Programme Guide

From today’s perspective, the outstanding musical figure who united the music of England and Italy in the Baroque period was George Frideric Handel, who became the leading composer of operas and oratorios in England after his apprenticeship in Italy. His contemporaries, however, quarrelled about which was the greater composer: Handel or the Italian Francesco Geminiani, who had been working in London since 1714. This dispute was triggered by an essay by Charles Avison, a student of Geminiani and one of the most successful composers in the country.

When it comes to England, another name must be mentioned: Henry Purcell, the most important British composer of the 17th century. Although he is from an earlier generation of composers than the three previously mentioned and never went to Italy, he was also influenced by its music and played a decisive role in anchoring the Italian style in English music.