On this page
-
Text (2)
-
546 ^g.j 8 .....^ 1 ^.^^-. 11 :..:.-. , ...
-
CHINA AND ITS INHABITANTS. China: a Gene...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
The Life Of Handel. The Life Of Handel B...
by two other appointments , bringing in 200 / . a year each . Thus we find the composer , within three years after his acrival in this country , enjoying 600 / a year from the bounty of the Crown , and occupying the front place in public favour . Music both sacred and secular now came from his inexhaustible brain with marvellous facility—Amadis , the Chandos Anthems , ^ Water-Music : The Chandos Anthems were named after the great Duke of Chandos , at whose -magnificent mansion , Cannons , near Edgeware , Handel occupied the post of chapel-master . It . was at Cannons that he composed his earliest English oratorio , Esther , which was at first only performed for the private amusement of the duke and his guests ; here also he wrote the celebrated Suites de Pieces pourle Clavecin , to one of which the name of The Harmonious Blacksmith was subsequently uiven . M . Schcelcher disposes very satisfactorily of two points in connexion with this piece ; on the one side he exabout Powell the blacksmithand the pther
plodes the pretty little fiction , on he puts it beyond all doubt that Handel was the real author of the piece . It was -whilst Handel was at Cannons that he became musical director of the " Royal Academy of Music , an operatic speculation which failed miserably in a pecuniary way , and pei-haps also in a musical way , in obedience to the old adage that * too many cooks spoil the broth . ' Not content with having one musical director , the aristocratic patrons who presided over the Royal Academy of Music would have three , and the consequence , as may be readily imagined , was a desperate rivalry between Handel , Bononcini , and Attilio . Victory resulted in favour of the German ; but few battles take place without some wounds being received on both sides , and the feud then aroused was the cause of a great deal of bickering and opposition , which continued to trouble Handel for many years . We cannot but think that Handel was somewhat to blame himself in the matter . With all h is disposition to put the best face upon , his character , M . Schcelcher proves , rather than admits , him to be a mari of ungovernable and overbeariug in fact
temper , with a good heart but a rough exterior , just the man , , to ¦ make a few firm friends but a host of enemies . Some of the singers who were subject to him turned against him , and many of the aristocratic subscribers to the Opera took their part , a great deal , -we can imagine , for ' the fun of the thing , and a great deal because they were seriously offended at what M- Schoelcher terms his ' independence of spirit , ' such independence consisting in invariably taking his own way and obstinately persisting in his own opinion . It may be that M . Schcelcher has been misled by the satirists and caricaturists of the day into giving to the opposition against Handel a greater importance than it really deserved . We are loth to believe that the . entire aristocracy of England got up every morning and went about conspiring , talked and wrote letters , and gave parties with no other object than to accomplish the ruin of the musician whom Dr . Pepusch rather appropriately nicknamed the great bear . ' Yet we are willing to suppose that he had some good haters opposed to him , and instead of wondering with M . Schoelcher that such was the case , we are only surprised that the friends who ever rallied round him were so numerous and so constant .
To return , however , to the chain of the narrative . The Academy having failed and Handel being then ' possessed of 10 , 000 / ., he tried his own hand at management , and entered into partnership with the notorious Heidegger at the Haymarket . This was a worse speculation than the former , and there is quite enough to account for the failure of it in a natural way to avoid attributing it , as M . Schoelcher seems inclined to do , to the intrigues of the nobility . This career of management was , however , marked by some bright spots , one of the most noticeable of which was the first appearance in public of that matchless and ever popular serenata Acis and Galatea . In 1733 , he
produced Deborah , the first English oratorio which was written tor public performance ; the success was moderate . The same year he produced Athalia at a Public Act at Oxford . Next year he dissolved partnership with Heidegger , and took the Lancoln ' s-Inu Theatre on his own account . Almost immediately afterwards he removed to the Haymarket ; next year he went to Covent Garden . This constant shifting about boded no good . The entertainments given under his management were not confined to operas ; oratorios were given , serenatas , and pieces , like the now famous Ode to St Cecilia ' Day and Alexander ' s Feast . His company was a first-rate one , for it included the celebrated Farinelli , Senesino , and Signora Cuzzoni ; but it was all in vain , the year 1737 found liina an insolvent debtor , and in the with healthto retire
month of April in that year he was compelled , impaired , to Aix-la-Chapelle . Before the end of the same year , however , he was back again and hard at work . The opera of Faramondo , Queen Caroline ' s Funeral Anthem , Xerxes , and other works , followed in quick succession . At that time he actually wrote music for the VauxhaU Gardens , where a statue by Roubiliac was erected to him during his lifetime . In the beginning of 1739 he took the Haymarket for the performance of oratorios , and produced Saul and Israel in , Egypt in quick succession . About the end of the same year he moved to Lincoln ' s Inn-fields , and there produced VAllegro , Hymen , and Deidania . These uneasy speculations ended in a second failure , and for the second time in his life the great composer found himself unable to face his creditors .
Then followed his journey to Ireland , which was the turning point of his fox'tunes . From the day of the first performance of the Messiah , which took place in Dublin on the 13 th of April , 1742 , the sun of Handel's glory was undimmed b y a cloud up to the moment of its setting . A veil seems to have fallen from before the eyes of hid enemies ; all contentions were settled , all opposition at rest , all failings fox'given . Henceforth everybody seemed to regard him with pride aa the greatest composer the world ever saw , and to agree by common consent to overlook foibles which would have been unpardonable in any other man . How much of this is duo to the feeling excited in Ireland by his visit there wo cannot determine , but wo think it far more probable that it was mainly due to his final abandonment of operas about the same time or shortl y afterwards . Making a mistake which is by no means uncommon , ho valued his worst works the most highly . JVJ . Schoelcher appears desirous of convincing the world that his operas are very fine , and urges , oddly enough , iu support of this , that many airs out of them have been used for sacred songs . As an instance of this we may mention that Brakam ' s well known eong , Lord , remember David , ' is nothing
but « Rend' il sereno al ciglio , m Sosarme . But this fact , instead ofTTT" * us into a belief of the uniform excellence of these operas , tends to j ; 8 our impression that they are works of no very great merit , with j Con r ° there , by exception , a fine piece of music . Why have they been 1 % ' ^ lost to the stage ? Who ever heard an opera of Handel ? At th r they were written they were unpopular ; are they likel y to be less so < Evidently their failure could not have entirely arisen from personal > y ' because neither the oratorios nor Acis failed . "It has been suffffestedTlf ' the present disposition of the public mind to test the quality of ' everyth Handelian should hint to the managers of our two Opera House ik " desirability of reviving one of Handel ' s operas . We should like to se tl experiment , triad , and we have no doubt that the curiosity of the rmbl \ would render it a successful one in a commercial point of view- k ' t we must frankly confess that we do not think the reputatio n of th composer would be much increased among those who came with their ea * filled with the sublime thunder of the choruses in Israel to listen to theniu ^ of Rinaldo or Roderigo . 1 C
From Handel ' s return to London down to his death , on the 13 th of Anr'I 1759 , he occupied himself with the production of oratorios and their ner ' formance . Judas Maccabceiis , Joshua , Solomon , Theodora , Jeplha , were the children of his old age . His career was at that time honourable and profitable ; for he was not only enabled to pay up nil arrears ( which must have been an unspeakable comfort to one who was himself the very soul ofhonour but he contrived to scrape together some 30 , 000 / . to leave behind him ' His charities were at this time very great . ; indeed , it is estimated that he benefited the Fondling Hospital to the extent of about 10 , 000 / . About eight years before his death , he was stricken with blindness , but whether entire or partial M . Schoelcher seems to be in doubt . This was a treat affliction to him , but he bore it patiently . At length , on the da y which we have already named , and which happened to be a Good Friday , he died in the fulness ofhonour , at a ripe age , and at the zenith of his genius .
Such is the story of Handel ' s life , as it is well told by M . Schoelcher . The narrative is , of course , frequently interrupted b y criticism ' upon the various works as they appear in proper order ; and it is in these excursuses that the musical reader will find the matter which he will value most highly . A valuable collection of MSS ., discovered and acquired by 2 , 1 . Schoefcher himself , and which prove to be the identical copies which Handel himself used whilst conducting his own works , and which are filled with marginal notes and references in his own handwriting ( containing , in fact , invaluable traditions of the orchestra direct from the hand of the great composer
himself ) , has enabled M . Schoelcher to throw light upon a multitude of points hitherto obscured , if not unknown . In his search among the original MSS . in Buckingham Palace ,, he has had the good fortune to Tight upon a German oratorio on the Passion , whose existence was suspected , but about which so little had been ascertained , that it may be said to have been quite unknown before M . Schoeleher ' s discovery . The most valuable results of M . Schoeleher ' s researches will , however , appear in a separate volume , which is to bo a catalogue ^ raisoune of all the great composer ' s works . The exact date at which this important addition to the literature of music is to make i-ts appearance has not yet been announced ; but there can be no doubt that its advent will be looked for with interest by all scientific musicians .
In fulfilment of the unpleasant but necessary critical duly of fault-unding , we have to accuse M . Selioeleher of taking what appears , to us a somewhat narrow view of his hero ' s character and position , lie has gazed at lue sun so lonrr that he has lost all distinctness of vision . Having once nuidc up his mind That Handel was the greatest musician iu the world , he straightway goes about to prove that he was also the most virtuous , the most dignified , the most temperate , and the most amiable of men . Tins , however , is a venial offence . What care we for the man Handel , so that the character oi the musician remains perfect ? We would not have hud him a iraction times mumble
loss good as a musician to make him twenty more . * us character and the eileets of it are gone ; but his music is eternal , llioroforo , whether we believe that Mr . George Frederick Handel was ii glutton , and a course companion , and a swearer , and an imgulUuit hater ol tlw lair sex , and a man of a somewhat grasping disposition , or whether we concede w M . Schoelcher tlmt he was an angel in ( forge de pigeon breeches and a punwJ , is of no matter at all . It is enough that wo know him toy lliu greates musical genius that over subjected to bis will the mysterious powers o divine harmony , that he had the power of Orpheus to bring . ill » illu ™ ™ bis feet , that he wrote music such as it id not impiety to hope the ^ '""P "" perform in Heaven . These are the truths with which we no * have to dew , and in which we are happy to coincide fully with M . _ beluulciiei . would ( says the latter ) bo the ShaUsponro of Music , il ho were not iw Michael Angolo . "
546 ^G.J 8 .....^ 1 ^.^^-. 11 :..:.-. , ...
546 ^ g . j 8 ..... ^ ^ . ^^ -. 11 :..:.-. , , [ No . 376 , Satu rday .
China And Its Inhabitants. China: A Gene...
CHINA AND ITS INHABITANTS . China : a General Description of that Empire and its Inhabitants . l » y ' , [ ' ° ' . Francis David , 13 urt ., K . O . li . Now Edition . 2 vol » . DAVia ' s China is sufficiently well known to require little more , m t ioJ } of introduction to the reader , thun ft mention of its rof . ppeuninoi , w i i » tions and corrections by the author . It now lonna tlio moat >< - « f J ™ l authoritative work on the mnnnora and institution * ol tho Celesi . J j J > ^ in so fur as existing materials enable them to bo described . A Ik ¦ « «» d controlled the statements of previous writers by ,, « owni ^ » „ tho of Uluneso v - »
though inclined to magnify tho importance ? " j whole exhibits discretion and judgment Ho » not a one ^ . ii h - nd . i ^ . indoed , far more mo derate than many others ^ lho ^""^ V ,, " uoinoia muns , luivo a sort of mysterious power of iusumatmtf tho f ""^ ' ! : Uu docontact with theirs , and sending them back into ou oi l"u }^ V ' who prived of tho free exercise of some of their lugher . iuoulLios . l ^ oi travel in those regions loao either tho power of thinking , n u o i ^ ^ writing oloarly ? and acquire , among other things , a w ondo i ui . i . ^ obsequiousness of the public-its willingness to abdicate U < riif , i « , cism , and believe particular assertions tlmt utterly contnuuo t , an a
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), June 6, 1857, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06061857/page/18/
-