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His singers were costly temperamental Italians, his orchestras played in the French style, and George Frederick Handel (1685 – 1759) created a great to-do while glorifying the German kings of England with spectacles of water music and fireworks music. Parodied by The Beggar’s Opera into bankruptcy, both loved and hated, Mr. Handel found favor with audiences by turning his skills to the biblical oratorio in English, in which everyone could sing along.

Join Lucy Hallman Russell for a fascinating account of 18th-century music traditions, social mores, and controversies surrounding Handel and the Hanoverian kings of England, well before America declared independence from them.

About the speaker:

With her passion for cross-cultural insights, Lucy Hallman Russell engages her varied audiences with verve. She holds four diplomas in music from the Universities of Montevallo and Alabama, plus the Universities of Music Munich and Stuttgart, with specializations in piano, harpsichord, and musicology. In addition to doctoral studies at the University of Munich, she has pursued her interests in Italian, art history, prehistory, and archaeology. During her long tenure at the University of Music Würzburg, she was awarded the rare Silver Badge of Honor and created concert and music history study tours in Italy, France, and Russia.

Both scholar and performer of 17th century keyboard music, Lucy has appeared as harpsichordist and professor in Europe, the United States, China, and Russia. She has published essays on Frescobaldi, Froberger, and J. S. Bach and performed on numerous original harpsichords in museums, as well as Italian historical organs. Lucy Russell speaks fluent German and Italian, and converses in French, Spanish, and Russian, when necessary. She is an experienced speaker on music and cultural history all around Europe and has travelled in almost 60 countries.