Händel-Gesellschaft

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The Händel-Gesellschaft, or "German Handel Society," produced the second collected edition of the works of Georg Frideric Handel between 1858 and 1902. (An earlier collected edition had been produced between 1787 and 1797 by Samuel Arnold, but it was far from complete, including only five of Handel's Italian operas.)[1]

Despite the reference to a "society" in the name of the Händel-Gesellschaft, and a board for the edition that included notables such as Franz Liszt and Giacomo Meyerbeer,[2] the edition was produced almost entirely[3] by Friedrich Chrysander, who carried on publication of the edition even when, early on, the publisher dropped out of the project.[4] Chrysander set up an office in the garden at his home, and from 1862 onwards personally superintended the engraving and printing of the edition.[5] Additionally, he sold fruits and vegetables raised in his garden as a way of bringing in further income during the publication years.[6]

The first volume was prepared by Julius Rietz (although with results that displeased Chrysander)[7] and Max Seiffert also assisted with some of the later editing.[8]

Due to its being much more complete than any previous edition, the Händel-Gesellschaft edition was long considered the standard one for Handel's works; indeed, when the Hallische Händel-Ausgabe was inaugurated in 1955, it was at first projected merely as a supplement to Chrysander's work, only later (in 1958) becoming a full critical edition.[9] Some have criticized Chrysander, with one writer commenting that "he was an autocrat, a law into himself, who often made his selection according to his desires, who altered and revised at will, and who even falsified documents to suit his purposes,"[10] and another criticizing his "arbitrary selection of material in the more complex works and his failure to explain his methods."[11]

There are also problems such as the renumbering of the chamber sonatas originally published by Handel as his Op. 1 and Op. 2; for example, the Trio Sonata in B flat for two violins and continuo, Op. 2 no. 3, appears in the Händel-Gesellschaft edition as Op. 2 no. 4. These renumberings by Chrysander resulted in confusion which persists even today.[12]

The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition comments that "The complete edition of the German Handelgesellschaft suffers from being the work of one man who would not recognize that his task was beyond any single man's power....Yet Chrysander's services in the restoration of Handel are beyond praise.[13]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Winton Dean, The New Grove Handel. NY: Norton, 1982, p. 116. ISBN 0393300862.
  2. ^ Richard G. King, "Friedrich Chrysander to Victor Schoelcher (1859)," Newsletter of the American Handel Society, Volume XIV, Number 1 (April 1999), p. 2.
  3. ^ Dean, op. cit., states that it was "produced almost single-handed" by him.
  4. ^ "Editions of Handel's Music" from gfhandel.org.
  5. ^ Karl Franz Friedrich Chrysander--October 1901 obituary from The Musical Times.
  6. ^ "Editions of Handel's Music," op. cit..
  7. ^ "Handel's Scores," at WBAI'S "Here Of A Sunday Morning" website.
  8. ^ "Editions of Handel's Music," op. cit..
  9. ^ Dean, op. cit., p. 117.
  10. ^ "Handel's Scores," op. cit..,
  11. ^ Dean, op. cit..
  12. ^ Dean, op. cit., pp. 117 and p. 153 (work list reference to Handel trio sonata).
  13. ^ "George Frederick Handel" entry in Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition at 1911encyclopedia.org (LoveToKnow Classic Encyclopedia).


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