At 12:28 AM +0100 1/16/07, Johannes Gebauer wrote:
On 15.01.2007 David W. Fenton wrote:
I don't have the references handy, but I'm pretty sure there was at
least one performance of Messiah in Handel's lifetime with Handel's
participation where the orchestra and chorus were both large in the
modern sense, i.e., 100+ players and 200+ singers. But I can't find
any citation for that (though I didn't look too hard).
That's also what I had in mind, and I have always thought that the
ripieno indications were for this purpose.
Is memory betraying me?
Concertino and ripieno go back at least to Corelli's concertos (which
Handel certainly would have known), and had nothing to do with how
large the ripieno was. Corelli's and Handel's were rather small, and
probably Vivaldi's as well. And of course 90% or more of modern
performances ignore those instructions.
John
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