This book deserves triple applause: first for revealing a shockingly neglected portion of Handel repertoire--nearly a hundred cantatas, almost all overlooked--secondly for opening the door to the social and sexual context of this writing, and revealing, if not Handel's private life, at least the surrounding atmosphere and mores of his aristocratic patrons; and thirdly for enlivening it with the true enthusiasm of a musician as well as a musicologist. -- Christopher Hogwood, conductor, harpsichordist, and author of Handel In this soberly provocative study, Ellen Harris compels us to rethink how we understand the relation between sexuality and the music of one of the most significant composers in the Western classical tradition. Handel as Orpheus is exciting. -- Jeffrey Kallberg, University of Pennsylvania A remarkable achievement. Handel as Orpheus is a thorough study of Handel's chamber cantatas that situates the works within their social and cultural context. Handel's cantatas are arguably his most important works from the point of view of his development as a composer. Harris shows how Handel's stylistic development can be viewed in terms of his changing response to the ideas and interests of his patrons. -- Ellen Rosand, Yale University

Ellen Harris is Class of 1949 Professor and Head of Music and Theater Arts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

* Acknowledgments * Note on the Musical Examples * Prologue: "The Ways of the World" *1. Code Names and Assumed Identities *2. Women's Voices/Men's Voices *3. Pastoral Lovers *4. Cantata Couples and Love Triangles *5. Silence and Secrecy *6. Culmination of the Private * Epilogue: "True Representation" * Appendix 1: Cantata Chronology * Appendix 2: Texts and Translations of the Continuo Cantatas * Bibliographic Abbreviations * Notes * Title Index of Handel's Cantatas, Duets, and Trios * General Index