1720
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LONDON, February 27. Yesterday [...] The same Day one John Waterlidge was committed to Newgate, by Justice Santlow, for forging Masquerade Tickets, under the Hand of Mr. Heydiger, the Master of the Opera-House in the Hay-Market: Himself endeavour’d, with one of his sham Tickets, to pass into the House, in the Habit of Shepherdess, but was detected at the third Door, and carry’d before Justice Santlow, who sent him in his Habit to Newgate. Several Persons of Quality were stopt at the Doors, their Tickets being Counterfeit; but making it appear they were impos’d on, they were admitted.[1] |
[issue dedicated to the South Sea “bubble”]
At the Rehearsal on Friday last, Signior Nihilini Beneditti rose half a Note above his Pitch formerly known. Opera Stock from 83 and an half, when he began; at 90 when he ended.[2]
Tho’ the French are so boisterous and void of all Moderation or Temper in their Conduct, the Italians are a more tractable and elegant Nation. If the French Players have laid aside all Shame [referring to explicit sexual encounters portrayed on stage by the French players], the Italian Singers are as eminently nice and delicate, which the Reader will observe from the following Account, which I have receiv’d from the Hay-Market.
To Sir JOHN EDGAR, Auditor-General of the World, and the Stage.
SIR,
“YOUR last Paper very rightly, and with great Justice, notify’d to the Town the Rise of the Opera-Stock, occasion’d by the Elevation of half a Note above the usual Pitch of Signior Beneditti. I hope, Sir, you will allow no one hereafter to call him no Man, when you shall have heard from me, how much he is a Man of Honour. It happen’d, Sir, in the casting the Parts for the new Opera, that he had been, as he conceiv’d, greatly injur’d; and, the other Day, apply’d to the Board of Directors, of which I am an unworthy Member, for Redress. He set forth, in the recitative Tone, the nearest approaching ordinary Speech, that he had never acted any thing, in any other Opera, below the Character of a Sovereign; or, at least, a Prince of the Blood; and that now he was appointed to be a Captain of the Guard, and a Pimp. The Chairman reprimanded him with much Rigour, for pretending to dispute any Part given him; and directed him to withdraw. He did accordingly, and it was debated among us for some time, whether he ought to be reliev’d; he found Friends, and was made a Prince; but he urg’d further, that he had a most particular Excellence in making Love, and hoped they would allot him a Scene to show that Talent. He withdrew again, by Order, and we directed that he should make Love to Zenobia, with proper Limitations: The Chairman signify’d to him, that the Board had made him a Lover, but he must be contented to be an unfortunate one, and be rejected by his Mistress. He express’d himself very easy under this, and seem’d to rejoyce, that (considering the Inconstancy of Women) he could only feign, not pursue that Passion to Extremity. He mutter’d very much against the very Attempt of making him only a Guard to the Character he had formerly appear’d in; and said still much more on the Insult of designing him for a Pimp: It was, said he, enough that Fortune has bereft me of the Possession of the Fair by Force; and when I could not know what I lost, she shall never bring me so low as to resign them by my Will and Consent; much less to make way for, or contribute to giving them into the Arms of other Men. This appear’d to the Board, in a Person of Beneditti’s Circumstances, a great Question, whether Jealousy or Envy were the Reason he had such an Aversion to being commodious. Your leisure Thought on the Subject will much oblige,
SIR,
Hay-Market, March
9, 1719-20. Your
most obedient
humble Servant,
MUSIDORUS.[3]
[Stefano Benedetto Pallavicini to Giuseppe Riva, Dresden, Saturday 9 March 1720]
To come now to the account of Salvai that your m{ost}. i{llustrious}. lordship requested, she has a beautiful and full-bodied voice, is young, small in stature, but comely and uninhibited. Handel, who has heard her, and Durastanti, who will have arrived there, will be able to tell you about her manner of singing in a way that I cannot.[4]
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[Thomas Tudway to Humfrey Wanley, 29 March 1720] I thank you very kindly for your Score of Bassanis Church Music, wch my Lord sent to me from Wimple im[m]ediately; Thô ye Te Deum is not in it, yet, I observe throughout ye Stylo Ecclesiastico, wch is cheifly what I desir’d it for; Mr Purcell, has observ’d it, wth great exactnes; wch, ye many Pathos’s he has work’d up, do plainly show; Dr Crofts I think has been a little Theatrical, thô much more strickt to ye Church Style than Mr Hendale; These, are ye only 3 composers in England, that have ever made any peices of music of this kind; and if It please God, I live to finish that for my Lord, I hope I shall observe at least, ye decent part & solemnity, proper on yt occasion; [...][5] |
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My Lord. [...] Our Country man, Mr Henry Purcell, who was confessedly the greatest Genius we ever had, dy’d before these musical representations [opera], came upon ye stage in England; He woud have been so far from dispiseing them, that he woud never have eas’d, till he had equall’d, if not out done them; And did by ye pow’r of his own Genius, contrive very many, & excellent compositions of divers kinds for ye stage; [12v] But that wch set Mr. Purcell eminently above any of his contemporarys, was, yt Noble Composition, ye first of its kind in England, of Te Deum, & Jubilate, accompanied wth instrumentall music; wch he compos’d princi[-] -pally against ye Opening of St Pauls, but did not live till that time; However, it was sung there, severall times since, before her Majesty Queen Anne, upon ye great Events of her Reigne; I needed no perhapps to have mention’d this, since tis inserted in these Collections, but to observe to your Lordship, that there is in this Te Deum, such a glorious representation, of ye Heavenly Choirs, of Cherubins, & Seraphins, falling down before ye Throne & singing Holy, Holy, Holy &c As hath not been Equall’d, by any Foreigner, or Other; He makes ye respresentation [sic] thus; He brings in ye treble voices, or Choristers, singing, To thee Cherubins, & Seraphins, continually do cry; and then ye Great Organ, Trumpets, the Choirs, & at least thirty or forty instruments besides, all Joine, in most excellent Harmony, & Accord; The Choirs singing only, ye word Holy; Then all Pause, and ye Choristers repeat again, continually do cry; Then, ye whole Copia Sonorum, of voices, & instruments, Joine again, & sing Holy; this is done 3 times upon ye word Holy only, change- -ing ev’ry time ye key, & accords; then they proceed altogether in Chorus, wth Heav’n, & Earth are full of ye Majesty of thy glory; This most beauti- full, & sublime representation, I dare challenge, all ye Orators, Poets, Painters &c of any Age whatsoever, to form so lively an Idea, of Choirs of Angels singing, & paying their Adorations; Dr Crofts, and Mr Hendale, both by ye Queens Order, have likewise wth great Art And good success, compos’d ye like peices, of Te Deum, & Jubilate, wch were perform’d before her Majesty, on Publick Occasions, wth great Applause; These 3 compositions, are all of this kind at present were ever made in England;[6] [the volume concludes with “The morning service / viz / Te Deum / Jubilate / Compos’d by Mrr Hendale, by the / Queens Order for ye Thanksgiving / On ye Peace 1713 / And perform’d in St. Pauls Church, / Accompanied wth Instrumental / Music.” ff. 309v-379v.] |
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RADAMISTUS, AN OPERA. As it is Perform’d At the KING’s THEATRE in the HAY-MARKET, FOR THE Royal Academy of Musick. [woodcut framed by single lines] LONDON: Printed for THO. WOOD in Little Britain. 1720. [page]
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[Stefano Benedetto Pallavicini to Giuseppe Riva, Dresden, Wednesday 24 April 1720]
Having been favoured by your most illustrious lordship’s most esteemed letter of the 9th, I did not fail to send your enclosure promptly to Senesino, who continues to travel with difficulty because of the bad weather that he has encountered. What you tell me of the problems that have arisen since the conclusion of the agreement tallies with the news written by Handel to one of his correspondents here, from which—although it is based partly on suspicion—we have concluded that the Academy is divided by a kind of schism.[7]
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[Diary of Mary, Countess Cowper] [Wednesday, April 27.] At Night, Radamistus, a fine Opera of Handel’s Making. The King there with his Ladies. The Prince in the Stage-box. Great Crowd.[8] |
Apr 27
On Wednesday Night last, his Majesty and his Royal Highness the Prince were at the Opera in the Hay-Market.[9]
May 3
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[Mr. Southwell to Dorothy Savile (later Countess of Burlington), May 3] Handle’s new opera pleases very much & has many good songs in it[10] |
Suites
de Pieces
pour le Clavecin Composées par G. F. Handel. [rule] PREMIER VOLUME [rule] J. Cote sculp
London printed for the Author, <an>d are only to be had at Christopher Smiths in Coventry Street the Sign of ye Hand & Musick book ye upper end of the <Ha>y Market and by Richard Mear’s Musical Instrumentmaker in St. Pauls Church Yard. [folio] [royal crest] GEORGE R. GEORGE, by the Grace of GOD, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. To all to whom these Presents shall come, Greeting: Whereas George Fredrick Handel, of our City of London, Gent. hath humbly represented unto Us, That he hath with great Labour and Expence composed several Works, consisting of Vocal and Instrumental MUSICK, in Order to be Printed and Publish’d; and hath therefore besought Us to grant him Our Royal Priviledge and Licence for the sole Printing and Publishing thereof for the Term of Fourteen Years: We being willing to give all due Encouragement to Works of this Nature, are graciously pleased to condescend to his Request; And We do therefore by these Presents, so far as may be agreeable to the Statute in that behalf made and provided, grant unto him the said George Fredrick Handel, his Executors, Administrators and Assigns, Our Licence for the sole Printing and Publishing the said Works for the Term of Fourteen Years, to be computed from the Date hereof, strictly forbidding all our Loving Subjects within our Kingdoms and Dominions, to Reprint or Abridge the same, either in the like, or any other Volume or Volumes whatsoever, or to Import, Buy, Vend, Utter or Distribute any Copies thereof Reprinted beyond the Seas, during the aforesaid Term of Fourteen Years, without the Consent or Approbation of the said George Fredrick Handel, His Heirs, Executors and Assigns, under their Hands and Seals first had and obtain’d, as they will answer the contrary at their Perils: Whereof the Commissioners and other Officers of Our Customs, the Master, Wardens and Company of Stationers are to take Notice, that due Obedience may be rendred to our Pleasure herein declared. Given at Our Court at St. James’s the 14th Day of June, 1720. in the Sixth Year of Our Reign. By His Majesty’s Command, J. Craggs. [folio]
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[Claver Morris diary, Wells, 1 August 1720] [Augustus Spittle brought] the Treble Voice-Part of Handel’s Anthem [Morris paid a guinea] For Handel’s Anthem in 8 parts, (My Song shall be) prick’d out in 9 Books[12] |
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[Wells, 2 August 1720] [...] I returned home by 8, & went to our Consort, at Close-Hall where Mr. Spittle was, & much Company; and we tried Handel’s Anthem (My Song shall be King.)[13] |
Aug 23
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[p.1] A Catalogue of Instrument
belonging to his Grace James Duke of Chandos. No. 1 A
Chamber Organ with 3 Rows of Keys and 18 Stops made by Mr. Jordan No. 2 A four
square Harpsichord with two Rows of Keys at one End and a Spinet on the side made
at Antwerp by John Ruckers, the Lid is painted and the Lid
[struck through] represents the Mount Parnassus with the nine
Muses, and Minerva coming to instruct them, painted by A Tilens in the year 1625. No. 3 A
Harpsichord with two Rows of keys made at London by Hermanus Table 4 A Spinet made by Thos.
Hichcock. 5 A double Bass with a Case for it made by
Mr. Barrett – 16 6 A Violincello or Bass Violin made by Mr.
Mears 7 A Tenor Violin by Mr. Mears 8 A Violin made by Jacobus Stainer in
Absam prope Oeni Pontus 1660, this is printed
upon a little Paper on the Inside of this Violin a Case to it. 9 A Violin made by Jacobus Stainer in
Absam prope Oeni Pontum 1676 this is written
upon a little Paper in the inside of this Violin a Case to it.
10 A Violin made by Jacobus
Stainer in Absam prope Oeni
Pontum 1665 this is Printed
upon a Paper in the Inside a Case to it. 12 A Violin made by Jacobus Stainer in Absam
prope Oeni
Pontus 1678 this is written
upon a Paper on the inside a case to it. [Added later:] there
are besides these violins be fore mentioned 2 more made at London. The following Instruments are at London in Albemarle Street 12 A Bass Viol made by Henn: Jay in Southwark
1613 with a case to it. 13 An Harpsicord with two Rows of keys in the back Parlour.
14 A Spinet in my Lord
Marquess’s Room
15 An Harpsicord with gutstrings made by Mr.
Longfellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge,
this Instrument stands at Boswell Court at my House.
[Added later:] these two following Instruments have been found at
Cannons since I made my first Catalogue.
16 A Bass Viol made by Barrack
Norman 1702
17 A Bassoon made by H.
Wietfelt
18 Two French Hunting Horns made per Johannem
Leicham Schneider in Wienn 1711
19 A Trumpet made by John
Harris at London
All these Instruments I have
under my Care Augt. the 23d. 1720 J.C. Pepusch [p.9] Observations upon comparing two Catalogues of his
Grace’s Musical Instruments One wrote by Mr Noland and
subscrib’d by Dr Pepusch in
1720. Aug 23. The other wrote by the Dr. himself and
deliver’d to his Grace Octob: 23:1721. From No. 1 to No. 11 inclusive
there is an exact agreem’t. But at the end of No. 11 in Nolands Catalogue there are
these words added. There are besides the violins before mention’d 2 more
made at London. The Drs’ Catalogue owns [?] one of
these made at London by John Brown 1709 a Quere what is become of the other? [14] |
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On Monday next the Famous Singer, Beneditte, Sings before their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess, in Mr. Penkethman’s Theatre at Richmond.[15] |
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His Grace the Duke Chandois’s Domestick Chappel at his Seat at Cannons near Edgworth, is Curiously adorned with Painting on the Windows and Ceiling, had divine Worship perform’d in it with an Anthem on Monday last, it being the first time of its being opened.[16] |
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[Paolo Rolli to Giuseppe Riva, summer-autumn 1720] But, my dear Riva, what a ruin is this of the South-Sea! All the nobility is in the depths of anguish. One sees none but gloomy faces.[17] |
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[Paolo Rolli to Giuseppe Riva, summer-autumn 1720] They ought to gibbet these South-Sea directors, who have ruined all my friends, and in consequence will, it seems, come near to ruining the Academy.[18] |
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[Paolo Rolli to [Giuseppe Riva] 23 September 1720] Last Monday Senesino arrived, in company with Berselli and Salvai. I heard the news while dining at Richmond on Tuesday, and at once came up to Town with our dear Casimir. I am delighted to find that the celebrated artist is a man of polished manners, well-read, extremely agreeable and imbued with the highest sentiments.[19] |
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[Paolo Rolli to Giuseppe Riva, October 1720] Learn that la Margherita [Durastanti] in concert with our friend Senesino has proposed the opera, “Amore e Maestà,” which cannot be given in the version used at Florence, because it contains such an immense amount of recitative, and so few ariettas that Senesino would only have four solos in the whole work. So I had orders to shorten it, and with the assistance of . . . . . I added to it and changed it where necessary. The Alpine Faun [“l’Alpestre Fauno,” i. e., Handel, possibly in allusion to his German origin], is all for the old system, which he is always advocating, because he says that the more one works at a [436] thing, the more it remains the same as before. He proposes Polani to adapt and direct the opera. Senesino is furious . . . .[20] |
Nov 29
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[Mrs. Pendarves to Mrs. Ann Granville] London, 29th Nov. 1720. [...] I was last Wednesday at the opera called Astartus; it is a new one, and there is very fine musick in it. The stage was never so well served as it is now, there is not one indifferent voice, they are all Italians. There is one man called Serosini [Senesino] who is beyond Nicolini both in person [58] and voice. [...][21] |
[Giuseppe Riva to Agostino Steffani, London, Monday 2 December 1720]
{...} Here we found the other sea, that of the South [the South Sea Company], in terrible turmoil: no sooner had we arrived in London than we beheld with compassion the first of the poor, drowned sailors, as well as others who were in danger without hope of saving themselves.
Last Saturday [30 November N. S.] the opera house opened with the première of L’Astarto, with poetry by Apostolo Zeno [revised by Paolo Antonio Rolli] and music by [Giovanni] Bononcini, who is here. It had a marvellous reception, and in truth no opera could better stir the affections or make us more interested in the emotions of the characters. In sum, this is music that goes straight to the heart without any twists or turns, which I have heard mylord Piva [Steffani] say is the quality most difficult to achieve and rarely encountered nowadays. Some [of those] who are transported by Handel would like to find something [negative] to say, but it is difficult to resist the torrent [of admiration for Bononcini].[22]
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[An Ode on the Power of Musick] [dedicated to Alexander Malcolm dedication signed: “London December the / 19th, 1720.”] X. Musick religious Thoughts inspires, And kindles bright Poetick Fires; Fires! such as great * Hillarius raise Triumphant, in their blaze! Amid the vulgar-versifying Throng His Genius, with Distinction, show, And o’er our popular Metre lift his Song High, as the Heav’ns are arch’d o’er Orbs below. As if the Man was pure Intelligence, Music transports him o’er the heights of Sense, [8] Thro’ Chinks of Clay the rays above lets in, And makes mortality Divine. Tho’ Reason’s bounds it ne’er defies, Its Charms elude the Ken Of heavy, gross-ear’d Men, Like mysteries conceal’d from vulgar Eyes. Others may that Distraction call, Which Musick raises in the Breast, To me, ’tis Ecstacy and Triumph all, The foretastes of the raptures of the blest. Who knows not this, when Handell plays, And Senesino Sings? Our Souls learn Rapture from their Lays, While rival’d Angels show amaze, And drop their Golden Wings.[23] |
[1] The Original Weekly Journal, Saturday 27 February 1720, p. 1675.
[2] The Theatre, no. 20 (Saturday 5 – Tuesday 8 March 1720), [2]; repr., Chrysander, 2:30; Deutsch, 101.
[3] The Theatre, no. 21 (Tuesday 8 – Saturday 12 March 1720), [2]; partly repr., Deutsch, 101.
[4] Lowell Lindgren and Colin Timms, “The Correspondence of Agostino Steffani and Giuseppe Riva, 1720-1728, and Related Correspondence with J.P.F. von Schönborn and S.B. Pallavicini,” Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle 36 (2003), 1-174: 34.
[5] British Library, Add. Ms. 70482,(formerly Portland Papers 29/257), loose folios.
[6] British Library, Harley Ms. 7342, f. 12r-v; repr. Christopher Hogwood, “Thomas Tudway’s History of Music,” in Music in Eighteenth-Century England: Essays in memory of Charles Cudworth, ed. Christopher Hogwood and Richard Luckett (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 19-47: 45.
[7] Lindgren and Timms, “Steffani,” 36.
[8] Diary of Mary Countess Cowper, Lady of the Bedchamber to the Princess of Wales. 1714-1720 (London: John Murray, 1864), 154; repr. Deutsch, 104.
[9] The Original Weekly Journal With fresh Advices, Foreign and Domestick, Saturday 30 April 1720, p. 1730.
[10] Chatsworth, Devonshire Papers, Letter MS 157.1: Elizabeth Gibson, The Royal Academy of Music, 1719-1728: The Institutions and Its Directors (New York and London: Garland, 1989), 133, n79.
[11] British Library, shelfmark K1K9.
[12] H. Diack Johnstone, “Claver Morris, an Early Eighteenth-Century English Physician and Amateur Musician Extraordinaire,” Journal of the Royal Musical Association 133 (2008), 93–127: 117, and 113, n64 (continued from 112).
[13] [Claver Morris], The Diary of a West Country Physician, A.D. 1684-1726, ed. Edmund Hobhouse (Rochester: Stanhope Press, 1934), 80.
[14] repr., Handel: A Celebration of his Life and Times, 1685-1759, ed. Jacob Simon (London: National Portrait Gallery, 1985), 283.
[15] The Weekly Journal or, British Gazetteer, Saturday 27 August 1720, 1695.
[16] The Weekly Journal or, British Gazetteer, Saturday 3 September 1720, 1702.
[17] R. A. Streatfeild, “Handel, Rolli, and Italian Opera in London in the Eighteenth Century,” The Musical Quarterly 3 (1917), 428-45: 434.
[18] R. A. Streatfeild, “Handel, Rolli, and Italian Opera in London in the Eighteenth Century,” The Musical Quarterly 3 (1917), 428-45: 434.
[19] R. A. Streatfeild, “Handel, Rolli, and Italian Opera in London in the Eighteenth Century,” The Musical Quarterly 3 (1917), 428-45: 435.
[20] R. A. Streatfeild, “Handel, Rolli, and Italian Opera in London in the Eighteenth Century,” The Musical Quarterly 3 (1917), 428-45: 435-36.
[21] The Autobiography and Correspondence of Mary Granville, Mrs. Delany, ed, Lady Llanover, 3 vols. (London: Richard Bentley, 1861), 1:57-58.
[22] Lindgren and Timms, “Steffani,” 44.
* Aaron Hill, Esq;
[23] [Jos.] Mitchell, An Ode on the Power of Musick (London: Thomas Jauncy, 1721), 7-8.