Handel - Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne - 1713

Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne - 1713 Honor Sheppard, Mary Thomas, Soprano Alfred and Mark Deller, Countertenors / Maurice Bevan, Baritone Oriana Concert Choir & Orchestra Alfred Deller, Conductor On leave of absence in London from his position at the Hanover court in 1712, Handel was invited to produce an English Court Ode for Queen Anne's birthday. The Queen normally took little interest in her composers, being (according to the Duke of Manchester) ''too busy or too careless to listen to her own band, and had no thought of hearing and paying new players however great their genius or vast their skill''. It is surprising, therefore, that she granted Handel a pension of £200 a year for life. On the other hand, it was Anne who presided over England's dramatic defeat of France, in which John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, put an end to the expansionist ambitions of King Louis XIV and twelve years of war. This Ode is therefore one of great joy and celebration, which Handel captures in his music just as confidently as in Alexander's Feast though in a noticeably more youthful style. -Video Upload powered by https://www.TunesToTube.com