed in 1642 by the Puritans—works for the stage were still recovering from a long absence, and opera was just beginning to become fashionable.
Handel's Rinaldo—the first Italian-language opera written for an English audience—opened in 1711. It proved to be a great success and turned out to be the most frequently performed of Handel's 42 operas during his lifetime. In 1712, having secured a subsidy from Queen Anne, the composer decided to stay in England indefinitely.
THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:
Ken Myers is the host and producer of the Mars Hill Audio Journal. Formerly an arts editor with National Public Radio, he also served as editor of Eternity, the Evangelical monthly magazine, and This World, the quarterly predecessor to First Things. He also serves as music director at All Saints Anglican Church in Ivy, Virginia. He is a contributing editor for Touchstone.
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more on music from the online archives
33.3—May/June 2020
Bach's Cantata BWV 106, Gottes Zeit ist die allerbesteZeit (God's time is the very best time) by Ken Myers
more from the online archives
33.1—January/February 2020
on the Consequences of One Birth Before Roe v. Wade by Craig Kellogg Galer
33.4—July/August 2020
Our Views on the President Are Not Crucial by S. M. Hutchens
27.2—March/April 2014
Higher Education Should Advance the Glorious Liberty of the Sons of God by Anthony Esolen
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
