Songs of Isolation

Our featured composer is George Frideric Handel! This wonderful image is a line engraving, published 1784, by the famous engraver Francesco Bartolozzi, who, like Handel, was an Italian in London.

The banner atop the image reads ‘From harmony, from heavenly harmony this universal frame began’, which are the poet John Drysdale’s words Handel used for his cantata, the Ode for St Cecilia’s day. The main theme of the text is the Pythagorean theory of ‘harmonia mundi’, that music was an important element in the earth’s creation and in the continued integrity of society.

In-keeping with these ideas, we want ‘Songs of Isolation’ to show that music can help you achieve a balance in your well-being, and a sense of calm in tumultuous times.

We’ll be posting more about Handel’s time in London where we also filmed this project.