Handel (Handel Bicentenary Edition)

CLASSIC: COLLECTIBLE: AUTHORITATIVE: ENGAGING: FINE Second Revised Edition hardcover (Orig.1959) Second Printing (c. 1959): VERY GOOD mylar-protected jacket w/ EXCELLENT edges & corners but w/ slight chipping at top-front spine-cap & neatly price-clipped at top-right inside-front flyleaf, SUPERB virtually as-new deep-teal linen-over-boards cover w/ titles & design elements ELEGANTLY stamped in fresh gilt on spine, FINE unblemished text-block exterior w/ smooth-cut top edges stained lime-green & natural "deckle" side-edging & page-cut style bottom edge, IMPECCABLE unblemished front & back end-papers, virtually AS-NEW sewn binding w/ tight signatures, PRISTINE interior handsomely typeset in Caledonia (a Linotype face designed by W.A. Dwiggins) & composed, printed & bound by The Plimpton press of Norwood, Massachusetts * 6.50" x 9.50" x 1.28, 0.84 kg, xiv+328+xxxiv (376) pp * ABOUT THE BOOK: The "Handel Bicentenary Edition" of Herbert Weinstock's classic biography of the great composer also offers a delightful panorama of his times in Germany, Italy, England, & Ireland. Important new discoveries about Handel's life--about his travels, the composition & performance of his major works, his business dealings, his relationships w/ friends, patrons & colleagues--had been made by scholars since the first edition of this highly-regarded biography was published in 1949. In this much revised edition, issued as part of the worldwide centenary of Handel's death, Herbert Weinstock incorporated the most revealing of this material in a complete, authoritative, deeply engaging biography which will please scholars & to general readers alike. The book tells the story of a colossally great musician--"one of the most majestic, tender, & human voices ever lifted in praise of life, of love, of beauty, & of the art of music." Over & above that full-length portrait, the book presents the story of a whole man, presenting him through the decades of his long life in all his overpowering vitality & tenacity, his superhuman productivity, his wild outburst of wit, his sometimes shrewdly tactical rages, his charities, his relationships w/ the great, the near-great, the eccentric, the humble, & the talented. To tell Handel's story adequately means surveying the evolution of opera from ts beginning to his time, chronicling the invention of the Handel Oratio as a British national institution, & writing the significant chapter of social history that begins w/ the professional musician as a kept pensioner & ends with his attainment of self-support & economic self-respect. Mr. Weinstock also gives entertaining vignettes of 18th-centry Germany, Italy, London, & Dublin (where "Messiah" was first sung), together w/ miniature essays on aspects of the musical life (the male sopranos & contraltos, for example, & the involvements of music w/ politics) & succinct, deft portraits of singers, impresarios, rival musicians, critics, pamphleteers, politicians, men of letters, princes, queens, & kings. Alll known letters of Handel, as well as his will & its codicils, are incorporated in either text or appendix. * ABOUT THE AUTHOR: A deeply-cultured self-instructed polyglot, in 1943 HERBERT WEINSTOCK was named Executive Editor of Alfred A. Knopf where he worked fruitfully for many years in that role. Among his many works are "Tchaikovsky" (1943), "Handel" (1946, 2nd rev. ed. 1959), & "Chopin: The Man & His Music" (1949). * SHIPPING: MNEMOSYNE carefully wraps, labels & custom-packages this fine book for FREE domestic shipment via USPS MEDIA MAIL or via USPS PRIORITY MAIL for a below-cost additional fee of $14.00 & via USPS FIRST CLASS INTERNATIONAL AIRMAIL to all international destinations at our posted below-cost rates or as quoted on request.…