Handel’s 'Il trionfo del Tempo' and historical conceptions of musical temporality

What is it about?

This article examines the extent to which music offers a privileged perspective on how humans have experienced time, investigating and critiquing how much present-day listeners can really understand how earlier historical subjects perceived temporality. To this end, it looks at an eighteenth-century piece by Handel which appears explicitly to deal with the question of time and transience.

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Why is it important?

This article offers a further perspective on a debate reignited by the recent publication of Karol Berger's 'Bach's Cycle, Mozart's Arrow', and responses by scholars such as John Butt. It subjects the philosophical and methodological issues to the most sustained scrutiny to date.