A performer's guide to Baroque vocal ornamentation as applied to selected works of George Frideric Handel

This document is intended as a practical resource for singers seeking stylistically appropriate information concerning ornamentation in George Frideric Handel's (1685-1759) solo vocal works. Principles of Italian Baroque vocal ornamentation and Handel's own vocal ornamental style are presented in narrative form and are illustrated through the author's own ornamentation of selected Handel arias.;A performer's guide of this type is needed for singers because the few modern editions of Handel's works available with suggestions for ornamentation provide very little discourse on style and performance practice. The general texts which cover the subject of Baroque performance practice can be intimidating in length and detail for the singer interested in those aspects of ornamentation which relate directly to the solo vocal art, and even more specifically to Handel. While all musicians should have a broad general knowledge of Baroque performance practice, there is a particular need for a more concise instructional manual for the purpose of informing the modern singer about ornamentation in the vocal works of Handel.;This document, a performing edition of selected Handel arias ornamented in appropriate styles with accompanying supportive research, is intended to help fill the need for such a performer's guide. In this document, an introduction to eighteenth-century Italian Baroque vocal ornamentation precedes an investigation into Handel's own vocal ornamental style as seen in manuscripts to which he added ornamentation. Other eighteenth-century contemporaries' ornamentation of his works, including that of some of his own singers, is also examined. Several soprano recitatives and arias of varying compositional styles and dramatic qualities from the genres of cantata, opera, and oratorio illustrate this author's perception of Handelian ornamentation technique.