George Frideric Handel
A Life with Friends
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Narrated by:
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Andi Arndt
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By:
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Ellen T. Harris
About this listen
An intimate portrait of Handel’s life and inner circle, modeled after one of the composer’s favorite forms: the fugue. During his lifetime, the sounds of Handel’s music reached from court to theater, echoed in cathedrals, and filled crowded taverns, but the man himself - known to most as the composer of Messiah - is a bit of a mystery. Though he took meticulous care of his musical manuscripts and even provided for their preservation on his death, very little of an intimate nature survives. One document - Handel’s will - offers us a narrow window into his personal life. In it, he remembers not only family and close colleagues but also neighborhood friends. In search of the private man behind the public figure, Ellen T. Harris has spent years tracking down the letters, diaries, personal accounts, legal cases, and other documents connected to these bequests. The result is a tightly woven tapestry of London in the first half of the 18th century, one that interlaces vibrant descriptions of Handel’s music with stories of loyalty, cunning, and betrayal. With this wholly new approach, Harris has achieved something greater than biography. Layering the interconnecting stories of Handel’s friends like the subjects and countersubjects of a fugue, Harris introduces us to an ambitious, shrewd, generous, brilliant, and flawed man, hiding in full view behind his public persona.
Download the accompanying reference guide.©2014 Ellen T. Harris (P)2014 Audible Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Overlooking the Thames, the Cliveden mansion is flanked by two wings and surrounded by lavish gardens. Throughout its storied history, Cliveden has been a setting for misbehavior, intrigue, and passion - from its salacious, deadly beginnings in the 17th century to the 1960s Profumo affair, the sex scandal that toppled the British government. Now, in this immersive chronicle, the manor's current mistress, Natalie Livingstone, opens the doors to this prominent house and lets the walls do the talking.
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disappointed
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What the Ermine Saw
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- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
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Five hundred and thirty years ago, a young woman sat before a Grecian-nosed artist known as Leonardo da Vinci. Her name was Cecilia Gallerani, and she was the young mistress of Ludovico Sforza, duke of Milan. Sforza was a brutal and clever man who was mindful that Leonardo’s genius would not only capture Cecilia’s beguiling beauty but also reflect the grandeur of his title. But when the portrait was finished, Leonardo’s brush strokes had conveyed something deeper by revealing the essence of Cecilia’s soul.
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So Many Names
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The Medici
- Power, Money, and Ambition in the Italian Renaissance
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- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 16 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Against the background of an age that saw the rebirth of ancient and classical learning, Paul Strathern explores the intensely dramatic rise and fall of the Medici family in Florence as well as the Italian Renaissance, which they did so much to sponsor and encourage. Interwoven into the narrative are the lives of many of the great Renaissance artists with whom the Medici had dealings, including Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Donatello as well as scientists like Galileo and Pico della Mirandola.
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Fun Story Bad History
- By Elizabeth Barrett on 05-09-16
By: Paul Strathern
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Love and Louis XIV
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The self-proclaimed Sun King, Louis XIV, ruled over the most glorious and extravagant court in 17th-century Europe. Now, Antonia Fraser goes behind the well-known tales of Louis' accomplishments and follies, exploring in riveting detail his intimate relationships with women.
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Excellent!
- By Louise on 04-27-08
By: Antonia Fraser
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The Man Who Invented Fiction
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In the early 17th century, a crippled, graying, almost toothless veteran of Spain's wars against the Ottoman Empire published a novel. It was the story of a poor nobleman, his brain addled from studying too many novels of chivalry, who deludes himself that he is a knight errant and sets off on hilarious adventures. That story, Don Quixote, went on to sell more copies than any other book beside the Bible, making its author, Miguel de Cervantes, the single most-read author in human history.
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Very Interesting and Informative, but Poorly Read
- By LCorSMT on 06-21-23
By: William Egginton
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Henry VIII’s Wives: History in an Hour
- By: Julie Wheeler
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 1 hr and 20 mins
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Story
In his ambition to provide a male heir to the throne, Henry VIII married six times. Divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, caused England’s break from the Catholic Church in Rome. He went on to divorce Anne of Cleves and behead Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard for infidelities. Jane Seymour died and Catherine Parr survived Henry. Henry VIII’s Wives: History in an Hour will introduce you to these six entirely diverse and captivating personalities and the events that propelled them to their individual fates.
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Get this book! You won’t regret it.
- By Alexander Blake on 12-13-17
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The Winter's Tale
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King Leontes of Sicilia is seized by sudden and terrible jealousy of his wife Hermione, whom he accuses of adultery. He believes the child Hermione is bearing was fathered by his friend Polixenes, and when the baby girl is born he orders her to be taken to some wild place and left to die. Though Hermione's child escapes death, Leontes' cruelty has terrible consequences. Loss paves the way for reunion, and life and hope are born out of desolation and despair.
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A Snapper-Up of Unconsidered Trifles
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The Road to Monticello
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- Narrated by: David Baker
- Length: 25 hrs and 59 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Thomas Jefferson was an avid book-collector, a voracious reader, and a gifted writer - a man who prided himself on his knowledge of classical and modern languages and whose marginal annotations include quotations from Euripides, Herodotus, and Milton. And yet there has never been a literary life of our most literary president.
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Very Boring Book
- By Greg on 05-13-14
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The Year of Lear
- Shakespeare in 1606
- By: James Shapiro
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
In the years leading up to 1606, since the death of Queen Elizabeth and the arrival in England of her successor, King James of Scotland, Shakespeare's great productivity had ebbed, and it may have seemed to some that his prolific genius was a thing of the past. But that year, at age 42, he found his footing again, finishing a play he had begun the previous autumn - King Lear - then writing two other great tragedies, Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra.
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Detailed and satisfying
- By Tad Davis on 02-24-16
By: James Shapiro
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Marie Antoinette
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- Narrated by: Donada Peters
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
France's iconic queen, Marie Antoinette, wrongly accused of uttering the infamous "Let them eat cake", was alternately revered and reviled during her lifetime. For centuries since, she has been the object of debate, speculation, and the fascination so often accorded illustrious figures in history. Married in mere girlhood, this essentially lighthearted child was thrust onto the royal stage and commanded by circumstance to play a significant role in European history.
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Annoying Narration
- By LaFemmeRouge on 10-28-06
By: Antonia Fraser
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Thomas Cromwell
- The Untold Story of Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant
- By: Tracy Borman
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Thomas Cromwell has long been reviled as a Machiavellian schemer who stopped at nothing in his quest for power. As Henry VIII's right-hand man, Cromwell was the architect of the English Reformation, secured Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon and plotted the downfall of Anne Boleyn, and upon his arrest, was accused of trying to usurp the King himself. But here Tracy Borman reveals a different side of one of the most notorious figures in history.
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narration is very well done & book is quite good
- By horoscopy on 02-18-15
By: Tracy Borman
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What listeners say about George Frideric Handel
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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- Ongeblozzen
- 12-04-14
Interesting book, lackluster performance
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Very informative for Handel scholars and Baroque music lovers. At this writing, the accompanying PDF file provided by the publisher is unavailable on the Audible site, but they are working on a fix.
What other book might you compare George Frideric Handel to and why?
John Eliot Gardiner Music In the Castle of Heaven, same period with many fascinating details on the period, although not as personal as Gardiner's writing about J.S. Bach.
What didn’t you like about Andi Arndt’s performance?
Tedious and monotonous.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Tim McGreer
- 03-23-24
Handel became a real person in this book
Most narrations of Audible Books are by male voices. Getting comfortable with a female voice was an excellent exercise for me. As my focus became less on narration and more on Handel. I enjoyed the female narration. The material of the book does tell the life of Handel and those people whom he associated. Handel apparently had many friend (men and women) whom truly enjoyed a community that appreciated the fine aspects of humanity; caring for others, appreciation of the artistic, and belief in Jesus Christ. I am now motivated to attend performances of Handel’s Operas with the understanding from the author of the context behind when they were written and composed.
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- dkh5
- 01-11-21
Stick with it: the narrator gets better and better
This is an informative book that kept my attention throughout. It's amazing what the author was able to learn about Handel from his friends and acquaintances. My main comment, though, is about the narrator. I found that initially she was a bit monotonous and even sounded bored, but she quickly got better and better until I thought she did a fine job and in places a superior job.
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1 person found this helpful