Page:Romain Rolland Handel.djvu/7

Rh this account. It is true that there are many difficulties in the way of a clearer understanding of his music. A two-hundred years' overgrowth of vain vocal traditions is not going to be torn away in the space of a few years.

If the operas have been overlooked in favour of the oratorios, then his instrumental music has been even more neglected on account of the preponderance of his vocal movements. In a recent important contribution to Handelian biography only a few pages are given to the instrumental works. In this respect M. Rolland's clear and critical biography fills in a distinct hiatus.

Moreover, Handel sojourned in Germany, Italy, finally (and longest) in England&mdash;but never in France. M. Rolland, therefore, a Frenchman and the author of that brilliant work Histoire de l'Opéra en Europe avant Lulli et Scarlatti, may, more than any other writer, be expected to bring a freshness of vision and an impartial judgment to bear on Handel's works. And he has not disappointed us.

A. E. H.