Preface George Frideric Handel was born A Guide to Handel's London in Germany, lived in Italy for four years, and made London his home by Carol J. Schaub for the last fifty years of his life. With musical traditions firmly established in many European cities, why did Handel choose London? As today's ·residence at Cannons, Brydges' residents and tourists are aware, grand house near Edgeware in Mid­ London is one of the finest cultural dlesex. Handel's first biographer, centers in the world. We can only John Mainwaring, wrote in 1760 speculate that Handel had the same that Cannons was "a place which feeling about. the city when he was then in all its glory, but arrived in 1710. Although many of remarkable for having much more the· landmarks associated with of art than nature, and much more Handel's life in London have disap­ cost than art."2 Handel stayed at 'peared over the intervening cen­ Cannons until 1719 when his love turies, it is hoped that this guide will for the theater and the newly assist all music lovers in retracing established Royal Academy lured some of Handel's footsteps. him back to London. In 1723, Handel moved to the Part I house at 25 Brook Street where he A Guide to the Past lived until his death on 14 April 1759. It was in a neighborhood in­ Setting the Stage ... habited by "people of quality"3 and Handel's London did not have the Handel must have been quite com­ convenience of an efficient fortable there. The parish church Underground system and red was St. George's, Hanover Square. double-decker busses. Streets were Although there is no evidence that unpaved, muddy, and it was not un­ any of Handel's music was ever per­ til 1737 that pedestrians and car­ formed there during his lifetime, he riages were separated by posts 25 Brook Street, London-Handel's was a regular worshipper at the erected on the major roads. The area residence from 1723-1759. church and records show that he surrounding the city's most rented a place in one of the pews prestigious theater in Haymarket Italy, he found London to be a center from 1755. was just that-with 1300 hay of intellectual and cultural activity. wagons on market days to fuel the Society was receptive to new A Place to Perform . Theaters city's equine transport system.! musical ideas (especially Italian The King's (originally Queen's) The half century which Handel opera, introduced in 1705), and sup­ Theater on Haymarket provided a lived here was a time of expansion, port from the aristocracy offered venue for more than forty of development, and opportunity for some measure of financial security. Handel's operas, oratorios, and artistic and business endeavors. Since the death of Purcell some fif­ other stage works. It was here Londpn in 1710 was a compact city: teen years earlier, the thriving Handel's first opera, Rinaldo, was the western limit was Bond Street, cultural environment had been performed in 1711. Rinaldo was an north of Oxford Street were hamlets without a musical leader. London instant success, and Handel com­ of Marylebone, Paddington, and was ready for Handel-and he was posed three more Italian operas in Tottenham Court, and the area right for London. the next few years. These operas above Piccadilly consisted of were revived at the King's Theater meadow and farmland. By 1750, A Place to Live . until 1717; for a variety of reasons many fashionable squares had been During his first visit to London, there were no opera seasons during built in the area bordered by Oxford Handel apparently stayed with the years that Handel was at Can­ Street, Hyde Park, and the Thames. friends. After a brief trip to Ger­ nons. London had a royal court and a many, he returned in 1712, and the the Royal Academy was long flourishing tradition of church wealthy Earl of Burlington became established in 1719 to provide music; enthusiastic amateur perfor­ one of his most important patrons. Italian opera for London's cultured mances were common in taverns Although contemporary writings society, and Handel was called upon . and private homes. And so when the give little information about to produce a great number of works twenty-five year old Handel arrived Handel's early years in London, it for the King's Theater. The produc­ on the scene, with his career well seems that he stayed at Burlington tions were of high quality, and the under \\;'ay as a result of his years in House from 1713-1716. During this fame of the Royal Academy was time, Handel established his reputa­ widespread. In spite of in-house Schaub currently resides In Rockford, il­ tion as a composer of Italian opera. bickering and quarrels, the linois. For the past seventeen years she has taught music In the American In 1717 he received an invitation Academy was an enormous success. Schools of Berult, Lebanon; Jedda, from James Brydges (later Duke of However, competition from other Saudi Arabia; and London. Chandos) to become composer-in- attractions eventually led to the Page 32 THE CHORAL JOURNAL financial downfall of the Royal generally well supported by also commissioned to write a "Birth­ Academy. John Gay's Beggar's subscription, but always subject to day Ode for Queen Anne," but there Opera (1728) in English opened up the whims of London's fickle is no evidence that it was ever per­ the world of theater to the middle aristocratic audiences. During the formed for her, due to the Queen's class; audiences flocked to the 1747 season, Handel felt that his poor health.5 The Utrecht Te Deum theater at Lincoln's Inn Fields to see aristocratic patrons had failed him was first performed at the recently this new ballad opera. A revival of and so appealed to the middle class. completed St. Paul's Cathedral in Ju­ Shakespeare as well as popular The general public welcomed the ly 1713. farces and comedies also con­ dignity and seriousness of Handel's Handel was very interested in the tributed to the decline of public in­ music and became his most en­ organ at St. Paul's during his early terest in Italian opera. And so, in thusiastic supporters. years in London, and would attract 1729, the Royal Academy was By 1750, a Lenten season of large audiences as he played it after declared bankrupt. English oratorios was a regular evensong. He and his acquaintances In an effort to preserve Italian feature at Covent Garden, and would then go to the Queen's Arms opera as an art form, arrangements always concluded with a perfor­ tavern in St. Paul's Churchyard were soon made for Handel and his mance of Messiah. With the onset of where a harpsichord was available manager, Heidegger, to take over blindness, Hanc;lel was forced to for patrons. the King's Theater for a further five seek assistance with the manage­ In 1717 a royal boating party pro­ years. Handel composed seven new ment and conducting of his perfor­ vided the occasion for the Water· operas for this venture, but also mances. Revivals of his music con­ Music. The Thames was an impor­ turned to oratorios in English to at­ tinued as his former pupil, John tant thoroughfare in the early eigh­ tract audiences away from his Christopher Smith, Jr., successfully teenth century, and there are many competitors. The oratorios were carried on the oratorio seasons dur­ accounts of river parties accom­ received with enthusiasm and an ad­ ing Handel's last years and following panied by music. King George I and ded feature was the introduction of his death. his party followed a route from organ concertos played by Handel Whitehall to Chelsea (where they between the acts. A rival opera com­ A Place to Perform . Churches disembarked for supper) and back to pany, the Opera of the Nobility, and the Royal Court Whitehall. finally forced Handel out of the Although the bulk of Handel's During his residency at Cannons, King's Theater in 1734. He moved musical output was theatrical, his Handel wrote the eleven "Chandos his productions to the new theater at career was interspersed with royal Anthems" for the chapel services at Covent Garden until the Opera of the commissions for music in the the. nearby church of St. Lawrence, Nobility collapsed in 1737. private chapel and for ceremonial Whitchurch. The. chapel at Cannons After two more seasons back at occasions. This pattern was evident was not completed until 1720. Ads King's Theater, Handel was again by 1713 when Queen Anne asked and Galatea and Esther were also obliged to move-this time to the Handel to write a Te Deum for a composed during this time; these less prestigious theater at Lincoln's thanksgiving service to celebrate "masques" were revised in 1732 and Inn Fields. Opera continued to be the Peace of Utrecht. Handel was appeared as Handel's first English Handel's favored form, but au­ diences became increasingly indif­ ferent and performances were poor­ ly received. Handel directed his final opera, Deidamia, at Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1741. It was a failure, as was his other operatic production of the season; Handel got the message and reluctantly abandoned Italian opera. Disillusioned with London au­ diences, Handel must have wel­ MASTERS PROFESSIONAL PERFORMERS comed an invitation to give a season in Dublin. He was warmly received SERVICE by Dublin's society, andpresented a season of English oratorios and Formalwear Rentals and Sales odes.