John Christopher Smith
Alias: Johann Christoph Schmidt, John Christian Smith
Life
Born: 1712
Died: 1795
Biography
He was Handel's assistant and is frequently confused with his father, also John Christopher, who was Handel's secretary, treasurer and principal copyist. A composer of operas and oratorios, the Grove assessment of him is that "Dwarfed by Handel's greatness, Smith's music had little chance for real success. His strongest work retains the style of his mentor, while his attempts at more modern idioms are, with some exceptions, generally less effective. Much of his music is indeed worthy of revival, particularly the opera The Fairies and individual arias, choruses and keyboard selections, but Smith's reputation rests today more on his association with Handel than on his musical accomplishments."
View the Wikipedia article on John Christopher Smith.
List of choral works
Click here to search for this composer on CPDL
Publications
External links
- Works by John Christopher Smith in the Petrucci Music Library (IMSLP)
add additional web links here