Handel

Handel, GEORGE FREDERICK, born at Halle, in Saxony, at No. 4 of the Grosser Schlamm, February 23, 1685. The German name was Georg Friedrich Händel (pronounced Hendel); but he himself signed G. F. Handel to the end of his life. His father (then sixty-three) was a surgeon; his mother the second wife. His passion and ability for music began from the first, but against his father's will. At seven or eight the boy was placed under Zachau, organist at Halle, and in about a year was writing a regular composition every week, besides playing organ, clavier, violin, and hautboy. In or about 1696 he was sent to the court of Berlin, where he met Ariosti and Buononcini the composers. In 1697 his father died, but his education was carefully continued, and on February 10, 1702, he entered the university of Halle, and in the same year became organist of the church at the Mopitzburg there. Before this time he was well known as a musician. In 1703 he went to Hamburg, then one of the most musical towns in Germany. Here he played second violin in the opera orchestra, accompanied on the theatre harpsichord, made all the music and enjoyed all the life possible. Among musical houses which he frequented was that of Sir Cyril Wich, English representative. In Holy week, 1704, he produced his first Passion. In December he had a duel with his friend Mattheson, nearly fatal, though the difference was soon adjusted; and in January 1705, Almira, his first opera, was brought out, and was followed by Nero, Florindo, and Daphne—all in German. He also gave innumerable lessons, and wrote much harpsichord music. In the summer of 1706 he left Hamburg, and in January 1707 we find him at Florence, in April at Rome, and in July back at Florence, producing Rodrigo. The first three months of 1708 he spent at Venice, and produced Agrippina; thence he went to Rome for another three months, and thence to Naples, possibly till Christmas 1709—the whole journey one continued triumphal progress, both in playing and composition. He then returned to Florence, and finished his visit at Venice in the middle of 1710.

He returned by Halle to Hanover, and was made Kapellmeister, with an income of 1500 crowns, and leave to travel. Thence he went by Düsseldorf to London, where he arrived in November 1710. His first opera, Rinaldo, was produced at the Queen's Theatre, Haymarket, February 24, 1711, with prodigious success. After this he returned to Hanover, and remained in Germany till the autumn of 1712, when he went back to London. That winter he produced Il Pastor Fido and Teseo. The spring of 1713 saw his first composition to English words, the first Birthday Ode, and the Utrecht Te Deum. During this time he lived chiefly with Lord Burlington at his house in Piccadilly. On August 1, 1714, Queen

Anne died, and on September 18 George I. arrived. The operas of this year were Silla and Amadigi. The king was naturally displeased at Handel's long absence from Hanover, and perhaps at his writing a Te Deum for Utrecht; but Handel made his peace by the Water Music, written for a royal water-party, August 22, 1715. He received a pension of £200, to which were afterwards added two other amounts of £200 each, giving him a permanent income of £600, representing considerably more than the same sum at present. In July 1716 he accompanied the king to Hanover, and returned with him in the following January. While there he wrote his second German Passion. In 1718–19 no operas were performed, and Handel was engaged by the Duke of Chandos to direct the music at his palace at Cannons, near Edgware. Here he wrote the twelve Chandos Anthems and two Te Deums (in B flat and A), Esther, Acis and Galatea, and the first set of Lessons, containing the 'Harmonious Blacksmith.'

In 1720 the Royal Academy was founded in the Haymarket, by subscription of £50,000, 'to secure a constant supply of operas by Handel, to be performed under his direction.' This was the beginning of the great revolution which for a hundred years and more kept English music, once so strong in its native school, under the dominion of foreigners. As director, Handel had been to Dresden early in 1719, and had engaged Senesino and others. Bach travelled thither to see him, but missed him by one day. The Royal Academy Theatre opened April 2, 1720, and Handel's Radamisto was produced. Thirteen other operas are spread over the next eight years—Muzio Scevola (Act 3 only composed by him), Floridante, Ottone, Flavio, Giulio Cesare, Tamerlano, Rodelinda, Seipione, Alessandro, Admeto, Riccardo, Siroe, Tolomeo. During this time he was naturalised, February 13, 1726. In June 1727 George II. succeeded to the throne, and as court composer Handel composed Zadok the Priest, and three other anthems, for the coronation. On June 1, 1728, the theatre closed, and, the money being all spent, the Royal Academy of Music was at an end. Handel and Heidegger then took the house on their own account, and shortly after Handel set out to find singers in Italy. On June 29 he was at Halle with his mother, then suffering from paralysis, under which she lingered till December 27, 1730. The new venture opened December 2, 1729, with Lotario, followed by Partenope. The next season began November 3, 1730, and contained the new opera Poro; Ezio and Sosarme followed. This spring saw several revivals of Esther, also two of Acis and Galatea. The season of 1732–33 brought forward Orlando. The speculation, however, was not successful, the quarrels with the singers and rival composers were continual, and the result was the opening of the 'Opera of the Nobility,' to which the whole company had revolted, in Lincoln's Inn Fields, December 29, 1733. The struggle was tremendous. On one side was Handel with his partner; on the other a company of rich and powerful noblemen, with all the composers that could be got together—Buononcini, Porpora, Hasse, and all the great singers. Handel's season began October 30, 1733, and he brought out Arianna. His contract for the King's Theatre expired July 6, 1734; then began a series of disasters and worries. The Nobility took the King's Theatre, and Handel was driven first to Lincoln's Inn, and then to Covent Garden, where, in partnership with Rich, he produced six new operas, Ariodante, Aleina, Atalanta, Giustino, Arminio, Berenice, besides reviving many of his old ones. On June 11, 1737, the Nobility retired, with a loss of £12,000, while Handel's losses had been so severe, including £10,000 of funded savings, that he was obliged to compound with his creditors, and give bills for a large amount. No wonder that the health of even his massive frame broke down; paralysis disabled his right arm, and his mind was for a time seriously disordered. A visit to Aix-la-Chapelle, and the strongest remedies there, however, restored him, and by November 7 he was back in London. This ended his career as composer-manager.

Handel's opera days were now over. True, he wrote a few more for his old partner Heidegger—Faramondo, Serse, Imeneo, and Deidamia; but henceforward he was to tread a nobler path, that of the English oratorio, which has rendered him immortal. Esther had been composed before 1720, Deborah and Athalia in 1733, Alexander's Feast in 1736, in the very thick of his opera squabbles. Then came the funeral anthem for his friend Queen Caroline, 'The ways of Zion' (1737), itself almost an oratorio, and containing some of his noblest music. Saul was produced early in 1739; Israel in Egypt followed in three months; then the Ode for St Cecilia's Day, November 1739, and L'Allegro, February 1740. The Messiah, finished September 14, 1741, was produced in Dublin, April 13, 1742. He returned to London shortly after, and produced Samson (which he had begun before leaving for Dublin), as the leading work in an oratorio season of twelve nights, in the course of which the Messiah was first given in London. The new style told, and he enjoyed a short time of prosperity. In 1743 he had a return of paralysis, and in 1751 we find him at Cheltenham drinking its waters. But nothing interferes with his activity. From 1744 to 1750 oratorio follows oratorio, like huge rocks thrown forth from a crater. The Dettingen Te Deum and an anthem, 'The King shall rejoice,' in commemoration of the great victory, were followed by Joseph, Semele, Belshazzar, Heracles, The Occasional Oratorio, Judas Maccabæus, Alexander Balus, Joshua, Solomon, Susanna, and Theodora. Of these Judas, written as a hymn of triumph on the campaign of Culloden, has always been the most popular.

Handel's music had now taken wider possession than ever of the public, and had penetrated to a lower stratum. At the Lenten 'Oratorios' nothing else was done. There, too, were his great organ performances, which were very popular. He was probably not a great pedalist, but the spirit and fire of his playing must have been immense. He has left eighteen organ concertos to testify to it. He composed for all occasions. The Anthem for the Peace and the Fireworks Music for the public fêtes after the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle were both his. The Foundling Hospital acquired much wealth through his music, and he himself made money, so that at his death he had the large sum of £20,000 in the funds. Of this £1000 was left to the Royal Society of Musicians.

In the summer of 1750 he went abroad, and again missed Bach, who died July 28. After his return he wrote Jephthah, his last oratorio. His eyes had for some time troubled him, and in May 1752 he was couched, but with no success. Henceforward, with some slight glimmering, he was virtually blind; but with the help of his old pupil, John Christopher Smith, he continued his Lenten oratorio-concerts to the end. His last note was probably a pencil quaver, inserted in a quintet in Jephthah. He died in his house (now No. 25) in Brook Street, Bond Street, at 8 A.M., Easter Eve, April 14, 1759, aged seventy-four, and was buried in Poet's Corner, Westminster Abbey, 8 P.M., April 20. At this time Haydn was twenty-seven, and Mozart three.

There is something expressly English in Handel's characteristics. His size, his hearty appetite, his vast productiveness, his domineering temper, his humour, his power of business, are all our own. So was his eye to the main chance. When a friend picked out the best pieces in one of his oratorios, he said, 'True, they are the best; but you have forgotten the pieces that are to make the money.' In fact he pre-eminently belongs to England. The practical sense of his music, and its close alliance with the Bible, joined to its lofty imaginativeness, suit the English public. Its sacred character and its independence of the theatre also fall in with our Puritan spirit. Abroad he is little known, and that mostly as a curiosity. But to the great English public he is even still their meat and drink. And yet on how slender a thread does the connection hang! But for the oratorios of the Messiah and Israel in Egypt Handel's name could hardly have been what it is to us. His operas scarcely lasted beyond their original production. When Giulio Cesare was revived in 1787 (the year in which Don Giovanni was brought out in Vienna), it had to be enriched by the most favourite songs from the others, to make it go down. The Messiah, however, took the English people from the first, and has gone on being performed more and more till now. It must have been heard oftener than any play of Shakespeare's. The revival of Israel followed in our own times, though its fame is still incomplete. It is no exaggeration to say that these two works have made Handel's name immortal. In them he fortunately forgot that the house had to be filled; nothing is ad captandum—all is pure music. But for the light reflected from them few of his works would have remained to the present day. The bright light cast from these two masterpieces illumines a number of compositions which otherwise would have forever remained in the dark. More than this, there can be no doubt that the enormous spread of music since his day has been very largely due to the popularity of the Messiah. Cheap editions of that noble work have always led the van.

It is unnecessary to describe the characteristics of his compositions, because every Briton knows them, or can know them. His plagiarism must be mentioned, though there is no room to deal with both sides of the subject. His habit of using—almost of preferring—ideas from strangers or from his own earlier works is most remarkable. Perhaps this was his own practical way; the work had to be done in the time, and he trusted in himself that all would be right. Perhaps, too, the habit came from a deeper source than mere economy. When writing the Hallelujah Chorus, he looked up like Isaiah in the Temple, and had the same vision. 'I did see,' said he, 'all heaven open before me, and the Great God Himself.' This was the spirit in which he composed; and to one so near the fount of inspiration themes or passages will always be subordinate to the general result, which in Handel's case is pure gold. Sometimes he takes movements bodily ('Egypt was glad'), but he oftener adopts fragments or subjects. His power of transformation is extraordinary. He will take an ordinary theme from some trivial work, and transmute it into an absolutely immortal monument ('Hailstone chorus'). On the other hand his very greatest works are absolutely his own ('Hallelujah; 'The people shall hear,' &c.). And the remarkable thing is that with all this business-like procedure the effect is so high, characteristic, and appropriate. Beethoven's judgment on him was perfectly sound: 'Handel is the unapproachable master of all masters; go to him and learn to produce great effects with little means.'

Handel's powers of work were enormous. He rarely sketched his pieces, but began the score at once. Scoring was a light matter in those days, but even so he was very rapid. Rinaldo was written in fourteen days, Tamerlano in twenty, the Messiah in twenty-four, and Israel in fifteen.

His face was far nobler than is usually supposed. The portraits are mostly poor, and the gross features they give are part of the inveterate caricature which pursued his figure, his features, and his language through life. Those who want to see him as he was should have a cast of Roubiliac's head in Westminster Abbey, itself taken from a mould, and full of tenderness and dignity. His smile is said by those who had seen it to have been heavenly, 'like the sun breaking through a cloud.' For English biographies read his Memoirs by Mainwaring (1770), and his Life by Rockstro (1883), with a complete list of works and dates. Chrysander's German biography is invaluable, but unfinished (vols. i.-iii. 1856-67). Of the works themselves the best edition is that of Chrysander (1856 et seq.); with all possible condensation they fill ninety-eight vols. The majority of the autograph MSS. are at Buckingham Palace; sketches are at Cambridge in the Fitzwilliam.

The first Handel Commemoration performance was held in Westminster Abbey in 1784; Handel Festivals have been held since 1859, usually triennially, at the Crystal Palace. Handel societies for the publication of Handel's works were founded in London in 1843, and Leipzig in 1856, and a Handel and Haydn Society for performances of their works at Boston, U.S., in 1815.