Abhandlungen zur Musikgeschichte

Band 15

In Verbindung mit Hans Joachim Marx, Martin Staehelin und Ulrich Konrad herausgegeben von Jürgen Heidrich

Matthew Gardner

Handel and Maurice Greene’s Circle at the Apollo Academy

The Music and Intellectual Contexts of Oratorios, Odes and Masques

Mit vier Abbildungen

V&R unipress

Gedruckt mit Unterstützung der Graduiertenakademie der Universität Heidelberg und mit Mitteln der Exzellenzinitiative, und mit Unterstützung des Deutschen Akademischen Austauschdienstes

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Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar.

ISBN 978-3-89971-512-5

© 2008, V&R unipress in Göttingen / www.vr-unipress.de

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Titelbild: Francis Hayman, Maurice Greene (1696–1755) and John Hoadly (1717–76), 1747 © National Portrait Gallery, London (NPG 2106).

Gedruckt auf alterungsbeständigem Papier.

for Anne

Acknowledgments

During the course of producing this book, which originated as my PhD disser- tation, many individuals, libraries and organisations have generously helped with my work, and with adapting to studying in a foreign country. Firstly, I owe a profound debt of thanks to my supervisor, Silke Leopold, for her constant and informative support as well as to Eric Cross and Roz Southey for encouraging my early interest in Handel and eighteenth-century music in Britain whilst I was an undergraduate at Newcastle University. Thanks are also due to Ela Baraniecka, Peter Bews, David Coke, Karin Gunkel, Eva Hänßgen, Sara Jeffe, Harry Johnstone (for tirelessly answering many of my questions on Maurice Greene), Cornelia Knab, Adrian Kuhl, Peter Lynan, Kathrin Pfister, Dorothea Redepenning, Peter Paul Schnierer, Joachim Steinheuer, and to the Doktorkolloquium of the Musikwissenschaftlisches Seminar, Heidelberg, for helpful feedback during the early stages of my work and for offering me the opportunity to present my findings on a regular basis. I would also like to thank all my friends who have not already been mentioned, particularly the members of the ‘Marionettenoper im Säulensaal’ for providing a welcome and friendly weekly distraction. Enormous thanks are also due to my parents for supporting me throughout this project and my university studies in general. My doctoral work was generously funded for three years by the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD), for which I am extremely grateful, and also for the helpful advice from Emma Maidens, Lottie Bulman and Imke Karge. The following libraries and their staff have kindly assisted me by granting access to their collections: Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg (especially Volkmar Becker and Angela Englert); Bodleian Library, Oxford; Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; British Library, London; Royal Academy of Music Library, London; Royal College of Music Library, London; National Portrait Gallery, London; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Rowe Music Library, King’s College, Cam- bridge; Public Record Office, Kew; Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, Hamburg; Bayrische Staatsbibliothek, Munich; Humanities Research Center at the Uni- versity of Austin Library, USA (particularly Emily Rainwater); Sibley Music Library, Rochester, USA; Library of Congress, Washington, USA; and Otago University Library, Dunedin, New Zealand (especially Donald Kerr). Many thanks are owed to the staff at Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht unipress, espe- cially Ulrike Schermuly and Silvie Mittmann for their assistance in preparing the manuscript for publication and for answering my frequent questions. I would also like to thank the editors of the series ‘Abhandlungen zur Musikgeschichte’ for allowing my work to be published as volume 15.

vii Acknowledgments

Finally, special thanks are due to Roz Southey for proof-reading the manu- script, offering much helpful advice on prose and style; and to Anne Buschkühl for reading the final draft (and numerous earlier versions) and for her constant loving support throughout this project.

Matthew Gardner Heidelberg, September 2008

viii

Contents

List of Plates...... xi

List of Tables ...... xi

List of Musical Examples...... xii

Abbreviations and Conventions ...... xix

1 Introduction ...... 1

Part I Oratorios and Musical Dramas...... 19

2 Politics, Competition and Early Oratorio: Greene’s The Song of Deborah and Barak and Handel’s Deborah...... 21

3 Patriot Drama and the Prince of Wales: the Jephtha Oratorios of Greene, Handel and Stanley ...... 51

4 Virtue, Pleasure and the Choice of Hercules...... 103

5 Virtue and Pleasure Continued: the Force or Triumph of Truth...... 155

6 David’s Lamentation over Saul and Jonathan: Boyce and Handel...... 181

Part II Odes for St Cecilia and Pastoral Masques...... 201

7 Odes for St Cecilia’s Day 1729–1739: Stanley, Greene, Handel, Festing and Boyce ...... 203

8 Pastoral Masques and Serenatas: Greene and Boyce...... 271

9 Conclusions ...... 293

ix Contents

Appendices

A. Key Characteristics...... 299

B. Singers who Performed in Works by Greene, Boyce and Festing...... 301

C. Literary Publications and Musical Works Related to the Song of Deborah and Barak...... 303

D. Literary Publications and Musical Works Related to the Choice of Hercules and the Judgment of Paris ...... 305

Select Bibliography ...... 307

Index...... 331

x

Lists

List of Plates 1.1 Title page of A Miscellany of Lyric Poems, The Greatest Part 18 Written for, and Performed in, the Academy of Music Held in Apollo (London: 1740) 3.1 Francis Hayman, Maurice Greene (1696–1755) and John 53 Hoadly (1717–76), 1747 4.1 Paolo de’ Matteis, The Triumph of Hercules, 1712 109 7.1 Dryden, A Song for St Cecilia’s Day (London: 1687) 266

List of Tables 1.1 Large-scale English language works by Handel’s contempor- 2 aries associated with Greene’s Apollo Academy and works with similar subjects by Handel

2.1 Parallels made between the story of Deborah and Barak and 31 contemporary figures in the Texas University copy of William Penn’s poem 2.2 Manuscript Sources of Greene’s The Song of Deborah and 34 Barak 2.3 Structure of Maurice Greene’s The Song of Deborah and 36 Barak based on GB-Lbl Add. 5326, the 1732 libretto and the 1740 libretto 2.4 Allegorical links in the story of Deborah and Barak, 1705 50 and 1744

4.1 Structure of John Stanley’s The Choice of Hercules 119 4.2 Structure of Maurice Greene’s The Judgment of Hercules 132–3 4.3 Structure of Handel’s The Choice of Hercules 143–4

5.1 Singers in Maurice Greene’s The Force of Truth 156 5.2 Airs and Choruses in Act I of Handel’s The Triumph of Time 166 and Truth (1757 and 1758 Versions)

xi Lists

6.1 Structure of William Boyce’s David’s Lamentation over Saul 187–8 and Jonathan 6.2 Structure of Handel’s Saul, Act III, Scenes 4 and 5 196–7

7.1 Odes for St Cecilia’s Day 1729–39 and their librettists 203 7.2 Structure of John Stanley’s The Power of Music, 1729 208 7.3 Names of Singers included in the Bodleian Library Manu- 214 script (GB-Ob MS. d. 36) of Greene’s Ode on St Cecilia’s Day 7.4 Structure of Maurice Greene’s Ode on St Cecilia’s Day, 1730 216 7.5 Structure of Handel’s Alexander’s Feast, 1736 229–30 7.6 Structure of Michael Festing’s A Song for St Cecilia’s Day, 238 c. 1737–8 7.7 Structure of William Boyce’s An Ode for St Cecilia’s Day, 246 c. 1737–8, text by Vidal 7.8 Surviving vocal parts from William Boyce’s An Ode for St 247 Cecilia’s Day, c. 1737–8 7.9 Structure of William Boyce’s An Ode for St Cecilia’s Day, 253–4 1739, text by Lockman 7.10 Structure of Handel’s Ode for St Cecilia’s Day, 1739 267

8.1 Singers named in the Otago copy of the libretto for Greene’s 272 Florimel, or Love’s Revenge 8.2 Singers named in the Otago and Bodleian copies of the 288 libretto for Greene’s Phoebe

List of Musical Examples 2.1 Greene, The Song of Deborah and Barak, bars 13–19 from 38–9 the accompanied recitative ‘From Seir, and from Edom’s plain’ 2.2 Greene, The Song of Deborah and Barak, accompanied 39–40 recitative ‘They came, they fled’ 2.3 Greene, The Song of Deborah and Barak, sinfonia to the 41–2 secco recitative ‘When Sisera with weariness opprest’ 2.4 Greene, The Song of Deborah and Barak, secco recitative 42 ‘Quick to the hammer Jael flies’

xii Lists

2.5 Greene, The Song of Deborah and Barak, accompanied 42 recitative ‘Prostrate he bows’ 2.6 Greene, The Song of Deborah and Barak, bars 15–21 from 43 the air ‘No more returns thy son’ 2.7 Handel, Deborah, bars 1–5 from the chorus ‘Doleful tidings’ 47 2.8 Handel, Deborah, bars 7–11 from the chorus ‘Doleful 48 tidings’

3.1 Greene, Jephtha, bars 7–15 from the accompanied recitative 65 ‘O mighty leader’ 3.2 Greene, Jephtha, bars 1–3 from the accompanied recitative 66 ‘O mighty leader’ 3.3 Greene, Jephtha, bars 1–6 from the accompanied recitative 67 ‘What do I see’ 3.4 Greene, Jephtha, bars 1–4 of the air ‘Ah! My foreboding 68 fears’ (alto version) 3.5 Greene, Jephtha, bars 1–4 from the accompanied recitative ‘I 69 Vow’d before I sought the war’ 3.6 Greene, Jephtha, bars 6–10 from the accompanied recitative 70 ‘But oh! Behold the princely Pair’ 3.7 Greene, Jephtha, bars 11–18 from the recitative ‘Can Heav’n 70 delight in guiltless blood?’ 3.8 Greene, Jephtha, the accompanied recitative ‘That must not 71 be’ (original soprano version) 3.9 Greene, Jephtha, bars 1–9 from the accompanied recitative 72 ‘That must not be’ (alto version) 3.10 Greene, Jephtha, bars 10–15 from the accompanied recitative 74 ‘Go, and with humble Tears’ 3.11 Greene, Jephtha, secco recitative ‘O Heav’n! With Pity view 74–5 a father’s fondness’ 3.12 Greene, Jephtha, bars 25–30 from the air ‘God of Hosts 76 whom we adore’ 3.13 Greene, Jephtha, bars 1–5 from the air ‘There what first shall 77 meet my eye’ 3.14 Handel, Jephtha, bars 1–6 from the accompanied recitative 87 ‘If, Lord, sustain’d by thy almighty pow’r’ 3.15 Handel, Jephtha, bars 1–6 from the arioso ‘Let other 89 creatures die’

xiii Lists

3.16 Handel, Jephtha, bars 23–9 from the accompanied recitative 90–1 ‘Deeper and deeper still’ 3.17 Handel, Jephtha, bars 37–44 from the accompanied recitative 91–2 ‘Deeper and deeper still’ 3.18 Stanley, Jephtha, bars 5–10 from the air ‘To thee, Almighty, 97 I my cause commend’ 3.19 Stanley, Jephtha, bars 12–36 from the air ‘Let future times 98 my tender story tell’ 3.20 Stanley, Jephtha, bars 8–17 from the air ‘Curst superstition, 99–100 deadly taint!’

4.1 Stanley, The Choice of Hercules, bars 1–20 from Pleasure’s 120–1 air ‘Hercules thou son of Jove’ 4.2 Stanley, The Choice of Hercules, bars 1–8 from Virtue’s air 121 ‘Blooming hero whose high birth’ 4.3 Stanley, The Choice of Hercules, bars 45–50 from Pleasure’s 122 air ‘Hercules thou son of Jove’ 4.4 Stanley, The Choice of Hercules, bars 26–36 from Virtue’s 123 air ‘Blooming hero whose high birth’ 4.5 Stanley, The Choice of Hercules, bars 37–46 from Pleasure 125 and Virtue’s duet ‘Smiles and graces on me wait’ 4.6 Stanley, The Choice of Hercules, bars 64–72 from Pleasure 125 and Virtue’s duet ‘Smiles and graces on me wait’ 4.7 Stanley, The Choice of Hercules, bars 82–8 from Pleasure 126 and Virtue’s duet ‘Smiles and graces on me wait’ 4.8 Stanley, The Choice of Hercules, bars 33–44 from Hercules’s 127 air ‘My soul now feels a Genial flame’ 4.9 Stanley, The Choice of Hercules, bars 69–72 from Hercules’s 128 air ‘My soul now feels a Genial flame’ 4.10 Stanley, The Choice of Hercules, bars 120–32 from 128 Hercules’s air ‘My soul now feels a Genial flame’ 4.11 Handel, The Choice of Hercules, bars 1–14 from Pleasure’s 144–5 air ‘Come, blooming boy’ 4.12 Handel, The Choice of Hercules, bars 7–13 from Virtue’s air 146 ‘This manly youth’s exalted mind’ 4.13 Handel, The Choice of Hercules, bars 18–22 from the 148–9 Attendant on Pleasure’s air ‘Enjoy the sweet Elysian grove’ 4.14 Handel, The Choice of Hercules, bars 26–31 from the trio 150 ‘Where shall I go?’ (strings omitted)

xiv Lists

4.15 Handel, The Choice of Hercules, bars 36–8 from the trio 150 ‘Where shall I go?

5.1 Handel, The Triumph of Time and Truth, bars 1–16 from the 167 soprano solo and chorus ‘Come, come! Live with Pleasure, taste in youth life’s only joy’ 5.2 Handel, The Triumph of Time and Truth, bars 1–11 from 168–9 Counsel’s air ‘The Beauty smiling’ 5.3 Handel, The Triumph of Time and Truth, bars 1–19 from 170 Time’s air ‘Loathsome urns’ 5.4 Handel, The Triumph of Time and Truth, bars 1–42 from 171–3 Deceit’s air ‘Happy Beauty’, added in 1758 5.5 Handel, The Triumph of Time and Truth, bars 16–19 from 174–5 Beauty’s air ‘My former ways resigning’ 5.6 Handel, The Triumph of Time and Truth, bars 23–35 from 176 Pleasure’s air ‘Like clouds, stormy winds them impelling’ 5.7 Handel, The Triumph of Time and Truth, bars 40–4 from 176 Pleasure’s air ‘Like clouds, stormy winds them impelling’ 5.8 Handel, The Triumph of Time and Truth, bars 68–74 from 177 Pleasure’s air ‘Like clouds, stormy winds them impelling’ 5.9 Handel, The Triumph of Time and Truth, bars 87–90 from 178 Pleasure’s air ‘Like clouds, stormy winds them impelling’ 5.10 Handel, The Triumph of Time and Truth, bars 1–7 from 179 Beauty’s air ‘Guardian angel’s’

6.1 Boyce, David’s Lamentation over Saul and Jonathan, bars 188 19–25 from the air ‘Take this bracelet, deck thine arm’ 6.2 Boyce, David’s Lamentation over Saul and Jonathan, the 189 accompanied recitative ‘Struck as with thunder David rends his clothes’, 6.3 Boyce, David’s Lamentation over Saul and Jonathan, bars 190–1 1–8 from the chorus ‘For Saul, for Jonathan, they fast, they weep’ 6.4 Boyce, David’s Lamentation over Saul and Jonathan, bars 192 10–16 from the air ‘How cou’d conscience hush her stings’ 6.5 Boyce, David’s Lamentation over Saul and Jonathan, bars 192 91–4 from the air ‘How cou’d conscience hush her stings’ 6.6 Boyce, David’s Lamentation over Saul and Jonathan, bars 193 18–23 from the duet ‘Sad Israel! Thy beauty’s pride’

xv Lists

6.7 Boyce, David’s Lamentation over Saul and Jonathan, bars 194 4–10 from the accompanied recitative ‘How are the mighty fallen!’ 6.8 Handel, Saul, bars 9–15 from the chorus ‘Mourn, Israel, 198–9 mourn thy beauty lost!’

7.1 Stanley, The Power of Music, bars 81–8 from the air ‘All 209 nature own thy mighty pow’r’ 7.2 Stanley, The Power of Music, bars 28–33 from the alternative 210 solo alto version of the chorus ‘Britons then your voices raise’ 7.3 Greene, Ode on St Cecilia’s Day, bars 1–11 from the air ‘In a 217 sadly pleasing strain’ 7.4 Greene, Ode on St Cecilia’s Day, bars 62–7 from the air ‘In a 217 sadly pleasing strain’ 7.5 Greene, Ode on St Cecilia’s Day, bars 75–80 from the air 218–9 ‘When the first vessel dar’d the seas’ 7.6 Greene, Ode on St Cecilia’s Day, bars 17–20 from the chorus 220 ‘But when thro’ all th’ infernal bounds’ (strings omitted) 7.7 Greene, Ode on St Cecilia’s Day, bars 20–3 from the chorus 221–2 ‘But when thro’ all th’ infernal bounds’ 7.8 Greene, Ode on St Cecilia’s Day, bars 1–13 from the air ‘But 222–3 hark! He strikes the golden lyre’ 7.9 Handel, Alexander’s Feast, the accompanied recitative ‘He 232 chose a mournful muse’ 7.10 Handel, Alexander’s Feast, repeated bass line from the 234 chorus ‘Break his bands of sleep asunder’ 7.11 Handel, Alexander’s Feast, altered bass line for the final 234 repeat in the chorus ‘Break his bands of sleep asunder’ 7.12 Festing, A Song for St Cecilia’s Day, bars 18–21 from the air 240 ‘Let all Cecilia’s praise proclaim’ 7.13 Festing, A Song for St Cecilia’s Day, bars 38–42 from the air 241 ‘Let all Cecilia’s praise proclaim’ 7.14 Festing, A Song for St Cecilia’s Day, bars 19–21 from the air 242 ‘For ever consecrate the day’ 7.15 Festing, A Song for St Cecilia’s Day, bars 15–27 from ‘When 243 Orpheus strikes the trembling lyre’ 7.16 Boyce, An Ode for St Cecilia’s Day (1737–8), bars 44–8 248 from the trio ‘Where peace prevails’

xvi Lists

7.17 Boyce, An Ode for St Cecilia’s Day (1737–8), bars 57–65 250–1 from the air ‘In war’s fierce alarms’ 7.18 Boyce, An Ode for St Cecilia’s Day (1739), bars 1–10 from 256 the air ‘Hark! The loud trumpet calls a youth to arms’ 7.19 Boyce, An Ode for St Cecilia’s Day (1739), bars 1–10 from 257 the air ‘What cruel pangs the lover feels’ 7.20 Boyce, An Ode for St Cecilia’s Day (1739), bars 19–26 from 259 the recitative ‘In solemn chorus now they join’ 7.21 Boyce, An Ode for St Cecilia’s Day (1739), first half of the 260 trumpet fanfare (bars 37–44) from the recitative ‘In solemn chorus now they join’ 7.22 Boyce, An Ode for St Cecilia’s Day (1739), bars 53–67 from 260–1 the accompanied recitative ‘In solemn chorus now they join’ 7.23 Boyce, An Ode for St Cecilia’s Day (1739), bars 33–5 from 261 the air ‘Musick, gently-soothing power’ 7.24 Handel, Ode for St Cecilia’s Day, bars 40–2 from the air 268 ‘The trumpet’s loud clangour’ 7.25 Purcell, King Arthur, bars 28–34 from the air ‘Come if you 268 dare’ 7.26 Handel, Ode for St Cecilia’s Day, bars 21–3 from the air 269 ‘The soft complaining flute’ 7.27 Handel, Ode for St Cecilia’s Day, bars 49–60 from the air 269 ‘The soft complaining flute’

8.1 Greene, Florimel, or Love’s Revenge, bars 1–6 from 275 Florimel’s air ‘Fly, fly, fly unkind Myrtillo fly’ 8.2 Greene, Florimel, or Love’s Revenge, bars 19–26 from 276 Myrtillo’s air ‘Blow winds, and bear me to some grove’ 8.3 Boyce, Peleus and Thetis, bars 1–11 from Thetis’s air ‘But 278–9 see, the mighty thunder’s here’ 8.4 Boyce, Peleus and Thetis, bars 4–10 from the trio ‘Bring me 279–80 lightening, give me thunder’ 8.5 Boyce, Solomon, bars 3–7 from She’s accompanied recitative 285 ‘Obedient to thy voice I hie’ 8.6 Boyce, Solomon, bars 7–11 from the duet ‘Thou soft invader 286–7 of the soul’

xvii Lists

8.7 Greene, Phoebe, bars 1–4 from Amyntas’s air ‘Fly, false 290 deceiver’ 8.8 Greene, Phoebe, bars 44–8 from Amyntas’s air ‘Fly, false 290 deceiver’ 8.9 Greene, Phoebe, bars 11–15 from Sylvio’s air ‘Pity the 291 weakness of a mind’

xviii

Abbreviations and Conventions

Library Sigla:

Germany D-Hs Hamburg, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Carl von Ossietzky

Great Britain GB-Cfm Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum GB-Ckc Cambridge, Rowe Music Library, King’s College GB-Cu Cambridge, University Library GB-Lbl London, British Library GB-Lcm London, Royal College of Music GB-Lpro London, Public Record Office GB-Lam London, Royal Academy of Music GB-Ob Oxford, Bodleian Library GB-T Tenbury, St Michael’s College (on deposit at Gb-Ob)

United States of America US-AUS Austin, The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin US-NHub Yale, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University US-Rsm New York, Sibley Music Library, Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester US-SM San Marino, California, Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery US-Wc Washington DC, Library of Congress

New Zealand Z-Du Dunedin, Otago University Library

Journals and Periodicals: ECM Eighteenth-Century Music EM Early Music GHB Göttinger Händel-Beiträge GM The Gentleman’s Magazine HJB Händel-Jahrbuch

xix Abbreviations and Conventions

JRMA Journal of the Royal Musical Association ML Music and Letters MQ The Musical Quarterly MT The Musical Times SB Studies in Bibliography

Other: fo(s). folio(s) ESTC English Short Title Catalogue (http://estc.bl.uk/) HHA Hallische Händel-Ausgabe HHB Eisen and Eisen (ed.), Händel-Handbuch

Key Signatures: Keys always are always written as G minor or G major except in tables where upper case is used for major keys and lower case for minor keys.

Dates: Until 1752 the Julian calendar was used in England and the New Year began on 25 March. The practice used in the eighteenth century was to give dates between 1 January and 24 March in the form ‘5 January 1742/3’. The modern form of notating dates is used in this study; however, the eighteenth-century form appears in citation.

Notation: The Helmholtz system has been used throughout when describing specific pitches; a' is the A below middle C (440 Hrz). Clefs in examples are altered to the most convenient modern alternatives.

Bible: Unless otherwise stated, all biblical quotes are taken from the King James Bible which was in common use during the eighteenth century.1 Chapters are referred to in Roman numerals, verses in Arabic numerals; for example Judges XI, 17.

1 The Bible: Authorized King James Version with Apocrypha (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997).

xx Abbreviations and Conventions

Capitalisation in Examples and Quotes: In all quotations the original capitalisation has been preserved. However, in the case of musical examples and sections of text from librettos included in the main text modern capitalisation is used, owing to discrepancies between printed librettos, hand-written librettos, and the text underlay in music manuscripts.

xxi

1 Introduction

George Frideric Handel dominated the London music scene for almost fifty years. After arriving in England in 1710, he spent the first twenty years of his time in London primarily composing Italian operas and music for royal occasions. From 1732 onwards, he turned towards a new genre, English oratorio, which by the end of the 1730s was fully established. Handel was, however, by no means the only composer interested in developing this new genre, and throughout the 1730s and 1740s Maurice Greene (1696–1755), William Boyce (1711–79), Michael Christian Festing (1705–52) and John Stanley (1712–86) all produced English language works, many of which were performed at Greene’s musical club, the Apollo Academy. Several of Greene’s works use, or are based on, themes which Handel also set, including The Song of Deborah and Barak, Jephtha, The Judgment of Hercules, and his Ode on St Cecilia’s Day; yet all of Greene’s works pre-date those by Handel. Greene’s contemporaries at the Apollo Academy also set subjects which attracted Handel’s attention; his pupil William Boyce and friend, the violinist Michael Christian Festing, both made attempts at setting subjects in the style of English oratorio, as did the blind organist John Stanley (another pupil of Greene) (table 1.1). That Handel set similar subjects to his English contemporaries raises the question of to what extent competition between composers was an issue. Handel’s Deborah in 1733, for instance, was written within six months of Greene’s The Song of Deborah and Barak.1 Did Handel specifically aim to produce works on the same subjects as his English con- temporaries in order to compete with them, or was he simply setting popular themes? Handel’s English contemporaries associated with the Apollo Academy were some of London’s highest-ranking musicians who, as table 1.1 shows, produced a wide range of works including oratorio, odes and pastoral masques, and Handel may have considered them a threat. Greene, for example, was, by 1736, organist of St Paul’s Cathedral, organist and composer to the Chapel Royal, and Master of the Kings Musick; Boyce also held a post as composer to the Chapel Royal from 1736. Stanley was an exceptional organist occupying various positions from the age of twelve and in 1729 was the youngest person to date to be awarded a Bachelor of Music degree from Oxford.2 His organ voluntaries at the Temple Church and St Andrews, Holborn are said by John Alcock to have attracted large

1 Competition in relation to Greene’s and Handel’s Deborah oratorios is discussed in Chapter 2. 2 See Eva Zöllner, English Oratorio after Handel: The London Oratorio Series and its Repertory, 1760–1800 (Marburg: Tectum Verlag, 2002), 130.

1 1 Introduction audiences, including Handel.3 Yet competition was clearly not an issue with reference to some subjects; Greene’s Florimel, or Love’s Revenge and Phoebe were not themes that interested Handel. These works are, however, interesting in terms of competition in that they were Greene’s most successful ‘theatrical’ works; why did Handel not set these subjects? A key focus of this study is to assess elements of competition between composers and, where appropriate, to examine the interchange of compositional techniques. Did, for example, Handel’s contemporaries learn anything from Handel, or vice versa?

Table 1.1: Large-scale English language works by Handel’s contemporaries associated with Greene’s Apollo Academy and works with similar subjects by Handel Ode on St Cecilia’s Day Stanley (1729), Greene (1730), Handel (1736), Festing (c. 1737–8), Boyce (c. 1737–8), Boyce (1739), Handel (1739)

Judgment of Hercules Stanley (1730), Greene (1739–40), Handel (1751)

Deborah Greene (1732), Handel (1733)

David’s Lamentation over Boyce (1736), Handel (only in Part III of Saul) (1738) Saul and Jonathan

Jephtha Greene (1737), Handel (1751), Stanley (c. 1751–7)

The Force or Triumph Greene (1744), Handel (1757) of Truth

Pastoral Masques Greene, Florimel, or Love’s Revenge (1734); Boyce, Peleus and Thetis (by 1740); Boyce, Solomon (1742); Greene, Phoebe (1747)

Aims and Previous Research Handel’s works have received considerable attention and there have been numerous studies on various aspects of his English language works. One of the most important and frequently referenced works is Winton Dean’s Handel’s Dramatic Oratorios and Masques; Dean, however, omits non-dramatic works – those without named characters.4 These works include Israel in Egypt, Alexander’s Feast, Ode for St Cecilia’s Day, L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, Messiah, Occasional Oratorio and The Triumph of Time and Truth, several of which form part of the present study in relation to works produced by Handel’s contemporaries. A further indispensable resource is Otto Erich Deutsch’s

3 John Alcock, letter concerning Stanley in The Universal Magazine, 79, July 1786, 44. 4 Winton Dean, Handel’s Dramatic Oratorios and Masques (London: Oxford Uni- versity Press, 1959).

2 Aims and Previous Research

Handel: A Documentary Biography, which contains a collection of documentary evidence on Handel’s life.5 These works deal primarily with Handel; his English contemporaries are mentioned only briefly and take a very minor role in Handel literature in general. Two biographical works on Maurice Greene and John Stanley have also been produced; however, both are unpublished dissertations and some of the infor- mation contained within these works is now outdated, owing to the discovery of new evidence.6 In the case of Harry Johnstone’s work (1967) on Maurice Greene, many areas of Greene’s biography and sources have been updated by Johnstone himself through the publication of articles;7 a detailed analysis (both musical and textural) of Greene’s works in the oratorio, ode and masque traditions has not yet appeared in print. Glyn Williams’s doctoral dissertation (1977) on John Stanley remains the definitive work on Stanley’s life, works and career; again, only highlights of individual works are outlined – the aim of Williams’s work was to provide an overview of Stanley’s life. In the case of Michael Festing, the main research interest has been his music for violin; his Song for St Cecilia’s Day has not yet received any detailed attention.8 More recently, William Boyce’s output has been researched by Ian Bartlett;9 however, a detailed study of Boyce’s works alongside those on similar subjects by his contemporaries at the Apollo Academy

5 Otto Erich Deutsch, Handel: A Documentary Biography (London: A and C Black, 1955). Further large-scale works on Handel’s life include Walter Serauky, Georg Friedrich Händel: sein Leben – sein Werk, vols. 3–5 (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1958); Donald Burrows, Handel (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994); and HHB, vol. 4. 6 H Diack Johnstone, The Life and Works of Maurice Greene (1696–1755), 2 vols. (PhD Dissertation, University of Oxford, 1968) and A Glyn Williams, The Life and Works of John Stanley (1712–86), 2 vols. (PhD Dissertation, University of Reading, 1977). 7 See for example H Diack Johnstone, ‘Handel and his bellows-blower (Maurice Greene)’, GHB, 7 (1998), 208–17; H Diack Johnstone, ‘More on Dr. Hoadly’s “Poems Set to Music by Dr. Greene”’, SB, 50 (1997), 262–71; and H Diack Johnstone, ‘New Light on John Hoadly and His “Poems Set to Music by Dr. Greene”’, Studies in Bibli- ography, 56 (2003–4), 281–93. 8 For a biography of Festing see H Diack Johnstone, ‘Festing, Michael Christian (1705– 1752)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) (http://www. oxforddnb.com/view/article/9373, accessed 1 May 2007). 9 Ian Bartlett, ‘Boyce and Early English Oratorio–1’, MT, 120 (April, 1979), 293–7; Ian Bartlett, ‘Boyce and Early English Oratorio–2’, MT, 120 (May, 1979), 385–87 and 389–91; Ian Bartlett, ‘Boyce’s Homage to St Cecilia’, MT, 123 (November, 1982), 758–61; and Ian Bartlett and Robert J Bruce, ‘William Boyce’s ‘Solomon’’, ML, 61/1 (1980), 28–49. Greene’s and Boyce’s court odes have formed part of a study by Rosamond McGuinness; see Rosamond McGuinness, English Court Odes 1660–1820 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1971). Robert Dale McIntosh’s doctoral dissertation covers few works and pays little attention to Boyce’s oratorio David’s Lamentation over Saul and Jonathan and his Odes for St Cecilia. See Robert Dale McIntosh, The Dramatic Music of William Boyce (PhD Dissertation, University of Washington, 1979).

3 1 Introduction and Handel is overdue. One of the underlying aims of the current study is to provide a musical analysis of the large-scale English-language works performed at the Apollo Academy which have received little or no detailed attention. Their musical relationship to Handel’s oratorios, odes and musical dramas on the same or similar subjects is explored, and the works are placed in the general context of musical development in the 1730s, 1740s and 1750s. An analysis of the music and history of the works is by no means sufficient. During the eighteenth century, politics and religion played a considerably more important role in daily life than they do in the twenty-first century. As Ruth Smith has shown in her detailed and wide-ranging study Handel’s Oratorios and Eighteenth-Century Thought, Handel’s English oratorios should be interpreted in terms of politics, religion and national identity.10 Many of his works relate to contemporary events or situations including wars and the royal family, or subjects which were currently popular and connected to politics or morality.11 One such example is Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus (1747), which is associated with the Duke of Cumberland and his victory over the Jacobites at Culloden, as well as being closely related to the uncertain outcome of the ongoing war with France.12 The content of the works enabled Handel’s audiences to relate to the characters and events on stage, making the oratorios allegorical to eighteenth-century Britons. The role of religion was particularly important in that, as Smith rightly points out, the pulpit was one of the main places where political and cultural commentary was made – the use of the Bible and religious teachings to bolster political and national interests was common and is also demonstrated in Handel’s oratorios. Smith has

10 Ruth Smith, Handel’s Oratorios and Eighteenth-Century Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995). Smith has also published numerous articles where the political and religious contexts of Handel’s works have been considered. These include, amongst others, Ruth Smith, ‘Handel’s Israelite Librettos and English Politics 1732–1753’, GHB, 5 (1993), 195–215; Ruth Smith, ‘Intellectual Contexts of Handel’s English Oratorios’, in Hogwood, Christopher and Luckett, Richard (eds.), Music in Eighteenth-Century England: Essays in Memory of Charles Cudworth (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 115–33; and Ruth Smith, ‘The Meaning of Morell’s Libretto of “Judas Maccabaeus”’, ML, 79/1 (1998), 50–71. Alexander Shapiro has also explored the religious background of Handel’s early English ora- torios, see Alexander Shapiro, ‘“Drama of an infinitely Superior Nature”: Handel’s Early English Oratorios and the Religious Sublime’, ML, 74/2 (1993), 215–45. 11 As Smith has shown, popular comparisons include the Stuart family to Saul and his descendants; George II to David or Solomon; the Glorious Revolution and Hanoverian Succession to the crown of Israel passing from Saul and his family to David and his family; Catholic Europe to the Philistines; the threat of Popery to ‘Egyptian bondage’ or heathen rites; irreligion to Israelite idolatry; and licentiousness to Israelite neglect of God’s laws. See Smith, Handel’s Oratorios, 220. 12 See ibid., 299–300; Smith, ‘The Meaning of Morell’s Libretto of “Judas Macca- baeus”’, 50–71, and Hans Joachim Marx, Händels Oratorien, Oden und Serenaten (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1998), 138.

4 Boundaries and Limitations also shown that the analysis and assessment of political, allegorical and religious issues as well as national identity all fall under the heading of ‘intellectual contexts’,13 and has successfully proven that placing Handel’s works in their wider intellectual contexts can greatly increase the level at which the works can be understood and help to show how an eighteenth-century audience may have interpreted the works. The music has been easily accessible for a considerable time, but the meaning of the texts and consequently the way audiences understood the works has been a mystery. Smith’s research is primarily limited to Handel’s works, and although she offers a brief analysis of the political contexts of two oratorios by Handel’s contemporaries (Greene’s Jephtha and Boyce’s David’s Lamentation over Saul and Jonathan), these are only considered in relation to Handel’s works.14 Smith also purposefully limits herself to oratorios, omitting non-religious theatre works, including Acis and Galatea, Alexander’s Feast, Ode for St Cecilia’s Day, L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, Semele, Hercules, The Choice of Hercules and The Triumph of Time and Truth.15 Furthermore, her main purpose is to assess the history and context of the words of Handel’s oratorios and not the music itself; a study of how images of politics and national identity are related to the music has not been seriously attempted.16 Two central aims of this study are therefore to consider to what extent the works by Greene, Boyce, Festing and Stanley (as outlined in table 1.1) carry the same political, religious, cultural or national messages as works by Handel, and to place these works in their wider intellectual contexts, affording insight into what the works meant to audiences in the eight- eenth century and how their meanings were conveyed. Combined with an analysis of the music and of the historical development of the works, this will provide a deeper understanding of the oratorios, odes, dramas and pastoral masques of Handel’s contemporaries at the Apollo Academy, the related works by Handel, and eighteenth-century musical life in general.

Boundaries and Limitations The scope of this study is limited to the works included in table 1.1 above, that is, large-scale English-language works produced by Maurice Greene, William Boyce, Michael Christian Festing and John Stanley performed at the Apollo Academy or by Greene’s immediate circle, primarily during the 1730s and early 1740s, and works on comparable subjects by Handel. Only those parts of Handel’s works relevant to a comparison with the works of his contemporaries are considered in detail. This helps to prevent overlap with previous literature on Handel and keeps the works of Handel’s contemporaries as the central focus of this study. There are

13 Ruth Smith, ‘Intellectual Contexts of Handel’s English Oratorios’, 115. 14 Smith, Handel’s Oratorios, 117–9, 329–31 and 388–45. 15 Ibid., 11. 16 Ibid., 1.

5 1 Introduction several later works by Boyce and Stanley in particular which could have been included and are not, such as Boyce’s The Tempest (1757) or Stanley’s Zimri (1760).17 These works were written shortly before or after Handel’s death and they are not works which he also set; furthermore, they were performed after the Apollo Academy was disbanded. To have considered these works would have exceeded the scope and manageable size of this project. A study of the intellectual contexts of the works of Handel’s contemporaries in the 1760s and after his death is also overdue and provides an attractive group of works for further research.18 Several smaller-scale works known to have been produced at the Apollo Academy, such as Festing’s A Song on May Morning and Part of the third Chapter of Habakkuk and Greene’s setting of Addison’s A Sacred Ode, which consist of only five short numbers each, are mentioned only where a link to the larger-scale works is important.

Methodology Many of the works by Handel and his contemporaries which use similar themes are, as shown in table 1.1 above, spread across several years. A pure chronological approach is impractical, as works with the same subjects did not necessarily appear immediately after one another, but were interspersed by compositions on different subjects. The settings are therefore divided into three main genre groups: firstly, works that are part of, or closely related to, the oratorio tradition; secondly, works which are part of the ode tradition and are written in praise of St Cecilia; and thirdly, works which come from the pastoral tradition. Part I deals with the works which belong to the development of oratorio and Part II concentrates on those works which are part of the St Cecilia’s Day ode tradition and pastoral tradition. Within Part I, the subjects are assessed in chronological order according to when they were set by Greene (he was, in most cases, the first to do so). Part II covers odes for St Cecilia and then the pastoral masques.19 Within each chapter, the relevant works are dealt with chronologically. With regard to each subject covered, the historical background to the intellectual contexts is considered first, before each composition is placed in its context and any changes in the political,

17 The oratorio after Handel has been the centre of a major study by Eva Zöllner; see Zöllner, English Oratorio after Handel. Theatre music in the eighteenth century has been assessed by Roger Fiske in English Theatre Music in the Eighteenth Century (London: Oxford University Press, 1973). 18 Eva Zöllner has produced an overview of the oratorio repertoire after Handel’s death; however, the intellectual contexts of the works are not considered. See Zöllner, English Oratorio after Handel. 19 Greene’s The Judgment of Hercules was advertised as a pastoral masque and contains elements of this tradition; however, it can also be related to the oratorio tradition for its moral content. Handel’s The Choice of Hercules was produced in the manner of his oratorios. Therefore, these works are included in Part I and not Part II.

6 Greene’s Relationship with Handel 1712–1730 religious or cultural climate are assessed. A musical analysis reflecting, where necessary, the contexts of the libretto then follows. During the eighteenth century, key characteristics played an important role; these are referred to during the musical analysis, particularly when the key signatures are closely linked with the action or part of the story. A particularly clear example can be found in the odes for St Cecilia’s Day discussed in Chapter 7, where D major is used in all the works considered for war-like and heroic music. Several studies into key characteristics and tonality in the eighteenth century have drawn on primary source material, such as Johann Mattheson’s Das neu-eröffnete Orchestre, as well as works by Charpentier, Rousseau, Masson and Rameau, two of the most important modern studies being those by Rita Steblin and Wolfgang Auhagen.20 Steblin focuses mainly on reviewing the theoretical texts of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century authors, and provides useful tables and appendices comparing the different opinions of the various authors.21 Auhagen assesses theoretical writings and also considers a wide range of scenes from Handel’s works to try and establish Handel’s personal use of key signatures for specific situations.22 Appendix A includes a list of key characteristics common to the eighteenth century which is based on the work and results of Steblin and Auhagen. It should be noted, however, that the analysis of key characteristics is difficult as there are always exceptions to the theoretical characteristics, which can differ between composers. Wherever possible, primary sources have been used: texts survive for all the works considered in detail as well as music manuscripts, except for Greene’s The Judgment of Hercules and The Force of Truth. The surviving music manuscripts and the libretto sources for individual works are referred to in each chapter. In some of the surviving librettos and music manuscripts for works by Greene and Boyce, the names of singers have been pencilled in, providing additional infor- mation into early performances of the works. Appendix B therefore includes a table of singers known to have sung at the Apollo Academy or in further per- formances of the works in London.

Greene’s Relationship with Handel 1712–1730 The relationship between Greene and Handel is not an easy one to map: many of the details are difficult to ascertain and impossible to verify. There is much

20 Johann Mattheson, Das neu-eröffnete Orchestre (Hamburg: 1713). For details of the works by Charpentier, Rousseau, Masson and Rameau see Rita Steblin, A History of Key Characteristics in the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries (3rd edition, Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 1996), 31, and Wolfgang Auhagen, Studien zur Tonartencharakteristik in theoretischen Schriften und Kompositionen vom späten 17. bis zum Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1983). 21 Steblin, A History of Key Characteristics, 40 and 222–308. 22 Auhagen, Studien zur Tonartencharakteristik, 248–57.

7 1 Introduction tradition, innuendo, and anecdotal evidence from music historians such as Charles Burney and John Hawkins, a great deal of which is probably unreliable. Several modern authors, including Harry Johnstone, Greene’s principal biographer, and Donald Burrows, have, however, managed to piece together parts of the puzzle, which are combined here as a clear chronology of their relationship, providing the necessary background to the issues of competition investigated in the following chapters.23 Greene and Handel’s relations were initially good, but this friendship appar- ently lasted only about ten years, after which they fell out so badly that, according to Burney, Handel never spoke of Greene again without some ‘injurious epithet’.24 Born in 1696, Greene was eleven years younger than Handel at the time of their first meeting, which probably took place in St Paul’s Cathedral. It is likely that Handel, soon after his arrival in England in 1710, went there to view the cathedral, which was nearing completion, and to acquaint himself with some of the lay clerks and organists. At the time, Greene was assistant to Richard Brind, the cathedral organist, and was undoubtedly keen to make friends with visiting composers and musicians.25 Burney states in his ‘Sketch of the Life of Handel’ in An Account of the Musical Performances in Westminster-Abbey and the Pantheon in Com- memoration of Handel that Greene ‘had sometimes literally condescended to become his [Handel’s] bellows-blower, when he went to St. Paul’s to play on that organ, for the exercise it afforded him, in the use of the pedals’.26 He also mentions how Handel ‘used to get himself and young Greene locked up in the church, together; and, in summer often stript into his shirt, and played till eight or nine o’clock at night’.27 The organ at St Paul’s did not have pedals at the time, but the essential elements of the story are confirmed by Hawkins in his General History of Music whilst giving an account of Handel’s activities during his residence at Burlington House in 1717: When Handel had no particular engagements, he frequently went in the after- noon to St. Paul’s church, where Mr. Greene, though he was not then organist, was very assiduous in his civilities to him: by him he was introduced to, and made acquainted with the principal performers in the choir. The truth is, that Handel was very fond of St. Paul’s organ, built by father Smith, and which was then almost a new instrument; Brind was then the organist, and no very celebrated performer: the tone of the instrument delighted Handel; and a little

23 Johnstone, ‘Handel and his bellows-blower (Maurice Greene)’, 208–17, and Donald Burrows, Handel and the English Chapel Royal (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 281–7. 24 Charles Burney, A General History of Music from the Earliest Ages to the Present Period, vol. 3 (London: 1789), 489. 25 Greene became organist of St Paul’s in March 1718 when Richard Brind died. 26 Charles Burney, An Account of the Musical Performances in Westminster-Abbey and the Pantheon in Commemoration of Handel (London: 1785), 33n. 27 Ibid.

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