The Cambridge Handel Encyclopedia

'[This book] achieves a small miracle in delivering an overview that drills deep into biography, social context and the music with wide-ranging ease and a commanding but approachable authority … What emerges is an impressive achievement, a multifaceted portrait of the composer and a kaleidoscopic perspective of the music's place in its own time and across the changing fashions and fads of the past two and a half centuries.' Classical Music

'This is an outstanding book, in scope, in scholarship and in presentation. Its 88 contributors read like a roll-call of the great and good in the field of Handel studies. Not simply an essential resource for Handelians, but alluringly readable for the most innocent newcomer to the composer's world.' George Pratt, BBC Music Magazine

'An incredible achievement! Articles are extensive, both well documented for scholars and eminently readable. No stone appears to have been left unturned and the result is an amazingly comprehensive A-Z of anyone and anything connected to the great master of the baroque and the legacy with which he has enriched our lives.' Harry Christophers, conductor of The Sixteen and artistic director of the Handel and Haydn Society, Boston

'The Cambridge Handel Encyclopedia is remarkable: a well-researched, elegantly written, often times witty, cornecopia of Haendelian lore and miscellany.' William Christie, conductor

'The Cambridge Handel Encyclopedia is a fitting tribute to one of the greatest composers. It is extremely comprehensive, dealing not only with the background to Handel's musical masterpieces, but also with his contemporaries, colleagues, friends and singers who performed in his operas and oratorios. 86 experts from a range of scholarly disciplines examine Handel's life and work from a wide variety of aspects, and the encyclopedia will serve to emphasise the composer's genius in such a wide range of musical styles. The editors are to be congratulated on producing such an indispensable adjunct to every musical library.' Sir Charles Mackerras, conductor

'The Cambridge Handel Encyclopedia will be warmly welcomed by all Handelian scholars and performers. The descriptions of musical works are concise and to the point; the numerous biographical entries are especially interesting, and recreate the vivid and colourful musical worlds of Germany, Italy and London that formed the background to Handel's great works.' Paul McCreesh, conductor

'What a glorious resource this book is! It is an absolute must for all lovers of Handel's music. It is a terrific mine of information about his music and the fascinating cast of characters who performed it.' Nicholas McGegan, conductor

'The Cambridge Handel Encyclopedia will never gather dust on my bookshelf. The wealth of information that it contains is so enticing that frequent reference is inevitable, and it is impossible to restrict myself to a single topic of enquiry at any one time. Music lovers, performers and scholars should not be without this book.' Trevor Pinnock, harpsichordist, conductor and founder of the English Concert

'This amazing enterprise runs to over eight hundred pages and contains some seven hundred articles, both long and short, covering Handel's life, music, people and places associated with him, performance style, performers and scholars … For both professionals and amateurs this book will form an admirable reference and it is a truly magnificent piece of scholarship.' Robert Hugill, Music and Vision

'No stone seems to have been left unturned, including the little-known aspects of the composer's life and personality. The result is an amazingly comprehensive A-Z dictionary giving insight into every single aspect of Handel's life and work and covering virtually all areas of Handelian scholarship. Entries range from places, venues and people to, no doubt more importantly, the musical works themselves - concisely, but always pertinently analysed - not to forget most of the current aesthetic issues directly or indirectly related to them.' Antoine Capet, Cercles

'The Cambridge Handel Encyclopedia … marks the reassessment of the last four decades and is hugely informative about how Handel played the London market, borrowed on the musical exchange, gave munificently and composed.' David Martin, Times Literary Supplement