Did he write any short and easy ones?

Also, the Göttingen festival in Germany, started in 1920 and now the longest running "early music festival" in existence, has been centred since the beginning around Handel, I mean Händel.

"God Goeth Up With Shouting" is the cantata BWV 43: Gott Gehet Auf Mit Jauchzen
"My Spirit was in Heaviness" is the cantata BWV 21: Ich hatte viel Bekümmerniss
"I Wrestle and Pray" is the motet BWV Anh. 159: Ich lasse dich nicht

This last is attributed (disputedly) to Sebastian Bach's uncle Johann Christoph (1642-1703). And it's not to be confused with the Cantata BWV 157: Ich lasse Dich nicht, Du segnest mich denn, whose authorship is undisputed. And Johann Christoph is not to be confused with Sebastian Bach's son Johann Christian.

Is it chilly in here? I'll get my anorak

Surely there's more danger of confusing Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703) JSB's uncle (hm, wiki says first cousin once removed) and father-in-law and composer of the glorious Lamento for bass voice, violin and strings Wie bist du denn, O Gott, in Zorn auf mich entbrannt, with JSB's uncle and apparently first organ teacher Johann Christoph Bach (1645-1693)? Or with JSB's eldest brother Johann Christoph Bach (1671–1721)? Or with JSB's son Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach?

Thanks goodness for the Friedrich.

It's anorak weather, isn't it?

I had the impression (rightly or wrongly) that there had been a revival of interest in Handel, especially his operas, in recent years. But I've had a browse through the Penguin Guide to Bargain Records of 1970 and I see that complete, budget-price recordings were available of:

Alcina, Alexander Balus (albeit in German), Israel in Egypt, Acis and Galatea, L'Allegro, Semele and Sosarme. And that's not to mention whatever full-price recordings were available then (including, presumably, DB's Theodora).

Interestingly, the comments in the book about Alcina mention "the latest Handel revival".

You are correct about the Handel revival, please every ignore any comments to the contrary. I ask you to look at the relative number of JSBach recordings available at the same period of time during the 70's. I know a guy who has over 150 recordings of the Brandenburg Concertos, all different. How many recordings do you think have been made of Handel's Op6 concertos, despite their being a vastly superior collection of music?

I was just under the impression that Handel's operas had been performed more often than usual in recent years. Even so, I was surprised at the range of Handel available in the 1970s. That is the point I was trying to make - I certainly have never heard some of those works. I was too young in 1970 to be aware of a Handel revival then but I wonder whether it was part of a move away from the Beecham and Sargent tradition.

The relative standing of Bach and Handel in Victorian Britain can be gauged by looking at the Leeds Music Festival of 1886. Handel's Israel in Egypt was considered to be so familiar that that there was no orchestral rehearsal. But Bach's B minor Mass was entirely new to the Leeds audience and the performance (conducted by Sullivan) was reckoned to be the first ever complete one in England. Until then, it had been considered to be an almost impossible work. And yet a newspaper reported that the work made a very strong impression, even on those who consider Bach to be as dry as dust.

Sullivan, who occasionally parodies Handel in the Savoy operas (and quotes Bach in the Mikado), said of the Sanctus, that it was the grandest piece of music ever written and he would willing give everything he had written to produce something like that.

Well, they are certainly vastly superior at being Handel, and that's certainly something. On the other hand they're not nearly as good at being Bach...

I wouldn't complain about the relative prominence of Bach and Handel in the market too much though, at least not from Handel's perspective. Even the best Bach recordings nowadays suffer terribly from the dead weight of tradition - look at the trouble the one voice per part hypothesis had being accepted even though all the actual evidence (historical and musical) speaks so strongly for it. (Correspondence will not be entered into on the Messiah thread. ) On the other hand someone approaching Handel has a much better chance of being able to perform it without having Casals and Furtwängler looking over their shoulder.

For example...



...which reminds me, I do have a live Niquet Messiah lying around. (RIAS Kammerchor New Year concert 2007.) Must have a listen.

I was just wondering whether he had anything interesting to say about the comparison.