Handel

Biography

Handel appears in Dolge's opening survey of the piano's slow development as one of three composers—along with Haydn and Mozart—whose 'sweet, heavenly music' could still be satisfied by the gentler clavichord and harpsichord of the period. Dolge uses this collective reference to set up a contrast with Johann Sebastian Bach, who instead demanded a stronger, more powerful instrument and helped spur the piano's improvement. No individual biographical detail is given about Handel beyond this shared characterization; he receives no dedicated treatment elsewhere in the excerpt and functions here mainly as a marker of the musical era that preceded the piano's rise to dominance over its quieter keyboard predecessors.

Highlights

• Named alongside Haydn and Mozart as content with the clavichord and harpsichord rather than a more powerful piano

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911).

Public domain.