Handel: Music for Queen Caroline
(The King Shall Rejoice HWV260; Te Deum HWV280; Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline HWV264)
William Christie / Les Arts Florissants (Harmonia Mundi)
(scroll down for English review)
克里斯蒂和繁花古樂團幾年前的錄音，韓德爾三首為英國喬治二世的皇后卡露蓮寫的合唱曲目。雖說是英國皇后，但以前歐洲的皇族兜亂地去統治國家，所以卡露蓮和其丈夫其實是德國人。韓德爾未到英國，還在漢堡發展時，這位卡露蓮便很關照他。
1714年她的外父成為英皇喬治一世，於是她丈夫也成為太子（威爾斯親王）。1727年，喬治一世駕崩，喬治二世登基，卡露蓮就是皇后，可是她1737年便去世，享年54歲。於是這三首作品，就是韓德爾在她成為親王夫人（軌五至十）、皇后（軌一至四）及逝世（軌11至23）而作的。雖然實質上，只有一首真的是為她而寫，上兩首作品所慶祝的不是她，是她丈夫。
我不打算推介全碟，但第一首作品《陛下要歡慶》確實好聽，就當是聽《彌賽亞》的合唱曲聽就好了。其餘作品比較平凡，例行公事，給她喪禮用的那套作品，悲傷的段落也太長太重覆了，雖然播出來也算舒舒服服。
This 2013 recording collected three choral pieces that Handel wrote for Queen Caroline, the queen of Britain’s George II. Caroline and her husband were actually German, whose father (and father-in-law) were selected to rule in Britain as Geogre I. In his Hamburg days Caroline was already a patron of Handel.
Three three pieces celebrate George I’s coronation (tracks 5-10), George II’s coronation (tracks 1-4) and the last piece (tracks 11-23) was written for Caroline’s funeral, who died rather prematurely.
I’m not going to recommend the full disc, but the first piece, The King Shall Rejoice (tracks 1-4) is extraordinary. Just take the four movements as Messiah-like choral pieces. The other works are to me more of a hack job, the Funeral Anthem is too long and repetitive but still sounds relaxing as background music.