1800
May 31
A musical festival took place at the Assembly Rooms on the 31st May, when Handel’s “Messiah” was performed. Incledon, the greatest singer of the time, was engaged for the occasion. This appears to have been the tenth local performance of the oratorio, though Mr. Nicholls’ history infers that the work was not attempted here until 1803.[1]
This [i.e. digressing from the main topic] puts me in mind of a droll story of Handell, who in temper was hasty and passionate. A charming female singer who was in his employ, coming to a cadence in a song, warbled and wandered from the original key, twisting, turning, and twining her voice through all the keys that music was capable of affording, during all which time Mr. Handell was stamping and staring, till, at the close, she returned to the original key; as the Sky Lark, warbling and fluttering, [19] descends to the place beneath, which a little while before it had taken its departure from, Handell recovered his temper, and making a bow, sa[i]d, “Oh madam I be very glad you be come home again.”
[an evident paraphrase of the popular Dubourg anecdote][2]
1801
[Anna Seward to Edward Jerningham, 23 February 1801.]
A few words more on the subject of music.—[…] Probably you have never heard the beautiful passages in Ossian, which are set as glees by Calcot, since you say you have not heard, at the fine people’s concerts, these ten years, a single glee composed by an Englishman. O folly and affectation, how wide is your dominion! […] I would answer for [364] producing an hundred glees from my own recollection, all by Englishmen, and all of original melody and correct harmony.
When I was a girl, it was the fashion for the fine people to abuse Handel as heavy, coarse, and tiresome. Our king, by instituting the commemorations, rescued his fame. If I was Prince of Wales, I would give concerts, from which every foreign composition should be interdicted; and glees should be performed there, that must awaken the cold dead ear of prejudice itself into life and enthusiasm.[3]
1802
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Richard Brinsley
Sheridan to The Courier 1 January 1802 Sir, As by your
insertion of certain French Epigrams you have commenced what I conceive to be
a very scurrilous attack on the French National institute for electing Mr.
Haydn, the celebrated musician, as the representative of the Literature of
Europe in Preference to one Sheridan, who, whatever may be said of his
Writings Wit or Eloquence, I am credibly informed cannot support a Part in a
Glee even at the Prince’s Table, I beg you will follow that sound rule of
Equity — audi alteram Partem. I therefore transmit to you these
Counter-Epigrams if I may so call them, which, I am assured do full justice
to Mr. Haydn, tho’ from my Ignorance of the English
Language I cannot judge of them, and am even obliged to trust this
communication to a Translator. Yours with great consideration Jan Caspe Spreinck Titchfield
St. Epigrams For the Morning Chronicle National Institute of France Haydn versus Sheridan The two Candidates proposed by the
Primary Electors for The Class of Literature and the Fine
Arts Haydn successful! The wise decision all admire Twas just beyond dispute Sound Taste! which to Apollo’s Lyre Preferr’d — a German Flute! Another Haydn Loquitur[4] N.B. as Mr. Haydn, the foreign Representative of
Literature and the fine Arts of Europe in the national institute of France
supposes[?] [sic] himself to be only a very eminent composer of
Musick it would be extremely unjust in any of our
readers to be hypercritical with respect to a few trifling errors which may
occur in the metre or rhythm of this his first
attempt at Literary composition indeed we have ourselves taken the
Liberty of correcting in many Places the Grammar and Spelling of this little
practical jeu d’esprit
both in the original German of Mr. Haydn and in the Translation which his
English Correspondent Mr. Florio has so obligingly furnish’d
us with. Haydn to Florio a distinguish’d Performer on the German Flute The wond’ring
World has heard with admiration my Fine English Oratorio call’d Creation
Indeed it
succeeded greatly beyond my expectation. [169] And since the Days of Handel I may say it without Scandal No such Piece of Messiah has
been heard in this their Nation But now the national
institute of France have thought proper this humble
Servant to advance And member of that Institute created
me in spite of Sheridan’s
presumptuous Claim To all that Genious
can derive from Fame For Wit and Eloquence and
Poetry. I be only fearful in my new
Station, that this the Institutes Creation if it be not in truth a Blunder may cause more admiration And create more wonder Than did my said delightful
Oratorio. —Pray tell me what you hear
dear Florio yours Haydn Foreign Representative of the
Literature and fine arts of Europe—[5] Another Pass by Wit Eloquence and Poetry Give way to Claims of higher Place Give way to — Tweedledum
and Tweedledee Make room make Room, for Thorough
Bass Another Time was when Pindars
sacred Fire And bold Alcaeus’ Song And gay Anacreon’s festive Lyre Assumed the homage of the human
heart. Yet gave to ‘concord Sweet’ its
praise and Part Time was when Music was the Poets
Tongue. Then modest melody, thy Task and
Praise Follow’d the Bard and his inspiring Lays A gentle helpmate by his side you
stood Watch’d his commanding Eye and own’d the Muses God. [Poet!] that time is past — subdue
thy pride —[6] |
[Thomas Twining to Richard Twining, Junior, Passenham, 26 July 1802]
I found him [Dr Crotch] also a very pleasant, amiable man, & I had particular satisfaction in conversing with him, & comparing notes with him, about the merit of different composers. We generally agreed pretty well in our notions; only I wish he was a little less prejudiced in favour of Handel & the old school, & against modern music – against it in general, though a great admirer of Haydn. […] With Miss Sharp & Miss M. we made a little choir of six voices, &, among other things, sung some of Handel’s choruses with more effect than I could have conceived, Crotch giving the pianoforte almost the fulness & effect of an orchestra by his powerful manner of playing.[7]
[Anna Seward to Thomas Park, 27 September 1802.]
I came home for one day on Sunday se’ennight, but took wing on the next, allured by a grand harmonic festival at Birmingham;—by the opportunity it afforded me of observing how Haydn had shot in the strong bow of Handel; in being able to compare his emulative powers closely, by listening to the Creation one morning, the [46] Messiah the next. Shall I presume to speak to you of my resulting conviction?
By the overture to the Creation I was charmed. The subject is so happy; the imitative harmony so inevitably suggested itself, that a very inferior composer to Haydn must, if possessing any genius, have made a grand affair of it. No wonder than that his genius and science should have produced, in succession, effects so awful, and so exhilarating in this harmonic exordium. First, by that wild and complex dissonance which sublimely represents the tumult of chaos; next, by the low, soft, tremulous, sweet sounds, which arise when that tumult has gradually subsided; instrument after instrument stealing in, and exquisitely picturing on the ear the dawning, expanding, and gradually strengthening light, till suddenly the sun blazes out by the instant fortissimo of the whole orchestra, and by the burst and cannon-exultation of the double drums.
Not one of Handel’s overtures suggested, or could properly allow of so picturesque, so dazzling an overture.
But there ended, in this emulative attempt, all approach to the excellence of that peerless master. The recitatives, and their accompaniments, are almost entirely imitative of other sounds, and of motion, and are without sentiment; while to [47] those instrumental imitations all which Handel has given us in that style are infinitely superior. How poor, in the Creation, are the strains which imitate the lark and nightingale, compared to those of similar aim in L’Allegro and Il Penseroso! How inferior Haydn’s plumy concert to that given in the prelude and accompaniments to “Hush ye pretty warbling choir,” in Acis and Galatea!
We find an attempt in Haydn’s oratorio to represent the soaring of the majestic eagle; but the strains more resemble the darting evolutions of the swallow.
The songs are opera-airs, sweet and ornamented; but they breathe no devotion; they excite no sympathy; they have nothing to do with the passions.
The choruses are all impetuous, swift, and similar; bursts of harmony, skilful as to science, but, compared to Handel’s, unmeaning, with little discriminated melody, and no contrast.
It is little wonder that the words translated from the German almost literally into English, should be neither sense nor grammar, nor that they should make wicked work with Milton; yet we meet poetic beauty in two of the lines, thus, [48]
“With softer beams, and milder light, steps on
“The silver moon through silent night;”
and the corresponding air is one of the happiest efforts in the composition.
It was with increased veneration for the powers of Handel that we listened, on the ensuing day, to the sublimities of the Messiah; expressing, in turn, every varied passion of the human soul; that we observed the contrasted pathos and energy, sweetnes[s] and dignity, serenity and scorn, supplication and triumph, in the recitatives and songs, in the duet and choruses of that stupendous work; to the decided air that winds through the fugues of every separate chorus lingering on the ear, and haunting the fancy through successive days; to the hallelujah and amen, that ravish the spirit, and seem to pierce the vault of heaven by their sonorous grandeur. Haydn, great master though he be, sinks eclipsed, like Dryden, when, in his alteration of the play of the Tempest, he puts on the armour of Shakespeare.
It will gratify me if the ideas I have ventured to express meet those of Mrs Park, who is a mistress, where I am so shallow a student. Such as they are, I have not borrowed them. No stricture on Haydn’s Creation ever met my eye, or my ear.[8]
1803
[Anna Seward to William Hayley, 7 March 1803.]
Now, you forgive Cowper for all this negative injustice to yourself and others. I own I [63] cannot; and that, as a literary character, it costs him my esteem. His own works are his eternal and nearly exclusive subject. He confesses his earnest desire of public praise, yet satirizes, in the Task, its administration to others, even to the memory of Shakespeare and Handel. […]
[… 67 …]
The Night Thoughts must be forgotten when Cowper is held up as the leading instance of Christian devotion, united, with fine effect, to the poetic effervescence of the human mind; and surely Mr Hayley lost sight of all the great English poets, with Shakespeare and Milton at the head of them, when he calls the Muse of Cowper pre-eminent, incomparable, transcendent, unrivalled, unequalled; epithets which are profusely lavished upon her through the course of these volumes; epithets which can only be applied [68] with truth to three men of genius in the known world; to Shakespeare, as a dramatic poet, Newton, as a philosopher, and Handel, as a musician; […][9]
|
[Charles Wesley’s note book, 1803] Perfd. the San[ctus] in St George’s Chapel {at Windsor} in the Morng. In the evg. H. M. had Handel’s Ora[torio] of Athalia. We had the San[ctus] with the full Band. I perfd. many Ch[oice] Se[lections] at Their Majesties and ye Royals Party[cular] desire and Command — Lady U[xbridge] was there[10] |
|
[Charles Wesley’s note book, 1803] Spent the morning with Sir Adam & her Ladyp. [in Kent] who entertained me by Performing many of Handel & Marcello, very well for a dilletante. We came to Town by the Boat[11] |
[Anna Seward to the Rev. T. S. Whalley, 28 September 1803.]
the following were the last [words] I heard my dear friend speak: “Look at this beautiful engraving of a design for a monument to Handel. I know you dislike writing epitaphs after having written so many; but you must write one more for me, to occupy the blank space here left for an inscription.”
I replied, “We will talk of that hereafter—but now play a concerto with me.” He did so till the evening prayer bell rang, and he went cheerfully away—to return no more!
Alas! I have written one more epitaph—obeying the injunction of those almost latest words, though their meaning applied to his adored [117] Handel. O Heaven, that they prove an unconscious prophecy of his own impending fate!—so nearly impending![12]
1804
|
[Charles Wesley’s note book, 1804] During His R. H. The Duke of Cambridge’s Breakfast I Perfd. HANDEL on Ld. Uxbridges fine Organ for near two Hours. {...} His Royal H: accom. many of the Cho[ruses] with his voice.[13] |
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[Charles Wesley’s note book, 1804] Mr Pilgrim, Hampstead at 12 when I op’nd his New Organ. much company there {...} The young Blind Musical Genius fm. Ld. M: call’d I lent him the 2d Vol: of Handel’s Cor[onation] An[them] Drydens Ode and the Funeral An[them] till this day Month[14] |
Oct 4
|
[Charles Wesley’s note book, 1804] I went to good Lady Huntingdon’s Chapel {in Bath}. They perfd. Handel’s Cho:[15] |
|
[Charles Wesley’s note book, 1804] I Perfd. at the Octagon {in Bath}. We drank Tea with Dr Harrington who shew’d me M. S. of Handel[16] |
1807
[Lord Byron to Elizabeth Bridget Pigot; Cambridge, 30 June 1807]
[…] I am almost superannuated here, my old friends (with the exception of a very few) all departed, & I am preparing to follow them, but remain till monday to be present at 3 Oratorios, 2 Concerts, a fair, a boxing match, & a Ball. [… 123 …] I get awkward in my academic habiliments, for want of pracice, got up in a [124] Window to hear the Oratorio at St. Mary’s, popped down in the middle of the Messiah, tore a woeful rent in the Back of my best black Silk gown, & damaged an egregious pair of Breeches, mem.—never tumble from a church window, during Service. […][17]
[Racket has an irritatingly accurate memory that compels him to digress.]
Rack. High seasoning, faith, for a summer’s day. By the bye, talking of high seasoning, puts me in mind of Handel—great composer—pardon digression. George Frederick Handel, born at Hall, in Saxony, February 24th, 1684—great genius—little boy; threw his pupils out of the window; open’d [12] the eyes of all the world; eat himself blind, and DIED April 14, 1759.*[18]
1808
Oct 3
|
Hester
Lynch Piozzi [formerly Mrs Thrale; née Salusbury] to Reverend Leonard Chappelow Monday,
3 October 1808 […] Professor Vince of Cambridge said that we should in future have Two
Seasons in our Temperate Zone, — no more: His Words are coming strictly
true — last Winter ceased not till the Month of May; and then followed an
unexampled Heat — Now ’tis all Frost and Snow again like Christmas; and
Spring and Autumn will be found only in Dictionaries — The Swallows however
staid later this Year than ever, There were some seen this Morning — Now you shall
tell me why that is, because ’tis in your way to tell; tho’ I did expect better Reasons about the Covent Garden
Fire, which has taken from your Pleasures more than from mine: — I only
regret the Fire-mens Lives, and Dear old Handel’s
Organ, on which I have myself seen him and heard him play. — […][19] |
1814
[Fanny Burney D’Arblay to M. D’Arblay, 30 May 1814]
The Picture of Handel [his portrait by Wolfgang at Hanover in 1710], also, is to go to the Musical sale—[20]
1816
Jul 29
|
Jeremy
Bentham to John Herbert Koe Monday,
29 July 1816 […] 2. Handel’s Concertos not found here: if found at Q.S.P. [his residence
at Queen Square Place] desired to be sent hither by the first or any other
opportunity. […][21] |
[Charles Burney, Jr to Fanny Burney d’Arblay, 11 October 1816]
[regarding Charles Burney’s tomb]
[...] the Dean & Chapter [of Westminster Abbey] must have the place pointed out [...] Near Handel, I do not remember, that there is any room; but near Purcell’s, there is I think a good place [...][22]
1817
Mar 28, Boston
We observe that the Handel and Haydn Society have announced their intention to present to the public next week, the whole of the celebrated Oratorios of the Messiah and the Creation. The music of these pieces is so difficult to read, and its performance requires such uncommon power of voice, that neither of the pieces was ever attempted entire in any part of the continent of America. The attempt is bold to perform them both at the same time, and must deeply interest the feelings of every lover of sacred music. We are informed the Society have had them in rehearsal for the greater part of the last year, and for sometime past have rehearsed every evening. They have engaged a celebrated Organist from New-York to aid them. We sincerely with them success.[23]
1818
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ORATORIO. THE celebrated Oratorio of the MESSIAH, will be performed by the Handel and Haydn Society, To-morrow (Christmas) Evening, The
25th inst. at Boylston-Hall. This Grand Oratorio has never been performed as an entire Piece in this town, or, it is believed in America[.] Pamphlets containing all the words of the piece, will be delivered at the door of the Hall. The performance will commence precisely at six o’clock. Tickets may be had at Parker’s Circulating Library, the Franklin Music Warehouse, and at the door on the evening of performance. dec 24[24] |
1824
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[Charles Wesley’s notebook, 1824] Rehearsal of the MESSIAH at Noon For the Royal Fund of musicians ... I took Jane Jeffreys to the Han[over] Sqre. musick heard the Oro[tori]o charmingly done, only one Air they brought in Mozarts accompts. wch. is better left out.[25] |
Jul 5
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The[y] informed me Her R. H. the Duchess of Kent & the Princess Alexandrina [the five-year-old future Queen Victoria and her mother] were at the Church and very attentive to the Doctor’s Discourse [Dr Busfield] I perfd. the Overtures and Hallelujah in the MESSIAH[26] |
[1] John Latimer, The Annals of Bristol in the Eighteenth Century (Bristol: the author, 1893; reprinted, Bath: Kingsmead Reprints, 1970), 532.
[2] Edward Teare, A Treatise on the Use and Abuse of Tobacco, tending to shew why this Plant is Hurtful to the Nervous System in particular, and of course to the whole Human Frame in general; the beneficial Use of Tobacco is also considered (Doncaster: W. Sheardown, [?1800]), 18–19.
[3] Letters of Anna Seward: written between the Years 1784 and 1807, 6 vols. (Edinburgh: A. Constable, 1811), 5:363–64.
[5]
The Courier, 14 January 1802: The Letters of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, edited by Cecil Price, 3 vols.
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966), 2:168–69.
[7] A Selection of Thomas Twining’s Letters, 1734–1804: The Record of a Tranquil Life, edited by Ralph S. Walker, 2 vols. (Lewiston/Queenston/Lampeter: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1991), 2:619.
[8] Letters of Anna Seward: written between the Years 1784 and 1807, 6 vols. (Edinburgh: A. Constable, 1811), 6:45–48.
[9] Letters of Anna Seward: written between the Years 1784 and 1807, 6 vols. (Edinburgh: A. Constable, 1811), 6:62–63, 67–68.
[10] Betty Matthews, “Charles Wesley on Organs,” The Musical Times 112 ([no. 1544, October] 1971), 1007–10: 1007.
[11] Betty Matthews, “Charles Wesley on Organs,” The Musical Times 112 ([no. 1544, October] 1971), 1007–10: 1009.
[12] Letters of Anna Seward: written between the Years 1784 and 1807, 6 vols. (Edinburgh: A. Constable, 1811), 6:116–17.
[13] Betty Matthews, “Charles Wesley on Organs,” The Musical Times 112 ([no. 1544, October] 1971), 1007–10: 1009.
[14] Betty Matthews, “Charles Wesley on Organs,” The Musical Times 112 ([no. 1544, October] 1971), 1007–10: 1010.
[15] Betty Matthews, “Charles Wesley on Organs,” The Musical Times 112 ([no. 1544, October] 1971), 1007–10: 1010.
[16] Betty Matthews, “Charles Wesley on Organs,” The Musical Times 112 ([no. 1544, October] 1971), 1007–10: 1010.
[17] “In my hot youth”: Byron’s Letters and Journals. Volume 1: 1798–1810, edited by Leslie A. Marchand (London: John Murray, 1973) 122–24.
* It is, perhaps, necessary to remark, that all the anecdotes introduced into any of the biography throughout the piece, are strictly true.
[18] [Theodore Edward] Hook, The Soldier’s Return; or, What can Beauty Do (Philadelphia: Mathew Carey, 1807), 11–12.
[20] The Journals and Letters of Fanny Burney (Madame D’Arblay). Volume VII: 1812–1814, edited by Edward A. Bloom and Lillian D. Bloom (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978), 347.
[22] The Journals and Letters of Fanny Burney (Madame D’Arblay). Volume IX: Bath 1815–1817, edited by Warren Derry (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982), 271, note 1.
[23] Boston Daily Advertiser, no. 1257 (vol. 16, no. 75), Friday 28 March 1817, [2].
[24] Boston Commercial Gazette, no. 2314 (vol. 51, no. 3), Thursday 24 December 1818, [3].
[25] Betty Matthews, “Charles Wesley on Organs: 2,” The Musical Times 112 ([no. 1545, November] 1971), 1111–12: 1111.
[26] Betty Matthews, “Charles Wesley on Organs: 2,” The Musical Times 112 ([no. 1545, November] 1971), 1111–12: 1111.