Travel Tip: Classical Music in United States
Handel and the Italians

In 1706, some 35 years before composing his famous oratorio Messiah, Handel left his native Germany and travelled to Italy. His four-year journey included stops in the great cultural centers of Florence, Rome, Naples and Venice where he met famous patrons and composers. Inspired by their music, Handel wrote some of his most enduring compositions, notably the Dixit Dominus, which Handel wrote during his stay in Rome in 1707. As opera was banned during Lent in Rome, Handel poured all of his efforts into Dixit, a tour de force of virtuoso choral writing, scored for chorus and chamber orchestra.

Concert Programme:

Handel: Nisi Dominus

Antonio Lotti (1667 - 1740): Crucifixus for 8-part chorus
Antonio Lotti: Inganni dell’Humanità

Alessandro Scarlatti (1660 - 1725): Es Dies Trophei

Handel: Italian Duets
Quel Fior che all’Alba Ride
No, di Voi non Vo’ Fidarmi
 
Handel: Dixit Dominus (Rome, 1707)

Santa Fe Desert Chorale
Joshua Habermann, conductor