Paul Henry Lang - George Frideric Handel

Copyright

Copyright 1966 W W Norton & Co., Inc.
Copyright renewed 1994 by Anne Lang.

All rights reserved.

Bibliographical Note

This Dover edition, first published in 1996, is an unabridged republication of the book originally published by W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York, 1966. The map of London, reproduced on pp. 732-3, appeared as end papers in the original publication.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lang, Paul Henry, 1901-1991

George Frideric Handel / Paul Henry Lang.

p. cm.

Originally published: New York: W. W. Norton, 1966.

Includes Bibliographical note (p. ) and indexes.

9780486144597

1. Handel, George Frideric, 1685-1759. 2. ComposersBiography. I. Title.

ML410.H13L16 1996780.92dc20[B] 96-22869

CIP

MN

Manufactured in the United States by Courier Corporation
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www.doverpublications.com

TO MY DAUGHTER

Stephanie Martin

Table of Contents

ILLUSTRATIONS

PLATES APPEAR BETWEEN PAGES 334 AND 335

I

Halle in the 17th century

II

Queen Anne, with the Duke of Gloucester

King George I

III

King George II

Queen Caroline

IV

George Frideric Handel

V

Handels house on Brook Street

The first London announcement of Messiah

VI

Johann Mattheson

Alessandro Scarlatti

VII

Thomas Arne

John Christopher Smith, junior

John Gay

VIII

Handels Competitors:

Giovanni Bononcini

Nicola Porpora

John Christopher Pepusch

IX

Handels Singers:

Susanna Maria Cibber

Francesca Cuzzoni

Faustina Bordoni

John Beard

X

Page from the autograph manuscript of the oratorio Belshazzar

Page from the autograph manuscript of the opera Tolomeo

XI

Page from the autograph manuscript of the anthem Have mercy upon me, O God

Page from the autograph manuscript of the third Grand Concerto, Opus 6

XII

Title page of the first set of organ concertos, Opus 4

Title page of Acis and Galatea

XIII

Title page of Walshs edition of the opera Rinaldo

Title page of the libretto of Samson

XIV

The Kings Theatre in the Haymarket

Interior of the Theatre in Covent Garden

XV

The page from Jephtha where Handel temporarily stopped composing

XVI

Charles Burney

Sir John Hawkins

Friedrich Chrysander

FOREWORD

E XPLANATION OF THE METHOD FOLLOWED IN AN ESSAY IS usually the enumeration of extenuating circumstances; here it is perhaps unnecessary because this study should not be judged for what it avoids or omits. It is neither my intention, nor is it possible within the framework of such a volume, to give a comprehensive, elaborate biographical portrait or a detailed analysis of the genesis and execution of every composition in the hundred volumes of Handels collected works. Nor shall I attempt, with the aid of dark, pithy sentences, to explain the inexplicable, any more than I wish to reduce to a comfortable format the art of an immense genius. What I have done is to endeavor to examine matters that influenced Handels development and art and that may explain how this man, whose life was so much of a piece, could touch the extremes of obloquy and veneration, and how the German immigrant became Englands national composer. Perhaps the reader will find this interesting.

This book was not written yesterday but is the result of ideas carried in the literary valise from place to place for years. While I am much beholden to the critical work of others, I make little use of the usual form of documentation; wherever I have recourse to conjecture this is not concealed and is obvious to the reader. Such conjecture, when clearly indicated as such, has its necessary place in biography. The alternative, when documents are lacking that could fill the silences, is to present a mere skeleton of facts, which is only a caricature of reality. I have permitted myself to digress and to repeat, to select and omit, elaborate and wander as the spirit moved me. But I did not absolve myself of the responsibilities of the historian, remembering that the cause is as important to learn as the event, that all human history is one, and that though there is nothing new under the sun, the essence of history is asking questions. Others may have different ideas, but perhaps they will have patience with my view. I do not mind if some reject these thoughts as being unscientific, but hope that there will be others who may not find them foreign to their own thoughts. They may feel, as I do, that no biography can be definitive; there is always something for us to add from another angle. Finally, I hope that I may not be censured for attacking the venerable bulwarks of Handelian lore and for offending the accustomed attitude of piety.

One is always indebted to colleagues, students, friends, and institutions. Among the latter I am especially grateful to the Guggenheim Foundation for its grant that enabled me to follow Handels tracks in Italy and study his original manuscripts in England. I should really cite the entire membership of Columbia Universitys Seminar on the Eighteenth Century, for the deliberations of that admirable group of scholars, covering the whole range of 18th-century thought and history, helped me immeasurably to clarify many an obscure problem. Then there is the amiable crew that makes up W. W. Norton & Co., my publishers. Year after year I disappointed them (the book was planned for the Handel bicentennial in 1959!), but their patience and good will never gave out. Far from using pressure, they just urged me to continue in peace.

And I have three large private creditors who must be publicly acknowledged. My literary vessel has a navigator, my wife, without whose guidance I would not venture beyond the breakwaters. In all fairness she should be named co-author, for there is not one paragraph in what follows that did not benefit from her discerning scrutiny. The vessel also has an able engineer, Nathan Broder, my old friend and comrade in arms for over twenty years as Associate Editor of The Musical Quarterly. He keeps everything in good running order. Finally, my daughter Stephanie typed the whole manuscript, appending to every batch perceptive and useful comments that were not disregarded. In the end, however, even this powerful support cannot prevent faux pas , and they are my sole responsibility. Perhaps I may be permitted to quote Foulke Robartes, author of the Revenue of the Gospel , who so nicely apportions blame for mistakes:

Who faulteth not, liveth not; who mendeth faults is commended: The Printer hath faulted a little: it may be the author oversighted more. Thy paine Reader is the least; then erre thou not most by misconstruing or sharpe censuring; least thou be more charitable than either of them hath been heedlesse.

P.H.L.

INTRODUCTION

F AME, SAYS RILKF, IS NOTHING BUT THE SUM TOTAL OF MISUNDERSTANDINGS that cling to a name. There is no more misunderstood and misrepresented composer in the history of music than Handel. With a few laudable exceptions the Handelian literature is selective, and the selection is not history and esthetics so much as edification, therefore his name has become a religious monument. But behind that name is the man and the musician who is the object of this study. I shall attempt to speak about Handel, not impartially, but with the objectivity of a faith that rests on firm conviction.

How does one approach such a veiled and distant figure? Weighted down with a historical sense and obsessed with the idea of evolution and progress, we tend to see the past exclusively in the light of later development. We think that it is more important to know how the artist stands in relation to us than to himself. He becomes for us a bit of history. But his history cannot be understood, nor his relationship either to his own time or to ours, without knowing the man, his nature, his spirit. We like to proceed in inverse order, often mistaking results for intentions; and the outsider approaching a long-lost cultural era inclines to take the features he first perceives as the most important. Indeed, the farther removed we are from a period the less we separate material from spirit. We can hardly view Palestrina or Bach purely historically; we are compelled to see them immediately as the creators of works of art, their personality retreats behind their work and can be seen only through it.

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