****Forwarded message from Valerie James <[log in to unmask]>****

CALL FOR PAPERS

Purcell, Handel & Literature

Senate House, University of London

Friday and Saturday, 20-21 November 2009

Institutes of Musical Research and English Studies, School of Advanced
Study, University of London. The Music and English Departments of the
Open University in association with the OU Literature and Music Research
Group. The Handel Institute. The Purcell Society. This conference will
be one of the concluding events in the year marking the anniversaries of
Henry Purcell's birth (1658 or 1659) and Handel's death (1759).

             Proposals for papers are now invited. Papers should be of  
20
minutes duration, and the proposal should be presented as an abstract of
not more than 250words. Proposals for thematic round-table sessions will
also be considered. Proposals should be submitted by 30 October 2008,
and should be sent to [log in to unmask] Please include your name,
contact details and (if applicable) your affiliation within your
proposal.

An outline programme for the conference will be prepared and circulated
early in 2009, so that accepted participants can plan their travel
arrangements. Funding for the conference will be sought, but this is
likely to be limited and participants are requested to seek support from
their own institutions where this is possible. If a large number of good
quality proposals on topics germane to the conference theme are
received, an additional day for the conference may be scheduled on
Thursday 19 November. For the conference abstract, see overleaf.

The conference programme committee, which will consider and review all
paper proposals, comprises representatives from all of the sponsoring
institutions:

Robert Fraser, Delia Da Sousa Correa, Donald Burrows (OU/Handel
Institute); Sandra Tuppen, Bruce Wood (Purcell Society), Katharine Ellis
(IMR), Sandra Clark (IES), Colin Timms (Handel Institute). Specialist
papers may be referred to other members of these institutions, but the
final decisions on conference content will be taken by the committee.

.

Conference abstract

Taken together, the careers of the two composers constitute one of the
most remarkable periods in London's music-making. Although Handel's
career in London commenced only fifteen years after Purcell's death,
their styles in setting English texts were very different, partly
because of their individual approaches to word-setting, and partly
because of the different styles in which they worked. Yet for both of
them English literary texts-reaching as far back as Shakespeare in
Purcell's case-were fundamental to aspects of their activity. Both wrote
for major productions (of plays or un-staged oratorios) in the London
theatres, and contributed to some common genres - Cecilian and court
odes, and liturgical church music on texts from the Book of Common
Prayer. Handel set odes by John Dryden that had originally been written
during Purcell's lifetime, and also texts by John Milton; texts by
Congreve (though not the same ones) form a common thread in works by
both composers. Nahum Tate was the librettist of Purcell's Dido and
Aeneas; Handel's anthems include settings of texts from the metrical
versions of the Psalms by Tate and Brady. Both composers, however, were
also reliant on other librettists of their own generations: D'Urfey for
Purcell's stage works, for example, Miller, Jennens and Morell for
Handel's oratorios.

The intention of the conference is to bring together participants with
interests in music and literature, and to cover a range of relevant
topics, such as: the literary and musical genres, the nature of the
libretti and the composers' treatment of them; the various forms of
musical dramas (as genres, and in relation to the stage conventions of
the 17th and 18th centuries); the status of Milton and Dryden as
"musical" poets; the influence of text settings by Purcell and Handel on
subsequent composers, and in subsequent literature; the genres of the
court and Cecilian odes; the setting of English liturgical texts.

Although it is anticipated that the principal focus will be on English
texts (and London performance conditions), the theme may also encompass
the influence of Italian and Classical literature, Handel's settings of
Italian texts in his operas and cantatas, and relevant topics relating
to German literature. Proposals for papers that consider the importance
of either or both these composers within literature of later periods
will also be welcomed.

Valerie James
Administrator
Institute of Musical Research
School of Advanced Study
University of London
Senate House
Malet Street
London WC1E 7HU
www.music.sas.ac.uk
Tel:  020 7664 4865

****End of forwarded message****

______________________________________

Dr J. P. E. Harper-Scott
Lecturer in Music
Department of Music
Royal Holloway, University of London
Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, Great Britain
http://www.rhul.ac.uk/Music/jpeh-s.html
______________________________________