1750
February
|
Theodora. An Oratorio. I intend to perform this Oratorio at the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden George Frideric Handel[1] |
Feb 6
|
[Mrs. Delany to Mrs. Dewes, 6 February 1749-50] [...] D. D. insists on your coming the latter end of this month at farthest, for oratorios begin the 2nd of March, and I challenge you to go with me; [...][2] |
Feb 8 [Cosein’s
sale]
Mr Edwin’s Sale 1749/50
Lot 2 ‘A small history’ Carracci Bt. Handel £2.3s.– Major & Gouijn’s Sale 1749/50 2nd Day
Lot 37 ‘A Landskip with Moses in the Bullrushes’ Parocelle Senr Bt. Handel £12.12s.– Lot 45 ‘A Landschape’ Sal. Rysdael Bt. Handel £6.16s.6d. Lady Sunderland’s Sale 1749/50
Lot 19 ‘The Sacking of Troy’ P. da Cortona Bt. Handel £7.0s.– Lot 27 ‘A Landskip with a Bacchanalian’ Prelemburch Bt. Handel £10.10s.– Mr Cosein’s Sale 1749/50 1st Day
Lot 39 ‘A large landschape & Figs.’ Rembrandt Bt. Handel £39.18s.–[3] |
Feb 24
|
Sr I having received the Permission of the Artillery Kettle Drums for my use in the Oratorio’s in this Season; I beg You would conseign them to the Bearer of this Mr. Frideric Smith I am Your very humble Servant G. F. Handel Saturday Febr: 24 1750.[4] |
Mar 1
|
[Mrs. Delany to Mrs. Dewes, 1 March 1749-50] To-morrow oratorios begin — Saul, one of my beloved pieces — I shall go. [...][5] |
Mar 2
|
AT the Theatre Royal in Covent-Garden, This Day will be performed an Oratorio, called SAUL. Pit and Boxes to be put together, and no Persons to be admitted without Tickets, which will be delivered that Day, at the Office in Covent-Garden Theatre, at Half a Guinea each. First Gallery 5 s. Second Gallery 3 s. 6 d. The Galleries to be open’d at Half an Hour after Four. Pit and Boxes at Five. To begin at half an Hour after Six o’Clock.[6] |
Mar 5
|
Mr. PALMA, (being obliged to change his Night on Account of Signora Galli’s being engaged to Sing at the Oratorio’s) begs leave to acquaint the Publick, but more particularly those who have honour’d him in subscribing, that his Sixth Concert will be this Evening, at Mr. Hickford’s in Brewer-street, and that there will be two new Songs of his Composing. To begin exactly at Seven o’Clock. — N. B. Tickets to be had at the Place of Performance.[7] |
Mar 7
|
AT the Theatre Royal in Covent-Garden, This Day will be performed an Oratorio, called SAUL. Pit and Boxes to be put together, and no Persons to be admitted without Tickets, which will be delivered that Day, at the Office in Covent-Garden Theatre, at Half a Guinea each. First Gallery 5 s. Second Gallery 3 s. 6 d. The Galleries to be open’d at Half an Hour after Four. Pit and Boxes at Five. To begin at half an Hour after Six o’Clock.[8] |
Mar 9
|
AT the Theatre Royal in Covent-Garden, This Day will be performed an Oratorio, called JUDAS MACCABEUS. Pit and Boxes to be put together, and no Persons to be admitted without Tickets, which will be delivered this Day, at the Office in Covent-Garden Theatre, at Half a Guinea each. First Gallery 5 s. Second Gallery 3 s. 6 d. The Galleries to be open’d at Half an Hour after Four. Pit and Boxes at Five. To begin at half an Hour after Six o’Clock.[9] |
Mar 14
|
AT the Theatre-Royal in Covent-Garden This Day will be performed an Oratorio, called JUDAS MACCABEUS. Pit and Boxes to be put together, and no Persons to be admitted without Tickets, which will be delivered this Day, at the Office in Covent-Garden Theatre, at Half a Guinea each. First Gallery 5 s. Second Gallery 3 s. 6 d. The Galleries to be open’d at Half an Hour after Four. Pit and Boxes at Five. To begin at half an Hour after Six o’Clock.[10] |
Mar 16
|
AT the Theatre Royal in Covent-Garden, This Day, will be performed an New Oratorio, called THEODORA. With a New Concerto on the Organ, Pit and Boxes to be put together, and no Persons to be admitted without Tickets, which will be delivered this Day, at the Office in Covent-Garden Theatre, at Half a Guinea each. First Gallery 5 s. Second Gallery 3 s. 6 d. The Galleries to be open’d at Half an Hour after Four. Pit and Boxes at Five. To begin at half an Hour after Six o’Clock.[11] |
[“ADVERTISEMENT.”]
And I flatter myself there may be Readers to whom the following Lines, (to complete in some measure the Story, and point out the Moral of it,) may be acceptable, tho’ they would have prov’d tedious, especially at the Conclusion of the Performance.
|
SEPTIMIUS to the Christians. Ye happy Christians, happy ’midst your Woes, Behold a Convert; take me to your Fold; Your Enemy no more, if helpless Friend. As lovely in their Deaths, as in their Lives, Fal’n are the matchless Pair: and falling thus, They struck Conviction in a thousand Hearts; But chiefly Theodora, whom no Threats, Nor her disfigur’d Lover’s lifeless Limbs, Could terrify.—She saw, and with a Smile Contemptuous on the Impotence of Rage, Bade lead her to the Stake.—Where while she pray’d, A sweet Effusion of celestial Joy, Flush’d in her Cheeks, and gave her native Charms New Lustre, ev’n such Majesty, she seem’d Not going to Heav’n, but just come from thence; To Lesson with this Truth the Standers-by; That, Whoso hopes to live, must wish to die. Join ye your Songs, ye Saints on Earth, With the blest Saints above: And hail the Triumphs of their Birth, In Glory, Peace, and Love.[12] |
Mar 21
|
AT the Theatre Royal in Covent-Garden, This Day, will be performed an New Oratorio, called THEODORA. With a New Concerto on the Organ, Pit and Boxes to be put together, and no Persons to be admitted without Tickets, which will be delivered this Day, at the Office in Covent-Garden Theatre, at Half a Guinea each. First Gallery 5 s. Second Gallery 3 s. 6 d. The Galleries to be open’d at Half an Hour after Four. Pit and Boxes at Five. To begin at half an Hour after Six o’Clock.[13] |
Mar 23
|
AT the Theatre Royal in Covent-Garden, This Day, wi[l]l be performed an New Oratorio, called THEODORA. With a New Concerto on the Organ, Pit and Boxes to be put together, and no Persons to be admitted without Tickets, which will be delivered this Day, at the Office in Covent-Garden Theatre, at Half a Guinea each. First Gallery 5 s. Second Gallery 3 s. 6 d. The Galleries to be open’d at Half an Hour after Four. Pit and Boxes at Five. To begin at half an Hour after Six o’Clock.[14] |
Mar 24
|
[4th Earl of Shaftesbury to James Harris] London, 24 March 1749/50. I can’t conclude a letter, and forget Theodora. I have heard it three times, and will venture to pronounce it, as finished, beautifull and labour’d a composition, as ever Handel made. To my knowledge, this took him up a great while in composing. The town don’t like it at all, but Mr. Kelloway and several excellent musicians think as I do.[15] |
Mar 28
|
AT the Theatre Royal in Covent-Garden, This Day, wi[l]l be performed an Oratorio, called JUDAS MACCHABAEUS. Pit and Boxes to be put together, and no Persons to be admitted without Tickets, which will be delivered this Day, at the Office in Covent-Garden Theatre, at Half a Guinea each. First Gallery 5 s. Second Gallery 3 s. 6 d. The Galleries to be open’d at Half an Hour after Four. Pit and Boxes at Five. To begin at half an Hour after Six o’Clock.[16] |
Mar 30
|
AT the Theatre Royal in Covent-Garden, This Day, will be performed an Oratorio, called JUDAS MACCHABAEUS. Pit and Boxes to be put together, and no Persons to be admitted without Tickets, which will be delivered this Day, at the Office in Covent-Garden Theatre, at Half a Guinea each. First Gallery 5 s. Second Gallery 3 s. 6 d. The Galleries to be open’d at Half an Hour after Four. Pit and Boxes at Five. To begin at half an Hour after Six o’Clock.[17] |
Mar 31
[“FIDDLING considered, as far as it regards an UNIVERSITY.”]
I suppose I may advance, without being reckon’d a Prig, that the real business of young fellows admitted into this learned body, are laborious pursuits after knowledge, and studies as well important as severe. Must we not therefore with some concern see so many Students, who are equally destin’d to the common task of learning, debauch’d by Sound, neglecting LOCKE and NEWTON for PURCELL and HANDEL, and instead of Philosophers commencing (O ridicule! O shame to common sense!) downright FIDDLERS.
[...]
To conclude,—I know not what the state of Catgut may be among you: but it would well become the prudence of our wise ALMA-MATER to prevent our young gentry, by some wholsome [sic] restrictions, from trifling away their time over octaves and semi-quavers, and neglecting logick for airs, or syllogisms for cantatas. In a word, brother Student, if this scraping Cacoethes, this sol-fa-la Infection be suffered to spread further in this place, our books, I expect, will be changed into fiddles, our schools will be turned into musick-rooms, and ARISTOTLE kick’d out for CORELLI.[18]
Apr 2
The Masque of Comus, which was design’d to be perform’d at the Theatre Royal in Drury-lane on Wednesday next the 4th of April, for the Benefit of Mrs. Foster, Grand Daughter to Milton, and his only surviving Descendant, is, by particular Desire of several Persons of Quality, on Account of Mr. Handel’s Oratorio, deferr’d till Thursday the 5th Instant.[19]
Apr 4
|
AT the Theatre Royal in Covent-Garden, This Day, will be performed an Oratorio, called SAMPSON. Pit and Boxes to be put together, and no Persons to be admitted without Tickets, which will be delivered this Day, at the Office in Covent-Garden Theatre, at Half a Guinea each. First Gallery 5 s. Second Gallery 3 s. 6 d. The Galleries to be open’d at Half an Hour after Four. Pit and Boxes at Five. To begin at half an Hour after Six o’Clock.[20] |
Apr 6
|
AT the Theatre Royal in Covent-Garden, This Day, will be performed an Oratorio, called SAMPSON. Pit and Boxes to be put together, and no Persons to be admitted without Tickets, which will be delivered this Day, at the Office in Covent-Garden Theatre, at Half a Guinea each. First Gallery 5 s. Second Gallery 3 s. 6 d. The Galleries to be open’d at Half an Hour after Four. Pit and Boxes at Five. To begin at half an Hour after Six o’Clock.[21] |
Apr 12
|
AT the Theatre Royal in Covent-Garden, This Day, will be performed a sacred Oratorio, called MESSIAH. (Being the Last This Year.) Pit and Boxes to be put together, and no Persons to be admitted without Tickets, which will be delivered this Day, at the Office in Covent-Garden Theatre, at Half a Guinea each. First Gallery 5 s. Second Gallery 3 s. 6 d. The Galleries to be open’d at Half an Hour after Four. Pit and Boxes at Five. To begin at half an Hour after Six o’Clock.[22] |
Apr 12
|
THE SCANDALIZADE, A Panegyri-Satiri-Serio-Comi-Dramatic POEM. BY Porcupinus Pelagius, Author of the Causidicade. [line] -------Pictoribus atque Poetis Quidlibet audendi semper fuit aequa potestas. Hor. [line] LONDON: Printed for G. SMITH, in Fleet-street. MDCCL. [Price 1 s. 6 d.] [27 ...] Hoa! there, to whom none can, forsooth, hold a Candle, Call’d the lovely-fac’d Heidegger out to George H-d-l; In arranging the Poets sweet Lines to a Tune, Such as, God save the King, or the fam’d Tenth of June. How amply your Corpulence fills up the Chair? Like mine Host at an Inn, or a London Lord-May’r, Three Yards, at the least, round about in the Waist, In Dimensions
your Face like the Sun in the West; But a Chine of good Pork, and a Brace of good Fowls, A dozen-pound Turbut, and two Pair of Soals, [28] With Bread in proportion devour’d at a Meal, How incredibly strange, and how monstrous to tell! Needs must that your Gains and your Income be large, To support such a vast unsupportable Charge! Retrench, or e’er long you may set your own Dirge! Thou Perfection, as far as e’er Nature could run, Of the ugly, quo’ H--d-el, in th’ugliest Baboon, Human Nature, and even thy Maker’s Disgrace, So frightful thy Looks, so grotesc is thy Face! With a hundred deep Wrinkles impress’d on thy Front, Like a Map with a great many Rivers upon’t. Thy lascivious Ridotto’s, obscene Masquerades, Have unmaided whole Scores ev’ry Season of Maids. Would’st upbraid will Ill-nature as monstrous and vast, My moderate Eating, and delicate Taste, When I paid but Two Hundred a Year for my Board; True, my Landlord soon after the Bargain deplor’d; Withdrew, became Bankrupt, a Prey to the Law, His Effects swallow’d up in disputing a Flaw, Mong Councel, Attornies, Commissi’ners and such, And all the long Train so accustom’d to touch. [29] But what is
this Matter of Bankrupt to me, All Folks must abide by the Terms they agree, If guilty my Stomach, my Conscience is free. [...] [attached to the bottom of p. 37] The KEY. [...] 28. l. 7. H--del.[23] |
[London, 15 April 1750]
The Oratorio, or pious concert, pleases us highly. English words * are sung by Italian performers, and accompanied by a variety of instruments. HANDEL is the soul [15] of it: when he makes his appearance, two wax lights are carried before him, which are laid upon his organ. Amidst a loud clapping of hands he seats himself, and the whole band of music strikes up exactly at the same moment. At the interludes he plays concertos of his own composition, either alone or accompanied by the orchestra. These are equally admirable for the harmony and the execution. The Italian opera, in three acts, gives us much less pleasure: The tedious declamation of the recitative makes us buy dearly a few pleasing airs, with which it terminates.
[… 19 …]
VERSES upon RANELAGH.
[… 20 …]
|
In this elysian, blissful ground, HANDEL’s sweet symphonies resound, With which Italian strains combine To charm the soul by airs divine. PICCINI there the list’ning ears Delights like music of the spheres; |
[...]
[French version]
|
Dans ce séjour Elysien, Où d’Hendel brille l’harmonie, Par les échos l’orgue embellie S’unit au chant italien: Tandis qu’à
l’oreille ravie Un Paccini chante si bien.[24] |
Oratorio in Covent-Garden.
WHereas a young Lady on Wednesday last, at the Oratorio in Covent-Garden, had the Perusal of a Gentleman’s Book during the Performance, and afterwards ask’d whether his Name was B——s, to which he answered No, but immediately told her his Surname, and not having at that Time Opportunity of discovering himself farther, desires by these Means, as she is fair she may be kind enough to favour him with a Line directed to Y. B. at the Bull-Head, Chancery-Lane, where she lives and may be spoke with.
She was dressed in white, and had two small Patches on her right Cheek. There were two if not three Gentlemen that seem’d to be her Company.[25]
Unlike Mrs. Pritchard’s successful benefit, Mrs. Green had ill luck with the play for her benefit on 18 April [1750], attracting a house of only £130. Cross noted that “This House was hurt by Mr. Handels Music at ye Foundling Hosp[i]t[al].”[26]
Apr 30
[reply to “FIDDLING considered, as far as it regards an UNIVERSITY.”]
[“MUSICK no improper part of an UNIVERSITY EDUCATION.”]
But tho’ I would recommend this as an amusing science and enforce the moderate use of it, le it not be thought that I would have it the only one. Our mornings, I hope, are devoted to more solid and interesting studies; and whatever variety of instruments may be heard in our courts in the afternoons, I flatter myself that no one can complain of this in the former part of the day. And if such is the case, I see no reason why our schools may not be frequented as well as our musick-meetings, and NEWTON and LOCKE still have their followers as well as HANDEL and CORELLI.[27]
May 1
It was computed that there were on Tuesday last, at the Oratorio perform’d at the Foundling-Hospital in Lamb’s Conduit-Fields, upwards of 1100 Persons of Distinction.[28]
May 1
Tuesday it was computed there were at the Oratorio at the Foundling-Hospital, in Lamb’s Conduit Fields, upwards of 1200 Persons of Distinction.[29]
TUESDAY, May 1.
A fine oratorio was performed by Mr. Handel, at the Foundling hospital in Lamb’s conduit fields, for the benefit of that charity; at which it was computed there were upwards of 1200 persons of distinction.[30]
May 18
|
For Signora CUZZONI’s BENEFIT, This Day being the 18th Instant, will be A CONCERT. At Mr. HICKFORD’s in Brewer-Street, The VOCAL PART by Signora CUZZONI. To begin exactly at Seven o’Clock. F Tickets may be had of Signora Cuzzoni, at Mr. Samson’s an Upholsterer in Conduit-Street, the third Door on the Right-hand from Swallow-Street; and at the Place of Performance at Half a Guinea each.[31] |
Jun 1
|
In the Name of God Amen. I George Frideric Handel considering the Uncertainty of human Life doe make this my Will in manner following viz. I give and bequeath unto my Servant Peter le Blond, my Clothes and Linnen, and three hundred Pounds sterl: and to my other Servants a Year Wages. I give and bequeath to Mr Christopher Smith [erased: Senior] my large Harpsicord, my little House Organ, my Musick Books, and five hundred Pounds sterl: Item I give and bequeath to Mr James Hunter [line erased] five hundred Pounds sterl: [1v] I give and bequeath to my Cousin Christian Gottlieb Handel of Coppenhagen one hundred Pounds sterl: Item I give and bequeath to my Cousin Magister Christian August Rotth of Halle in Saxony one hundred Pounds sterl: Item I give and bequeath to my Cousin the Widow of George Taust, Pastor of Giebichenstein near Halle in Saxony three hundred Pounds sterl: and to Her six Children each two hundred Pounds sterl: All the next and residue of my Estate in Bank Annuity’s 1746. 1 sub. [erased: South Sea Annuity’s] or of what soever Kind or Nature, I give and bequeath unto my Dear Niece Johanna Friderica Flöerken of Gotha in Saxony (born Michäelsen in Halle) whom I make my Sole Exectrix of this my last Will. In wittness Whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 1 Day of June 1750 George Frideric Handel.[32] |
Jun 17, Delville
|
[Mrs. Delany to B. Granville, Esq., 17 June 1750] I am glad the Foundling Hospital was so full, and carried on with such decency; I am sure it pleased our friend Handel, and I love to have him pleased. [...][33] |
[Handel to Johann Gottfried Taust, 22 June 1750]
|
[2v] A Monsieur Monsieur Johan Gottfried Taust Gymn: Hal: Collega Tertius a Halle [1r] HochgeEhrtester Hochwehrtester Herr Vetter Ich empfing mit großen Vergnügen deßen angenehmes Schreiben, welches mir die gute Nachricht gab, von deßen
völliger Genesung einer so schwehren Krankheit, welche hatte mir große Bekümmernüß gegeben, weiln ich allezeit meinen liebwehrtesten Hrn Vetter mit sonderbahrer Hoch Achtung verehre. Ich empfing zu gleicher Zeit in selbigen Brief das gentile Compliment so derselbe mir machen wollen über den Success meiner musicalischen Arbeit bey den öffentlichen Friedens Solemnitäten, es war würdig Seiner Politesse, und bin Ihme üm [sic] so viel desto mehr verbunden, weiln ich weiß daß solches von einen guten Herzen kam. Sonsten als vor mehrere particularitäten, wird derselbe finden in meinem an Seines Hbn {Hrn?} Bruders des Diac: abgelassenem Schreiben, nur werde [1v] hier erwehnen wollen, daß ich (da ich habe mein Testament gemacht) demselben bedacht. Unterdeßen erbitte mir die erwünschte Nachricht von deßen Wohlseÿn, und empfehle mich zum schönsten an deßen Hochgeschäzten Famille, verbleibe mit aller Treüe und ergeben Auffrichtigkeit Meines Insonders HochgeEhrtestens Hbn Vetters London bereitwilligster diener den 22 Jun: und affectionirter Vetter 1750 George Friedrich Händel |
[...]
Most Esteemed
Most valued Herr cousin
With great delight, I received your pleasant letter with the good news of your complete recovery from such a serious illness that had made me very sad because I have always held my most beloved Herrn cousin in particularly high esteem.
At the same time, I received in this letter the gentle compliment that you wanted to make me for the success of my musical work for the public solemnities of peace. It was worthy of your politeness, and I am all the more obliged to you since I know that it came from a good heart.
Otherwise, as for more particularities, you will find them in my letter I have sent to your Herrn brother, the deacon. I just would like to mention here that I remembered him when I made my will.
Meanwhile, I hope for the much desired news of your well-being and remain with best regards to your highly esteemed family in all faith and humble honesty
My particularly highly esteemed Herrn cousin’s
most willing servant
and affectionate cousin
George Friedrich Händel[34]
[...]
Jul 30
|
The WORLD A FIDDLE and a DANCE. EXamine nature’s work around, The whole machine is dance and sound. The spheres above move round and sing, The planets run a constant ring. The winds sonorous music make, Angels themselves the trumpet wake. The feather’d-tribe, that fly between The upper
and the lower scene, Out-sing Italians’ warbling throats, And charm the world with various notes; The goldfinch, nightingale, and thrush, Are FARINELLIS on a bush. [...][35] |
Aug 2
|
[Horace Walpole to Horace Mann] Strawberry Hill, Aug.2 d 1750. [... 166 ... 169 ...] Another celebrated Polly has been arrested for £30, even the old Cuzzoni; the Prince of Wales bailed her — who will do as much for him?[36] |
[Fr. H. Williams to her father, Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, Thursday 9 August {1750}]
You desir’d I wd. write you an acct. of Cuzzoni[;] her voice is reckon’d much decay’d by those who heard her before, & the 2 first Songs of Farinelli’s wch. she sung, did not please me, but she afterwards sung one wth. in her own Compass, wch. charm’d me. & I think her manner is beyond any thing I ever heard. She proposes staying in town next winter, & it is thought Mr. Handel will take her into ye. Oratorio.[37]
London den 11 Augusty ... De alom beroemde muzykmeester de heer Handel is een reysje na verscheyde hoven in Duytschland en Italien gaen doen.
London 11 August ... The widely famed Handel is making a trip to various courts in Germany and Italy[38]
Aug 21
Mr. Handel, who went to Germany to visit his Friends some Time since, and between the Hague and Harlaem had the Misfortune to be overturn’d, by which he was terribly hurt, is now out of Danger.[39]
Haarlem 28 August. The famous Mr. Handel, Kapellmeister of the King of Great Britain, passing through this town, yesterday, among other noteworthy events, inspected the great organ in the Groote Kerk of this town, having previously requested to hear our organist Radeker play there, and expressed the utmost satisfaction with the handling of the instrument as well as with its glorious sound.[40]
Sep 8 (NS)
Letters from Loo advise, that the Prince Stadtholder, and the Princess Royal, were the 8th at Deventer, where their Serene and Royal Highnesses received much Pleasure from hearing Mr. Handel play upon the Organ of the great Church there.[41]
Sep 10
Deventer 10 September. On the eighth of this month his Illustrious Highness the Prince of Orange, our hereditary Stadtholder, together with her Royal Highness My Lady the Princess [Anne] and various nobles of the court were here in the Groote Kerk among a great mass of people, both the first and least of this town, to hear Heer Handel, Kapellmeister of his Royal Majesty of Great Britain, play the organ, with which their Highnesses and the other listeners were extremely satisfied.[42]
Sep 22
|
[Mrs. Delany to Mrs. Dewes, 22 September 1750] [...] Wednesday, dined at my Mrs. Hamilton’s [...] and spent the day very agreeably. Miss Hamilton sung very prettily your favorite songs of the Messiah, accompanied by her brother, Mr. Sackville Hamilton, on the violin: she has a sweet-toned voice and good ear, but wants a little management of it.[43] |
Oct 4-5
|
Sarum, Oct. 8. On the 4th and 5th of this Month was celebrated at this City, the Musical Festival of St. Cecilia. There were performed each Day in the Morning at the Cathedral Church, a Te Deum of Mr. Handel, and two of his Anthems, by above thirty Performers, Vocal and Instrumental. At the New Assembly Room, on the first Night, was perform’d the Messiah, or Sacred Oratorio; and on the second Night, L’Allegro Il Penseroso, both set to Musick by the same great Composer. Among the Voices were Dr. Hayes, Professor of Musick at Oxford, and Signor Guadagni, a celebrated Italian. The Musick, as well at the Church as at the Assembly Room, was performed with great Exactness throughout, and in many Parts with great Elegance. There was a very laudable Attention on the Part of the Audience, which was very numerous. Above four hundred Persons were present each Night at the Assembly Room, in which Number were included the principal Nobility and Gentry, within many Miles of this Place; their Graces the Duke and Dutchess of Queensberry, Lord Drumlanrig, Lady ———— Beckford, the Earl and Countess of Essingham, Lord and Lady Folkestone, and the Miss Boveries, Lord and Lady Arundel, Lord and Lady Feversham, Lady Ranelagh, the Hon. Mr. Moor, the Hon. Mr. Thomas and Mr. Everard Arundel, the Hon. Mr. How and Miss How, Sir Thomas and Lady Webb, Sir Philip and Lady Butler, Lady Strickland, and Miss Strickland, &c. &c.[44] |
Dec 2 (NS)
Hague, Dec. 3. Yesterday at Noon the Prince Stadtholder and the Princess Royal, accompanied by the Princess Caroline, went to the new Church to hear Mr. Handel play upon the Organ. He play’d about an Hour, and their Highnesses were extremely delighted with his Performances, as were all the rest of the Auditors, among whom were the Ambassadors and foreign Ministers, and the chief of the Nobility of both Sexes.[45]
The Hague 3 December...Yesterday the celebrated Heer Handel, Kapellmeister and chief musician to His Majesty of Great Britain, allowed his extraordinary gifts on the organ to be heard in the Nieuwe Kerk. The entire court, most of the foreign ambassadors and other distinguished persons of both sexes were present, and he was greatly praised by all.[46]
The Hague 8 December...Heer Handel, Kapellmeister of his Majesty of Great Britain, whose gifts were heard yesterday by the Stadtholder and his family for the last time, departed today for England via Rotterdam.[47]
Nov 30, Delville
|
[Mrs. Delany to Mrs. Dewes, 30 November 1750] Yesterday we were at a charitable music, performed in the round church of Dublin; we had Corelli’s 8th Concerto, Mr. Handel’s Te Deum Jubilate, and two anthems; I cannot say there was so great a crowd as I wished to see on the occasion. [...][48] |
early Dec
LONDON.
This Week the celebrated Mr. Handel arriv’d at his House in Brook-Street, Grosvenor-Square, from Aix-la-Chapelle.[49]
Dec 3
|
[Mrs. Dewes to Bernard Granville, Esq., 3 December 1750] I hope you find Mr. Handel well. I beg my compliments to him: he has not a more real admirer of his great work than myself; his wonderful Messiah will never be out of my head; and I may say my heart was raised almost to heaven by it. It is only those people who have not felt the pleasure of devotion that can make any objection to that performance, which is calculated to raise our devotion, and make us truly sensible of the power of the divine words he has chose beyond any human work that ever yet appeared, and I am sure I may venture to say ever will. If anything can give us an idea of the Last Day it must be that part — “The [624] trumpet shall sound, the dead shall be raised.” It is few people I can say so much to as this, for they would call me an enthusiast; but when I wish to raise my thoughts above this world and all its trifling concerns, I look over what oratorios I have, and even my poor way of fumbling gives me pleasing recollections, but I have nothing of the Messiah, but He was despised, &c. Does Mr. Handel do anything new against next Lent? surely Theodora will have justice at last, if it was to be again performed, but the generality of the world have ears and hear not. [...][50] |
[Fr. H. Williams to her father, Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, Thursday 6 December 1750]
[...] The Concert began yesterday, I was there, & heard Cuzzoni; her voice is vastly crack’d & she sung much worse than when I heard her in the spring. I heard ye. Musick there, that Mr. Handel compos’d for ye. fireworks, & was extremely pleas’d with it.[51]
Dec 10, Delville
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[Mrs. Delany to Mrs. Dewes, 10 December 1750] [...] On Tuesday morning next, the rehearsal of the Messiah is to be for the benefit of debtors — on Thursday evening it will be performed. I hope to go to both; our new, and therefore favourite performer Morella is to play the first fiddle, and conduct the whole. I am afraid his French taste will prevail; I shall not be able to endure his introducing froth and nonsense in that sublime and awful piece of music. What makes me fear this will be the case, is, that in the closing of the eighth concerto of Corelli, instead of playing it clear and distinct, he filled it up with frippery and graces which quite destroyed the effect of the sweet notes, and solemn pauses that conclude it. [...][52] |
Dec 15, Delville
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[Mrs. Delany to Mrs. Dewes, 15 December 1750] [...] This week I have had a feast of music. At the rehearsal on Tuesday morning, and last night at the performance, of the Messiah; very well performed indeed, and the pleasure of the music greatly heightened by considering how many poor prisoners would be released by it. You may (Bushe says) write to Mrs. Dillon when you please — she is sure she will be glad to hear from you; her two modest, innocent girls went with us to the Messiah, and asked much after you. We go this afternoon to the Bishop of Derry’s, to hear Morella; he conducted the Messiah very well — surprizingly so, considering he was not before acquainted with such sublime music.[53] |
Dec 18
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To the Author of the Second Part of The OEconomy of Human Life. VAINLY thou spread’st the thin Disguise; O first in ev’ry List of Fame! When the full Organ shakes the Skies, Need we be told of Handel’s Name?[54] |
Dec 18, Delville
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[Mrs. Delany to Bernard Granville, Esq., 18 December 1750] [...] I was at the rehearsal and performance of The Messiah, and though voices and hands were wanting to do it justice, it was very tolerably performed, and gave me great pleasure — ’tis heavenly. Morella conducted it, and I expected would have spoiled it, but was agreeably surprized to find the contrary; he came off with great applause. I thought it would be impossible for his wild fancy and fingers to have kept within bounds; but Handel’s music inspired and awed him. He says (but I don’t believe him) that he never saw any music of Handel’s or Corelli’s till he came to Ireland. I heard him play at the Bishop of Derry’s a solo of Geminiani’s which he had never seen; he played it cleverly, as his execution is extraordinary, but his [630] taste in the adagio part was ill suited to the music. He is young, modest, and well-behaved, as I am told, and were he to play under Mr. Handel’s direction two or three years, would make a surprizing player. We are so fond of him here, that were it known I gave this hint, I should be expelled all musical society, as they so much fear he should be tempted to leave us. [... 631 ...] Pray make my compliments to Handel. Is Theodora to appear next Lent? [...][55] |
[“Princesses Amelia and Caroline’s Officers, &c.”]
Musick Master,
————Handel 200 l.[56]
Being advanc’d a little way up this second Side of the Quadrangle, we come to a spacious Semi-Circle of elegant Pavillions, in a different Style from the above-mention’d. In the Area, before this Semi-Circle, stand lofty Trees; and, in the Center of it, is a beautiful Marble Statue of Mr. Handel, in the Character of Apollo, playing on the Lyre; with a Boy underneath, taking down the Notes. The rising Genius shewn in this Piece of Sculpture, at its being first set up, gave Occasion to the following Verses.
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Drawn by the Fame of these embower’d Retreats, See Orpheus, rising from th’ Elysian
Seats! Lost to th’admiring World three thousand Years, Beneath great Handel’s Form he re-appears. Sweetly this Miracle attracts the Eye:— But hark! for o’er the Lyre his Fingers fly. |
That Statue stood, some Years since, not so far up this Side of the Quadrangle, in a kind of Alcove of Verdure; when the following Compliment was paid to the Sculptor, in a Song, entitled Greenwood-Hall; wherein a Peasant (Colin) is suppos’d to be gazing with stupid Wonder, on the countless Beauties round him:
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As still, amaz’d, I’m straying Thro’ this inchanted Gove, I spy a HARPER playing, All in his proud Alcove. [9] I doff my Hat, desiring He’d tune up buxom Joan:— But what was I admiring? Ozooks! a Man of Stone.[57] |
Where an actress, to whom nature has given but a feeble voice, plays the character of a Statira, or an Hermione, we are apt to fancy, that we hear the utmost thunder of a full chorus of an Oratorio play’d upon a dancing-master’s kit. What contempt must so unnatural a scene inspire us with; and, on the other hand, what an impression do we feel from a part of this kind, work’d up by the author’s art so as to move the passions of an audience in the utmost degree; and, to this, play’d by an actress in the bloom of life, and pride of voice and beauty, whose victorious accents might have made it natural in a Lothario to become constant, or in an Altamont to be unfaithful?[58]
MUSICK no improper part of an UNIVERSITY EDUCATION
[...]
AS an University is or ought to be esteem’d a nursery from which men are to be hereafter transplanted into the larger field of life, nothing that accomplishes the gentleman can be deem’d unworthy the attention of the scholar. MUSICK has always been look’d upon as one of these politer accomplishments, and with justice styl’d the sister of poetry and painting. [...]
[...] MILTON, we are assur’d, before he apply’d himself to his divine compositions, us’d to elevate and sublime his ideas and awaken the spirit of enthusiasm by [131] playing on the organ. [...]
But tho’ I would recommend this as an amusing science and enforce the moderate use of it, let it not be thought that I would have it the only one. Our mornings, I hope, are devoted to more solid and interesting studies; and whatever variety of instruments may be heard in our courts in the afternoons, I flatter myself that no one can complain of this in the former part of the day. And if such is the case, I see no reason why our schools may not be frequented as well as our musick-meetings, and NEWTON and LOCKE still have their followers as well as HANDEL and CORELLI.[59]
[“Masquerade at Venice described”]
In England, if I mistake not, the common women
affect to dress like the people of fashion, and the people of fashion have too
much complaisance not to return the compliment by dressing like them; so that
it is not only the dutchess [sic] I have mentioned [“a young fellow of
our acquaintance once picked up the dutchess of * * * for a common prostitute,
at one of the public places”], whom one might mistake for one of them, nor, I
think, is Fanny [...] the only one of her fraternity that one may take, at an
Oratorio, for a dutchess.[60]
While a Taste for Painting, Music, Architecture, and other polite Arts, in some measure, prevailed amongst us, our Gardens, for the most part, were laid out in so formal, aukward, and wretched a Manner, that they were really a Scandal to the Genius of the Nation: [... 61 ...] For to me, I must own, there appears a very visible Connexion between an improved Taste for Pleasure, and a Taste for Virtue. When I sit ravished at an Oratorio, or stand astonished before the Cartoons, or enjoy myself in these happy Walks, I can feel my Mind expand itself, my Notions inlarge, and my Heart better disposed either for a religious Thought, or a benevolent Action. In a word, I cannot help imagining a Taste for these exalted Pleasures contributes towards making me a better Man:[61]
[“CHAP. VII. Loveill with great precaution courts Lady Juliet.—An occasional criticism on the English poets, who write words for music.”]
The company go together; and some soft things passed between the lady and her new lover as often as the captain who now constantly attended her every where, turned his head another way. Mr. Loveill had reveng’d the lady’s sitting down a little closer to her lover than he thought she needed; by placing himself at the elbow of the very person by whose means he had thrown her into confusion the night before: as his conversation with this lady grew more and more familiar, Lady Juliet’s seat grew more and more uneasy to her, she saw the reason of what vexed her so heartily, and she sidled farther and farther from the captain: in fine after some very expressive things had been look’d on both sides, on the occasion, Mr. Loveill when he thought the lady had made concessions enough, took occasion on the first full glance she gave him, to leave the lady he was with in a very abrupt [88] manner, and carelessly to lean over the back of her ladyship’s chair, under the pretence of paying his attention to a vocal performer, who just then had begun a song.
Loveill, who during the performance had kept his eyes attentively on the lady, found that he had not been mistaken in his judgment of her taste for musick and poetry; but to his inconceivable confusion he found, that his rival the captain had a taste for these things too, which the gaiety of his habit had never suffer’d him to suspect him of.
The song was the favourite piece of the L’Allegro of Milton, compos’d by Handell, Let me wander not unseen. After the captain had very warmly, and with a great deal of spirit, commended the ease and sweetness both of words and music of this song, and said a great many good general things on the sciences, Loveill, with the greatest composure in the world, and with all the familiarity of an intimate, leaning towards the lady’s shoulder, said: ‘I could not but observe the particular pleasure you express’d at the beginning of the second line of this song. I don[’]t know that it has been observ’d before you remark’d it, but there is a peculiar merit in the composer in that part, who has in a masterly manner made the [89] irregularity of the verse, which would have disconcerted the passage in the hands of any body but himself, the occasion of a peculiar grace.’
Lady Juliet, who had hitherto receiv’d this gentleman’s addresses only in dumb shew, and who did not yet perfectly comprehend the observation he was making, look’d round upon him with a pleasure and astonishment in her countenance, that all her premeditated government of herself could not guard her against: she attended to him with a trembling heart, a stedfast [sic] eye, and a mouth that seem’d opening as if to eat up every syllable he utter’d; and the captain’s face expressing no other sentiments but those of an uneasy confusion, Loveill address’d the remainder of his criticism to him. ‘I believe, Sit, continued he, this peculiar passage did not happen to strike you; but I saw that lady remark it with a particular look of applause. You have observ’d, I dare say, that all these sprightly pieces in the English poets are funded on he basis of the Anacreontick, and that their beginning with a long syllable, as in the lines
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Let me wander not unseen. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [90] Where the plowman near at hand, Whistles o’er the fallowed land; And the milkmaid singeth blythe, And the mower whets his scythe. - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - Under the hawthorn in the dale. |
is evidently done in imitation of the measure of the Greek verse; but the inaccuracy of the authors in our language, (not excepting even Milton himself in the elegant piece before us) is so great that they frequently forget the measure, and intermix verses not Anacreontick among the others: such are the two lines I omitted in repeating this piece
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By hedge-row elms on hillocks green. And every shepherd tells his tale. |
Where it is evident, the lines not only consist of half a foot too much, but that half-foot is the short syllable added at the beginning of the line, the dropping of which gives the peculiar character of Anacreontism to the rest. We have a way of slurring over this first half-foot in the reading, in such a manner as to hide the redundance in a great measure; but when the words are intended for musick the composer [91] generally hobbles at it. He adapts his measure to the first line, which is generally a right one, and taking it for granted that the rest are all like it, in so material a point as the number of syllables, he is not prepared for the variety, but usually passes it by, and leaves the vocal performer to get over it as well as he can.
‘I don[’]t doubt but an ear of the delicacy of this lady’s has been often shock’d at the huddling together of two syllables to the same note on these occasions, and cannot wonder that she expressed a peculiar pleasure at the manner in which the composer of this piece has made a beauty out of this very fault, by giving an additional note to the beginning of the second line to take up the short syllable, and this not appearing crowded in by force, but absolutely expected and necessary from the conduct of the close on the line before. His management in regard to the other redundant line, is far from being censurable, but in this it certainly deserves all the applause, that lady allows it.’
The captain was no a little out of countenance at hearing a remark that fell so immediately in his own way, so well [92] delivered by another; nor could he indeed easily bring himself to brook the triumph, with which Loveill had taken occasion to tell him of his most percieving [sic] the occasion of it. Lady Juliet was charmed beyond measure with this confirmation of the justice of the good opinion she had conceived of her new lover, who had casually and in a slight, extempore, and merely occasional remark, discovered such a delicacy of taste in the polite arts, and such masterly knowledge in learning and antiquity. This however was not all the merit of what he had been saying, the greatest pleasure to her was in the address, with which he had contriv’d to give herself the merit of the observation, tho’ she was very conscious, not only that she had never perceiv’d any thing of the matter, but that he very well knew it.
Such a proof of genius in a man, who at this time appear’d to want some person of figure to countenance him, would on any other occasion have commanded an immediate friendship in a man of the captain’s truly generous and humane disposition; but the rival here could allow no place for the friend. He affected to pass over the observation as trivial; and scarce gave an answer to it. The lady was silent a long time, but that was from another [93] cause; at length, when the captain’s complimenting somebody that spoke to him gave her a moment’s opportunity, she with a very expressive look told Mr. Loveill: ‘Sir, you are sensible how much I say, when I tell you your tongue has more eloquence that your eyes. But....[’]
The raptures with which the lover heard this compliment were considerably abated by the abrupt conclusion of it. He was not certain what sort of connexion there was between her and the captain; and he grew more alarmed as he perceiv’d the extream caution with which she always acted before him. The look that spoke the conclusion of the broken sentence, at the captain’s turning that way, sufficiently declared her unwillingness that he should perceive the state of the thoughts; and the lover understood it so well, that he parted from her with as little ceremony as they had met, and applied himself with the same easy familiarity to the next person he came up to.[62]
AARON HILL, Esq;
[...]
He had once the Management of the Theatre, and has published the following Theatrical Pieces.
I. Rinaldo, an Opera, set to Music by Mr. Handel, soon after his first arrival in England. The Elegance of the Scenes, and Grandeur of the Machinery (our Author’s Invention) were justly admired by all, 1708.[63]
[“THE LIFE OF MILTON.”]
His Samson Agonistes is the only tragedy that he has
finished, [...] and we may suppose that he was determined to the choice of this
particular subject by the similitude of his own circumstances to those of
Samson blind and among the Philistins [sic]. This I conceive to be the last of his poetical pieces; [...] As
this work was never intended for the stage, the division into acts and scenes
is omitted. Bishop Atterbury had an
intention of getting Mr. Pope to divide it into acts and scenes, and of having
it acted by the King’s Scholars at Westminster: but his commitment to the Tower
put an end to that design. It has since
been brought upon the stage in the form of an Oratorio; and Mr. Handel’s music
is never employed to greater advantage, than when it is adapted to Milton’s
words. That great artist has done equal
justice to our author’s L’Allegro and Il Penseroso, as if the same spirit
possessed both masters, and as if the God of music and of verse was still one
and the same.[64]
There is a gradual Progression to every Perfection, and that Mind must deviate, whose every onward Step is not diligently attended to. Handel wou’d not have been much better than any common Organist, had not his delicate Ear been form’d to exquisite Sensations, by hearing skilful Masters execute with Power and Judgment.[65]
When Men in Power have a true Relish for Beauty, they who are possessed of Wisdom and Wit meet with Encouragement to exert them for the Benefit of Society: they are then Commodities with which a Man is sure to make his Way to Fortune, or at least to a Condition of Life that will place him above the ordinary Degrees of Men: but if Dulness should usurp the Seat of Wisdom, and fill the Chair of [4] Authority, with an Insensibility of those Arts which sweeten and adorn Life and which promote Morality, Wisdom and Wit would have no Recommendation, they could make no Claim which would be understood: all that they could say to the Idols of Power would be as unintelligible as if they spoke Greek to one entirely ignorant of Letters: a Man of Wisdom and Wit, especially one possessed of the rich Talents of Poetry, would act as fruitless a Part in shewing his best Gifts to such Persons as the ablest Musician would by performing the most masterly Composition of Handel to an Ass browsing on Thistles.[66]
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’Twas thus with Minum,---Minum one wou’d think, My Lord Mayor might have govern’d with a wink. Yet did the Magistrate e’er condescend To ask a song as kinsman or as friend, The urchin coin’d excuses to get off, ’Twas—hem—the
devil take this whoreson cough. But wait awhile, and catch him in the glee, } He’d roar the * Lion in the lowest key, } Or strain the † morning Lark quite up to G. }[67] |
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[“ODE To SLEEP.”] X. Say, does thy Heart with Rapture spring, When Handel strikes the magic String, With Transport do you hear? Or dost thou languish into Pain When soft Corelli’s tender Strain Subdues the ravish’d Ear?[68] |
A majestic Dignity of Aspect, flowing from a Consciousness of innate Innocence and Virtue, was the Attendant of all her Actions; but, in which, the least Tincture of Affectation or Pride was not perceivable, and indeed was absolutely contradictory to her Nature. Such was this delightful fair one, and no Wonder then, if all my Faculties were absorbed in Admiration! Oh! have we heard the thrilling Notes breathed in the inspiring Airs, the gentle Cadences of the inimitable Handel! Such was her Voice, whose melodious Accents diffused around unutterable Gladness; [...][69]
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[“SONG 331.”] And with the gay Seasons, gay Pleasures expire, Now mute at Vauxhall are the Voice and the Lyre; [...] Yet let not Despondency wholly prevail, Our Pleasures with Summer won’t totally fail, Tho’ from her lov’d Regions here Melody dies, The Goddess will soon on the Theatres rise. What tho’ the soft Notes no more float in the Gale, And Rocks cease repeating each amorous Tale, Our Raptures sweet Handel and Arne shall revive, And our Spirits dance chearful to Beard, Lowe, and Clive. Farewel [sic] then fresh Air and the murmuring Rill, And welcome old London, Piquet, and Quadrille, Where Plays, Balls, and Op’ra’s, and dear Masquerades, Excel the whole Summer, its Sunshine, and Shades.[70] |
[1] Inscription, Thomas Morell, “Theodora. An Oratorio,” title page; facs. Flower (1923), 314/15.
[2] The Autobiography and Correspondence of Mary Granville, Mrs. Delany, ed. Lady Llanover, 3 vols. (London: Richard Bentley, 1861), 2:538.
[3] repr., Handel: A Celebration of his Life and Times, 1685-1759, ed. Jacob Simon (London: National Portrait Gallery, 1985), 289.
[4] facs., Flower, 312/13.
[5] The Autobiography and Correspondence of Mary Granville, Mrs. Delany, ed. Lady Llanover, 3 vols. (London: Richard Bentley, 1861), 2:541.
[6] The General Advertiser, no. 4478, Friday 2 March 1749-50, [1]; partly repr. Deutsch, 682.
[7] The General Advertiser, no. 4793, Monday 5 March 1749-50, [1].
[8] The General Advertiser, no. 4797, Wednesday 7 March 1749-50, [1].
[9] The General Advertiser, no. 4799, Friday 9 March 1749-50, [2]; partly repr. Deutsch, 682.
[10] The General Advertiser, no. 4803, Wednesday 14 March 1749-50, [1].
[11] The General Advertiser, no. 4805, Friday 16 March 1749-50, [1]; partly repr. Deutsch, 683.
[12] [Thomas Morell], Theodora. An Oratorio. As it is Perform’d at the Theatre-Royal in Covent-Garden. Set to Musick by Mr. Handel (London: J. Watts, and B. Dod, 1750), not paginated; Chrissochoidis, 799.
[13] The General Advertiser, no. 4809, Wednesday 21 March 1749-50, [1].
[14] The General Advertiser, no. 4810, Friday 23 March 1749-50, [1].
[15] Betty Matthews, “Handel – More Unpublished Letters,” Music and Letters 42 (1961), 127-31: 128; Donald Burrows and Rosemary Dunhill (eds.), Music and Theatre in Handel’s World: The Family Papers of James Harris (1732–1780) (Oxford and New York, 2002), 269–70.
[16] The General Advertiser, no. 4815, Wednesday 28 March 1750, [1].
[17] The General Advertiser, no. 4817, Friday 30 March 1750, [1].
[18] The Student, Or the Oxford Monthly Miscellany, no. 3, 31 March 1750, 92, 94.
[19] The General Advertiser, no. 4819, Monday 2 April 1750, [1].
[20] The General Advertiser, no. 4820, Wednesday 4 April 1750, [2]; partly repr. Deutsch, 685.
[21] The General Advertiser, no. 0484 [incorrect number], Friday 6 April 1750, [2].
[22] The General Advertiser, no. 4828, Thursday 12 April 1750, [1]; partly repr. Deutsch, 685.
[23] Advertised in The General Advertiser, no. 4828, Thursday 12 April 1750, [3]; advertised as ‘In the Press’: The General Advertiser, no. 0484 [sic], Friday 6 April 1750, [3]; 2nd edn (with a separate key) advertised in The London Evening-Post, no. 3517, Tuesday 8 – Thursday 10 May 1750, [4].
* This language appears to be admirably adapted to music. The ingenious Mr ADDISON observes, that its conciseness suits with the natural taciturnity of his countrymen; that the hissing, for which it is remarkable, resembles an instrument with strings, and that the articulate pronunciation of other languages resembles the music of wind instruments.
[24] Madam[e] du Bocage, Letters concerning England, Holland and Italy, translated from the French, 2 vols. (London: E. and C. Dilly, 1770), 1:14-15, 19-20; Chrissochoidis, 799-800. French translation reprinted in Les Nuits Anglaises ... Troisième Partie (Paris: J. P. Costard, 1770), 127 [sic], 76-80; André Guillaume Contant d’Orville, Les Nuits Angloises, 4 vols. (Paris: J. P. Costard, 1771), 4:93-94, 58.
[25] Love at First Sight; or, The Gay in a Flutter. Being a Collection of Advertisements, chiefly Comic (London: F. Noble, 1750), 119; Chrissochoidis, 800.
[26] Richard Cross and William Hopkins, “Diaries, 1747-76,” 13 MSS vols., Folger Shakespeare Library; cited in The Plays of David Garrick. Volume 5: Garrick’s Alterations of Others, 1742-1750, ed. Harry William Pedicord and Fredrick Louis Bergman (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1982), 354; Chrissochoidis, 800.
[27] The Student, Or the Oxford Monthly Miscellany, no. 4, 30 April 1750, 131.
[28] The London Evening-Post, no. 3514, Tuesday 1 – Thursday 3 May 1750, [1].
[29] The Whitehall Evening-Post: Or, London Intelligencer, no. 659, Tuesday 1 – Thursday 3 May 1750, [1]; also, The Remembrancer, no. 126, Saturday 5 May 1750, [3].
[30] The London Magazine: Or, Gentleman’s Monthly Intelligencer 19 (1750): 233; Chrissochoidis, 800.
[31] The General Advertiser, no. 4858, Friday 18 May 1750, [3].
[32] repr. Victor Schoelcher, The Life of Handel (London: Robert Cocks, [1857]), 340-41; facs. repr., Handel’s Will: Facsimiles and Commentary, ed. Donald Burrows (London: The Gerald Coke Handel Foundation, 2009), 35-36.
[33] The Autobiography and Correspondence of Mary Granville, Mrs. Delany, ed. Lady Llanover, 3 vols. (London: Richard Bentley, 1861), 2:556.
[34] Hans Joachim Marx, “Ein unveröffentlichter Brief von Händel in Harvard,” Göttinger Händel-Beiträge 2 (1986), 221-25: 222-23; facs. of verso on 224; translation from German by Tobias Plebuch.
[35] The Student, Or the Oxford Monthly Miscellany, no. 7, 30 July 1750, 269.
[36] Horace Walpole’s Correspondence with Sir Horace Mann IV, ed. W. S. Lewis, Warren Hunting Smith, and George L. Lam (New Haven: Yale University Press / London: Oxford University Press, 1960), 165-69.
[37] Sir Charles Hanbury Williams’ Papers, vol. 52 (10902: “Private correspondence, 1748-9-50”), f 164r; Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University; Chrissochoidis, 801.
[38] Amsterdamse Courant, no. 98, 15 August 1750: translation from Dutch in Richard G. King, “Handel’s Travels in the Netherlands in 1750,” Music & Letters 72 (1991), 372-86: 373.
[39] The London Evening-Post, no. 3561, Saturday 18 – Tuesday 21 August 1750, [2]; also in The General Advertiser, no. 4936, Tuesday 21 August 1750, [1].
[40] Oprechte Haerlemse Courant, 29 August 1750: translation from Dutch in Richard G. King, “Handel’s Travels in the Netherlands in 1750,” Music & Letters 72 (1991), 372-86: 373.
[41] The Whitehall Evening-Post; Or, London Intelligencer, no. 714, Thursday 6 – Saturday 8 September 1750, [2]; also in The Penny London Post; Or, The Morning Advertiser, no. 1315, Friday 7 – Monday 10 September 1750, [2].
[42] Oprechte Haerlemse Courant, 12 September 1750: translation from Dutch in Richard G. King, “Handel’s Travels in the Netherlands in 1750,” Music & Letters 72 (1991), 372-86: 374.
[43] The Autobiography and Correspondence of Mary Granville, Mrs. Delany, ed. Lady Llanover, 3 vols. (London: Richard Bentley, 1861), 2:593.
[44] The London Evening-Post, no. 3584, Tuesday 9 – Thursday 11 October 1750, [1].
[45] The General Evening Post (London), no. 2650, Tuesday 27 – Thursday 29 November 1750, [1]; repr. as from “Nov. 23, O. S.” in Read’s Weekly Journal, Or British-Gazetteer, no. 1371, Saturday 1 December 1750, [2].
[46] Gravenhaegse Courant, 4 December 1750: translation from Dutch in Richard G. King, “Handel’s Travels in the Netherlands in 1750,” Music & Letters 72 (1991), 372-86: 374.
[47] Oprechte Haerlemse Courant, 10 December 1750: translation from Dutch in Richard G. King, “Handel’s Travels in the Netherlands in 1750,” Music & Letters 72 (1991), 372-86: 374.
[48] The Autobiography and Correspondence of Mary Granville, Mrs. Delany, ed. Lady Llanover, 3 vols. (London: Richard Bentley, 1861), 2:620.
[49] The London Evening-Post, no. 3609, Thursday 6 – Saturday 8 December 1750, [4].
[50] The Autobiography and Correspondence of Mary Granville, Mrs. Delany, ed. Lady Llanover, 3 vols. (London: Richard Bentley, 1861), 2:623-24.
[51] Sir Charles Hanbury Williams’ Papers, vol. 52 (10902: “Private correspondence, 1748-9-50”), f. 178r; Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University; Chrissochoidis, 802.
[52] The Autobiography and Correspondence of Mary Granville, Mrs. Delany, ed. Lady Llanover, 3 vols. (London: Richard Bentley, 1861), 2:626.
[53] The Autobiography and Correspondence of Mary Granville, Mrs. Delany, ed. Lady Llanover, 3 vols. (London: Richard Bentley, 1861), 2:628.
[54] The General Evening Post (London), no. 2658, Saturday 15 – Tuesday 18 December 1750, [2].
[55] The Autobiography and Correspondence of Mary Granville, Mrs. Delany, ed. Lady Llanover, 3 vols. (London: Richard Bentley, 1861), 2:629-31.
[56] Millan’s Universal Register, Correct and complete for 1750 (London: J. Millan, [1750]), 85; Chrissochoidis, 802-03.
[57] A Sketch of the Spring-Gardens, Vaux-Hall. In a Letter to a Noble Lord (London: G. Woodfall, [?1750]), 8-9; Chrissochoidis, 803.
[58] [John Hill], The Actor: A Treatise on the Art of Playing (London: R. Griffiths, 1750), 129; Chrissochoidis, 803.
[59] The Student, Or, The Oxford, and Cambridge Monthly Miscellany, 2 vols. (London: J. Newbery / Oxford: J. Barrett / Cambridge: J. Merrill, 1750), 1:130-31; Chrissochoidis, 803-04.
[60] [Thomas Broderick], Letters from Several Parts of Europe, and the East. Written in the Years 1750, &c., 2 vols. (London: L. Davis, J. Ward / Oxford: J. Fletcher, 1753), 1:330; repr. (Dublin: George Faulkner, 1754), 1:364; repr. as The Travels of Thomas Broderick, Esq; In a Late Tour through Several Parts of Europe, &c., 2 vols. (London: M. Cooper, 1754), 1:330; Chrissochoidis, 804.
[61] George Bickham, The Beauties of Stow: or, A Description of the Pleasant Seat, and Noble Gardens, of the Right Honourable Lord Viscount Cobham (London: George Bickham, 1750), 60-61; repr., Geo. Bickham, The Beauties of Stow, or a Description of the most noble House, Gardens and magnificent Buildings therein. Of the Right. Hon. Earl Temple, Viscount and Baron Cobham ([London]: G. Bickham, [?1756]), 37-38; Chrissochoidis, 804.
[62] The Adventures of Mr. Loveill, Interspers’d with many Real Amours of the Modern Polite World, 2 vols. (London: M. Cooper, 1750), 1:87-93; Chrissochoidis, 805-06.
[63] [William Rufus Chetwood], The British Theatre. Containing the Lives of the English Dramatic Poets; with an Account of all their Plays. Together with the Lives of most of the Principal Actors, as well as Poets (Dublin: Peter Wilson, 1750), 152; Chrissochoidis, 807.
[64] John Milton, Paradise Lost. A Poem, in Twelve Books ... The Second Edition, with Notes of Various Authors, by Thomas Newton, D.D., 3 vols. (London: J. and R. Tonson and S. Draper, et al., 1750), 1:lxii; repr., Paradise Lost. A Poem, in Twelve Books...From the Text of Thomas Newton, D.D. (Birmingham: John Baskerville for J. and R. Tonson, 1758), l; and John Milton, Paradise Regain’d. A Poem, in Four Books. To which is added Samson Agonistes: and Poems upon Several Occasions ... From the Text of Thomas Newton, D. D. (Birmingham: John Baskerville for J. and R. Tonson, 1758), l; Chrissochoidis, 807.
[65] The Memoirs of Michael Clancy, M.D., 2 vols. (Dublin: S. Powell, 1750), 1:39; Chrissochoidis, 807.
[66] Thomas Cooke, An Ode on Martial Virtue, to which are prefixed Observations on Taste, and the Present State of Poetry in England (London: M. Cooper, 1750), 3-4; Chrissochoidis, 807-08.
* The Lion’s Song, in Pyramus and Thisbe.
† A song in one of Mr Handel’s Oratorios.
[67] Ebenezer Pentweazle [=Christopher Smart], The Horatian Canons of Friendship. Being the Third Satire of the First Book of Horace Imitated (London: the author, 1750), 2; Chrissochoidis, 808.
[68] [William Gerard Hamilton], Four Odes (London: R. Manby and H. S. Cox, 1750), 14; Chrissochoidis, 808.
[69] [Edward Kimber], The Life and Adventures of Joe Thompson. A Narrative founded on Fact. Written by Himself, 2 vols. (London: John Hinton / Bath: W. Frederick, 1750) 1:179; Chrissochoidis, 808-09.
[70] The Merry Man’s Companion, and Evening’s agreeable Entertainer (London: H. Kent, and Tho. Payne, 1750), 274; repr., The Muses Holiday: Or, the Polite Songster (London: W. Reeve, [?1757]), 74; and as “A Farewell to the Summer’s Diversions. A SONG. / The Words by Mr. JOHN DUICK,” in Miscellaneous Correspondence ... Vol. I. For the Year 1755 and 1756 (London: W. Owen and the author, 1759), 180-81; Chrissochoidis, 809.