Handel’s Musical Style Handel’s operas are characterised by the use of mainly high voices (female and male castrati), with roles for basses generally being assigned to rulers or old men; only later does the tenor voice begin to feature regularly.

Handel’s directness of manner makes him one of the great masters of choral music. Though the bulk of his music was vocal, Handel was nevertheless one of the great instrumental composers of the late Baroque era. His long series of overtures (mostly in the French style), his orchestral concertos (Op. 3 and Op.

Though working as a violinist, it was Handel’s skill on the organ and harpsichord that began to earn him attention and landed him more opportunities to perform in operas.

He was 74. Handel has been called the first classical music superstar. His operas, oratorios and instrumental music were the toast of London for more than 30 years. He really is a poet of the human heart, through music.”

French

Ravel’s best-known works include Boléro, Daphnis Et Chloé and Pavane Pour Une Infante Défunte. Between 1909 and 1912 Ravel composed Daphnis Et Chloé for Sergei Diaghilev and Les Ballets Russes which is widely considered his masterpiece.

Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) was a 20th century French composer. Ravel was one of the most complex of all composers. He was anti-Wagnerian, Impressionist and Neoclassicist all rolled into one. His Basque roots gave him a special affinity with Spanish colours and rhythms.

He met the composer Eric Satie in the 1890s and was partly inspired by his experimental approach to music, although the models of Emmanuel Chabrier and Franz Liszt can also be heard in his piano music – especially the delicately virtuosic Jeux d’eau.

Boléro is a one-movement orchestral piece by the French composer Maurice Ravel (1875–1937). Boléro epitomizes Ravel’s preoccupation with restyling and reinventing dance movements. It was also one of the last pieces he composed before illness forced him into retirement.

Paris

Originally commissioned in 1928 by ballet dancer Ida Rubinstein as a “choreographed poem,” the 15-minute work is dominated by a repetitive, hypnotic rhythm. Weaving through these driving beats are two themes, passed around the different sections of the orchestra and each repeated eight times.