Handel's fugato style
Handel (1685–1759) uses the fugue mainly in the choruses of his oratorios. Compared with Bach his approach is more theatrical and less systematic:
- Regular expositions, often from bottom to top, but free development.
- Alternation of fugal sections and homorhythmic sections (block chords), to make the text understood and create contrast.
- Clear-cut subjects: repeated notes, characteristic leaps, speech-like rhythms.
- Two contrasting subjects on two phrases of the text, often combined.
- Very evident sequences and pedals; endings with a slowing down and measured chords.
- Reuse of his own or others' material, reworked for chorus.
Messiah (1741)
The oratorio contains several fugal choruses. Three exemplary cases:
And with His stripes we are healed (part two)
- Part of the series of short choruses on the Passion, in F minor.
- A chorus in fugue form, with a short subject in long values, of an old-style character, contrasted by melismas on the word healed.
- It shows the fugue as an expressive means: the severe old style for the text of suffering.
He trusted in God (part two)
- Four-voice fugue in the minor mode, in 4/4.
- Exposition: basses (subject on the tonic), tenors (answer at the dominant), altos (subject), sopranos (answer).
- Development with continuous contrapuntal texture and evident use of sequences.
- Ending: the music suddenly slows down, the texture becomes homorhythmic, three detached chords, a suspension and a perfect cadence.
- The subject, with its almost spoken rhythm, represents the jeering crowd.
Hallelujah (end of part two)
- It is not a complete fugue but alternates homorhythmic sections, a passage in cantus firmus in unison (For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth) and a fugato episode on And He shall reign for ever and ever.
- It is the model of the mixed chorus: fugato for energy, chords for proclamation.
Amen (finale)
- A long choral fugue on the single word Amen that closes the oratorio: with no text to be understood, the counterpoint becomes the absolute protagonist, and only in the last bars does the writing gather into slow chords.
What Handel teaches
- The fugue at the service of the text: it stops when the text must be understood.
- Contrast of texture as a formal engine: fugato – homorhythm – fugato.
- Rhythmic subjects easy to sing for a large chorus.
- Rhetorical ending: slowing down, detached chords, suspension, cadence.
How to study them
- Mark in the score the fugal and homorhythmic sections: observe where and why they alternate.
- Note the order of the entries and the keys of the middle entries.
- Identify the sequences and pedals.
- Compare a Handel chorus with a Bach fugue: density, duration of the counterpoint, role of the text.
Typical mistakes in analysis
- Judging Handel by the yardstick of the school fugue: many of his choruses are free fugatos, not complete fugues.
- Ignoring the text: the choices of texture depend on the words.
Modern application
- Pop, gospel and musical choirs: the alternation between imitative entries and block chords is the most effective technique for large choruses; singers find rhythmic subjects of this type easy.
- Film scores: the choral fugato that breaks off into measured chords before the final cadence is an epic gesture still very widely used.
- Arranging: the passage in unison (all voices on the same melody) between two contrapuntal sections gives strength and clarity.
Related topics
Sacred forms 2: cantata, oratorio and Passion, cinematic and epic choir, exposition of the fugue, fugue: formal plan, gang vocals.