Musical Myths and Facts, Volume 2 (of 2)

Carl Engel turns his formidable scholarship to the task of separating musical legend from musical truth. This volume opens with an intensive examination of George Frederick Handel, tracing his journey from reluctant law student to the commanding figure of English oratorio. But Engel is not interested in hagiography. Through the jealous observations of Johann Mattheson, Handel's contemporary and rival in Hamburg, we see the real man behind the mythology: his struggles, his rivalries, his determined climb to prominence. Engel dissects the tales that already began crystallizing around Handel's life during his own lifetime, revealing how reputation becomes legend becomes myth. The book then ventures into the stranger territories of musical tradition, examining the supernatural claims, mystical associations, and folkloric beliefs that have attached themselves to music across centuries. Why do we want our composers to be touched by something beyond the human? Engel doesn't judge; he investigates. For readers who have ever wondered how history becomes mythology, and who enjoy watching a rigorous mind dismantle a good story to find the better truth beneath.