Beethoven was a composer with a deservedly massive ego, but he could be more humble when faced with what he considered to be true genius. Hence, this comment which he made about the music of George Frederick Handel:
"Handel is the unequalled master of all masters. Go to him, and learn how to create the grandest of effects by the simplest of means."
Few works by Handel illustrate the truth of this statement as gloriously as the majestic, magnificent Dettingen Te Deum. Composed in 1743 for a service of thanksgiving after a great military victory at Dettingen, this cantata for solo voices, choir, and orchestra does indeed employ the simplest of means to create the grandest of effects.
When I first heard a recording of this vivid work, the opening pages stood my hair on end. No other composer in history could mine this vein of celebratory music for public ceremonials so richly as Handel did in this work.
Handel's text is the ancient hymn Te Deum Laudamus ("We Praise Thee, O God"), sung in the English version of the Church of England's prayer book. The choice of text was, of course, dictated by the occasion for which this piece was composed.
The work is scored for the unusual combination of 3 trumpets (two high and one low), with the standard Baroque orchestra of oboes, bassoons, strings, timpani, and continuo. A mixed chorus and four soloists are also required. The solo voices are an alto, a tenor, and high and low bass voices. Since the solo parts are relatively limited and the chorus does most of the work, it's perfectly feasible to have the solo voices drawn from the chorus.
The work is scored for the unusual combination of 3 trumpets (two high and one low), with the standard Baroque orchestra of oboes, bassoons, strings, timpani, and continuo. A mixed chorus and four soloists are also required. The solo voices are an alto, a tenor, and high and low bass voices. Since the solo parts are relatively limited and the chorus does most of the work, it's perfectly feasible to have the solo voices drawn from the chorus.
Since this glorious music was composed in thanksgiving for a military victory, the work opens with martial rhythms played by the low trumpet and bassoons, and beaten out on the timpani, followed by the vivacious opening melody on oboes. When the timpani return, they are joined first by high trumpet fanfares, and then by the chorus, singing the opening line of the hymn in slow, majestic chords. Throughout the first movement, quieter sections for strings and voices only alternate like echoes with the resplendent sounds of full chorus with trumpets and drums.
The overall plan of the entire piece continues as it begins, with alternating sections for varying forces. The grander movements using the trumpets are all set in D major, a requirement of music using the valveless trumpets of the Baroque era. One of the most awe-inspiring movements comes at the setting of the words To Thee cherubim and seraphim continually do cry. The trumpets and drums carry the principal melodic sense and structure of the music while the several parts of the choir sing a fast-moving phrase to the words continually do cry for a total of no less than 80 rapid repetitions.
Quieter, more prayerful movements are set for smaller forces (a solo here, a men-only chorus there) with lighter accompaniment such as strings only, or oboe and continuo, and in one memorable moment the orchestra falls silent (very unusual for Handel). A single trumpet plays a slow fanfare with an obvious family resemblance to the fanfares of The trumpet shall sound in Messiah (which was composed 2 years earlier). Then the unaccompanied choral voices sing:
When Handel reaches the final verse, he brings the trumpets and drums forward again but eschews a grandiose final gesture in favour of a more flowing, almost prayerful choral movement to the words In Thee, O Lord, have I trusted; let me never be confounded. Only in the final sustained choral phrase does an underscoring of beating drums recall the militant aspect of the opening.
For the official celebrations of the Dettingen victory, Handel also composed an anthem for similar forces. Lasting only 15 minutes (versus the nearly 45 minutes of the Te Deum), the Dettingen Anthem shares the ceremonial air of its larger companion, but features a more virtuosic style of writing for both voices and instruments. Florid violin parts strike a very different note from the frequent chordal writing of the Te Deum. The text is drawn from Psalms 20 and 21, and opens with a verse also used in the first of Handel's great Coronation Anthems of 1727: The King shall rejoice in thy strength, O Lord. Three more sections follow before the anthem concludes with a rapid fugal allegro setting of Alleluia, which couldn't be more different from its distant but famous cousin at the end of Part 2 of Messiah.
Anyone who loves Messiah and wants to explore Handel's great gifts with grand vocal writing should definitely give the Dettingen Te Deum and Dettingen Anthem a closer acquaintance!
The overall plan of the entire piece continues as it begins, with alternating sections for varying forces. The grander movements using the trumpets are all set in D major, a requirement of music using the valveless trumpets of the Baroque era. One of the most awe-inspiring movements comes at the setting of the words To Thee cherubim and seraphim continually do cry. The trumpets and drums carry the principal melodic sense and structure of the music while the several parts of the choir sing a fast-moving phrase to the words continually do cry for a total of no less than 80 rapid repetitions.
Quieter, more prayerful movements are set for smaller forces (a solo here, a men-only chorus there) with lighter accompaniment such as strings only, or oboe and continuo, and in one memorable moment the orchestra falls silent (very unusual for Handel). A single trumpet plays a slow fanfare with an obvious family resemblance to the fanfares of The trumpet shall sound in Messiah (which was composed 2 years earlier). Then the unaccompanied choral voices sing:
We believe that Thou shalt come to be our Judge,
We therefore pray Thee help thy servants
Whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy precious blood.
When Handel reaches the final verse, he brings the trumpets and drums forward again but eschews a grandiose final gesture in favour of a more flowing, almost prayerful choral movement to the words In Thee, O Lord, have I trusted; let me never be confounded. Only in the final sustained choral phrase does an underscoring of beating drums recall the militant aspect of the opening.
For the official celebrations of the Dettingen victory, Handel also composed an anthem for similar forces. Lasting only 15 minutes (versus the nearly 45 minutes of the Te Deum), the Dettingen Anthem shares the ceremonial air of its larger companion, but features a more virtuosic style of writing for both voices and instruments. Florid violin parts strike a very different note from the frequent chordal writing of the Te Deum. The text is drawn from Psalms 20 and 21, and opens with a verse also used in the first of Handel's great Coronation Anthems of 1727: The King shall rejoice in thy strength, O Lord. Three more sections follow before the anthem concludes with a rapid fugal allegro setting of Alleluia, which couldn't be more different from its distant but famous cousin at the end of Part 2 of Messiah.
Anyone who loves Messiah and wants to explore Handel's great gifts with grand vocal writing should definitely give the Dettingen Te Deum and Dettingen Anthem a closer acquaintance!
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