NEWSLETTER of the American Handel Society
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NEWSLETTER of The American Handel Society Volume XXXI, Number 2 Summer 2016 HANDEL’S GREATEST HITS: REPORT FROM HALLE THE COMPOSER’S MUSIC IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY BENEFIT CONCERTS Buried in The London Stage are advertisements for concerts including or devoted to Handel’s music. Starting in the 1710s and continuing through the eighteenth century, musicians of all types used Handel’s music on their concert programs, most especially during their benefit evenings.1 These special events were dedicated to promoting a sole performer (or other members of the theatrical staff at a particular playhouse or concert hall). As was tradition, performers would have organized these events from beginning to end by hiring the other performers, renting the theater, creating advertisements, soliciting patrons, and The Handel Festival in Halle took place this year from programming the concert. Advertisements suggest that singers Friday, May 27 to Sunday, June 12, 2016 with the theme “History – and instrumentalists employed Handel’s music in benefit concerts Myth – Enlightenment.” Following the pattern established last year, for their own professional gain. They strategically programmed the Festival extended over three weekends. The Opening Concert, particular pieces that would convey specific narratives about their which had been a feature of recent Festivals, was not given. Instead, own talents, as well as their relationship to the popular composer. the first major musical event was the premiere of the new staging Benefit concerts were prime opportunities for performers of Sosarme, Re di Media at the Opera House, using performing to construct a narrative, or a story, through their chosen program. materials prepared by Michael Pacholke for the Hallische Händel- On the one hand, concert programs allowed performers to Ausgabe (HHA). Handel began setting this story of dynastic conflict evaluate and cater to perceptions of current taste. But benefit between father and son as Fernando, Re di Castiglia, and located the concerts could also reveal something about the performer him- or tale in the Portuguese court of Dionysius I in the early 14th Century. herself; these carefully organized events promoted the beneficiary Presumably because of the close political and military ties between in specific ways in order to entice audiences. Properly chosen Britain and Portugal, he subsequently changed the location pieces that suited both the performer’s skills and audience taste to ancient Lydia some 600 years before Christ and changed the would help bolster the beneficiary’s reputation and fill his or her names of the characters accordingly. The Halle staging by Philipp pockets with extra income. But benefits were always a gamble: Harnoncourt updated the action to an unspecified present, with not only could the size of the audience depend on something generic fighters engaged in urban civil war. It was not the silliest as fickle as bad weather, but a small audience could damage a production one had ever seen, although the staging of the great performer’s annual income, as well as his or her reputation. duet “Per le porte del tormento” was cringeworthy. In general the Yet, it was a gamble that most were willing to take. By complicated story was as clearly told as it is likely to be, although the early eighteenth century, the most prominent singers of the the decision to portray Sosarme (Senesino’s role) as incompetent opera gave benefits, as well as some instrumentalists, and various as well as ineffectual was probably a mistake. employees associated with London’s theatrical companies. The Countertenor Benno Schachtner in the title role sang typical season for benefit performances occurred in the winter well and his acting was effective within the director’s concept of and spring, before the wealthier audience members left London the role. Soprano Ines Lex sang and acted very well as Sosarme’s intended, Elmira (Strada’s role), who is at the center of the drama. 1 Benefit concerts are different from benefits of plays or operas pro- As also happened last year, she was let down by her costume duced at London’s theaters in this period. Singers, actors, and actresses who designer, and if a representative from the Occupational Safety and had contracts with a particular playhouse (such as Drury Lane or the Queen’s Health Administration (OSHA) had seen her climbing backwards Theatre) were often also contractually entitled to one benefit per season. Benefit concerts, on the other hand, were mostly independently produced up a ladder to the top of a structure that was visibly unstable, the and afforded beneficiaries a little more control over the event. For the main show would surely have been closed down. Ki-Hyun Park as King literature on eighteenth-century benefits, see Robert D. Hume, “The Origins Haliate’s advisor and the eventual villain, Altomaro, once again of the Actor Benefit in London,”Theatre Research International 9/2 (1984): 99- displayed a wide-ranging bass voice entirely appropriate to a role 111; David McKenty, “The Benefit System in Augustan Drama” (Ph.D. diss., created for Montagnana. The remaining singers were more than University of Pennsylvania, 1966); and St. Vincent Troubridge, The Benefit adequate. The Handel Festival Orchestra, under their Artistic System in the British Theatre (London: The Society for Theatre Research, 1967). Director Bernhard Forck, played well; as usual, the presence continued on p. 2 continued on p. 4 1 Handel’s Greatest Hits... continued from p. 1 specified every selection on the program; and second, because the beneficiaries featured Handel’s music as the main event. for spa towns where they would spend the summer months. The Between 1714 and 1743, advertisements preserve only five such season for benefits was therefore quite short, spanning only concerts—four of them occurred in the winter and spring of February through May; the earlier a performer’s benefit, the 1729. On March 5, 1729, the contralto Jane Barbier gave a benefit better, as audiences would not yet have grown exhausted by the featuring at least seven Handel arias from Royal Academy operas, numbers of special opera performances, recitals, and concerts including Admeto, Siroe, and Tolomeo.8 In fact, Barbier had given a that they could attend nearly every night per week. similar concert in 1726 in conjunction with a performance of The Creating an inviting narrative through creative Recruiting Officer, which was one of the earliest advertised benefits programming and advertising at one’s benefit became necessary to highlight only Handel’s music. On the 1726 concert, she sang for performers needing to distinguish themselves from the excerpts from Rodelinda, Giulio Cesare, Radamisto, Tamerlano, and competition. Most concert benefits in the first decade of the Rinaldo, all of which were Royal Academy operas except for the eighteenth century were variety shows featuring a mix of theatrical last.9 However, Rinaldo’s “Or la tromba” stands out: as the editors performers, singers, instrumentalists, dancers, and even acrobats of Handel Documents acknowledge, Barbier had revived the title and slapstick actors. It was not until the 1710s that musicians role in Rinaldo in the 1710s after Nicolini left London. In 1720, began to organize benefits consisting of only music—and even she retired from the stage after gaining “above £5000 by South then, performers prized musical variety. In a 1714 concert for the Sea stock,” and the reasons for her return to the theater a few benefit of Mr. Kenny (a bassoonist) and William Wells (a violinist years later are unknown.10 The aria’s placement on her 1726 in the opera orchestra), the two musicians advertised a “Consort benefit would have reminded her audiences of her former glory of Vocal and Instrumental Musick” of both English and foreign days of the previous decade when she routinely performed in origin, including a “celebrated song” by Handel, a “charming Italian operas, including those by Handel. entertainment by a Gentlewoman from Abroad who hath never While Barbier’s 1726 concert emphasized the height before exposed her Voice publickly in this Kingdom,” and an of her career, the explosion of 1729 benefit concerts featuring 2 “uncommon” piece of music written only for bassoons. This Handel’s music suggests something more significant. By 1729, event capitalized on age-old marketing techniques of advertising Handel’s music had not been heard on the London stage in new singers, novel ensemble pieces, and renowned names. nearly a year. The Royal Academy of Music, having fallen apart Whichever celebrated song of Handel’s was sung, it is clear that at the seams in 1728, let go its most prominent Italian singers, Kenny and Wells expected a performance of Handel’s music to who departed for more lucrative—or at least financially stable— garner them a larger audience. jobs on the Continent. By February, however, there was buzz Most benefit concerts advertised between 1710 and 1730 throughout London that a new opera company was in the works, did not feature Handel’s music exclusively; usually, the composer as Handel left for the Continent to recruit more singers for the was not advertised at all. If Handel’s name appeared in ads, only venture. He was gone for five months. It seems no coincidence one or two works would be performed—frequently, unnamed that Barbier’s March 5 benefit concert in 1729 was the first in cantatas, harpsichord lessons, and “Songs out of the latest a series to feature Handel’s music exclusively. Following her, operas.” However, in a few cases Handel’s works were named on March 14 Charles Weideman played Handel’s music for the specifically, and these provide insight into what both performers 1727 coronation ceremony of George II on his benefit.11 The and audiences valued by the composer. For example, suites from soprano Ann Turner Robinson followed with a three-act benefit Water Music, (always with a kettle drum played by Benjamin concert of Purcell and Handel on March 26,12 and in April, Baker) frequently closed benefits with a dramatic flourish—such both Jean Christian Kytch and Filippo Rochetti13 gave benefits performances appear on no fewer than twenty programs from in which Handel’s music played a large role.