If biographers will occasionally make assertions at random, and pass
lightly over important events, because their records are not at hand,
while they give ample development to others, just because the
materials for doing so are more abundant, it is well that there is to
be found here and there an industrious _littérateur_, who will leave
no leaf unturned, and no corner unexplored, if he suspects that any
error has been committed, or any passage of interest slighted, in the
memoirs of a favourite author.
Mr Mainwaring, the earliest biographer of Handel, and, on his
authority, a host of subsequent writers, took upon them to assert,
without any apparent foundation, that the oratorio of the _Messiah_
was performed in London in the year 1741, previously to Handel's visit
to Ireland; but that it met with a cold reception, and this was one
cause of his leaving England. Dr Burney, when composing his _History
of Music_, examined all the London newspapers where public amusements
were advertised during 1741 and for several previous years, but found
no mention whatever of this oratorio. He remembered, too, being a
school-boy at Chester when Handel spent a week there, waiting for fair
winds to carry him across the Channel, and taking advantage of the
delay 'to prove some books that had been hastily transcribed, by
trying the choruses which he intended to perform in Ireland.' An
amateur band was mustered for him, and the manuscript choruses thus
verified were those of the _Messiah_. In the absence, therefore, of
stronger evidence to the contrary, Dr Burney believed that Dublin had
the honour of its first performance. An Irish barrister has now proved
this, we think, beyond dispute.[1] His evidence has been drawn from
the newspaper tomes of 1741, preserved in the public libraries of
Dublin, confirmed by the records of the cathedrals and some of the
charitable institutions, and yet more emphatically from some original
letters of this date. He has thus succeeded in doing 'justice to
Ireland,' by securing for it, in all time to come, the distinguished
place which it is entitled to occupy in the history of this great man.
Perhaps we should rather say, he has done justice to England, by
clearing it of the imputation of having 'coldly received' a musical
production to which immortal fame has since been decreed. While the
musical world will thank our author for several new facts particularly
interesting to them, the main attraction for general readers will
probably be found in the glimpses which this volume affords of a _beau
monde_ which has passed away.
In 1720, a royal academy for the promotion of Italian operas was
founded in London by some of the nobility and gentry under royal
auspices. Handel, Bononcini, and Areosti, were engaged as a
triumvirate of composers; and to Handel was committed the charge of
engaging the singers. But the rivalry between him and Bononcini rose
to strife; the aristocratic patrons took nearly equal sides; and a
furious controversy on their respective merits was carried on for
years. Hence the epigram of Dean Swift--
Some say that Signor Bononcini,
Compared to Handel, is a ninny;
Others aver that to him Handel
Is scarcely fit to hold the candle.
Strange that such difference should be
'Twixt tweedledum and tweedledee!
When the withdrawal of both his rivals left Handel in sole possession
of the field, he quarrelled with some of his principal performers, and
thereupon ensued new scenes of discord. Ladies of the highest rank
entered with enthusiasm into the strife; and while some flourished
their fans aloft on the side of Faustina, whom Handel had introduced
in order to supersede Cuzzoni, another party, headed by the Countess
of Pembroke, espoused the cause of the depressed songstress, and made
her take an oath on the Holy Gospels, that she would never submit to
accept a lower salary than her rival. The humorous poets of the day
took up the theme, Pope introduced it into his _Dunciad_, and
Arbuthnot published two witty brochures, entitled _Harmony in an
Uproar_, and _The Devil to Pay at St James's_. The result of these and
other contests, in which Handel gradually lost ground, was the
establishment of a rival Opera at Lincoln's Inn Fields. It was
patronised by the Prince of Wales and most of the nobles; and not even
the presence of the king and queen, who continued the steady friends
of Handel, could attract for him an audience at the Haymarket. It
became quite fashionable to decry his compositions as beneath the
notice of musical connoisseurs. Politics, it is said, came to mingle
in the controversy; and those who held by the king's Opera were as
certainly Tories, as those who went to the nobility's were Whigs. Of
course all this was very foolish, and very wrong; yet in our days of
stately conventionality, when perfect impassibility is deemed the
highest style of breeding, there is something refreshing in reading of
such animated scenes in high life. The crowning act of hostility to
Handel, was when the Earl of Middlesex himself assumed the profession
of manager of Italian operas, and engaged the king's theatre, with a
new composer, and a new company.
Handel had, for some time, been meditating a withdrawal from the
Opera, in order to devote himself exclusively to the composition of
sacred music, of which he had already produced several fine specimens.
He was wont to say, that this was an occupation 'better suited to the
circumstances of a man advancing in years, than that of adapting music
to such vain and trivial words as the musical drama generally consists
of.' The truth was, he had discovered his forte. But the tide of
fashionable feeling ran so strongly against him, that even the
performance of the oratorios of _Saul_ and _Israel in Egypt_ scarcely
paid expenses. Unwilling to submit his forthcoming _Messiah_ also to
the caprices of fashion, and the malignity of party, he wisely
embraced an opportunity which was opened to him of bringing out this
great work in Dublin, under singularly favourable auspices, and
crossed the Channel in November 1741.
Those who are acquainted with the Irish metropolis--not merely with
the handsome streets and squares eastward, which are now the abodes of
gentility, but with the dirty thoroughfares about the cathedrals--have
observed the large houses which some of them contain, now let in
single rooms to a wretched population, and need scarcely be told that
they were once the abodes of wealth and luxury. Fishamble Street, in
this quarter of the town, is one of the oldest streets in Dublin.
'Under the eastern gable of the ancient cathedral of Christ's Church,
separated and hidden from it by a row of houses, it winds its crooked
course down the hill from Castle Street to the Liffey, as forlorn and
neglected as other old streets in its vicinity. A number of
trunkmakers' shops give it an aspect somewhat peculiar; miserable
alleys open from it on the right and left; a barber's pole or two
overhang the footway; and huxters' shops are frequent, with their
wonted array of articles more useful than ornamental. One would never
guess, looking at this old street, that it was once the festive resort
of the wealthy and refined. It needs an effort of imagination to
conceive of it as having witnessed the gay throng of fashion and
aristocracy; the vice-regal _cortège_; ladies, in hoops and feathers;
and "white-gloved beaux," in bag, and sword, and chapeau; with scores
of liveried footmen and pages; and the press of coaches, and chariots,
and sedan-chairs. Yet such was the scene often presented here in the
eighteenth century.' For see, in an oblique angle of the street, and
somewhat retired from the other houses, is a mean, neglected old
building, with a wooden porch, still known by name as the Fishamble
Street Theatre. This is the remaining part of what was originally 'the
great music-hall,' built by a charitable musical society, 'finished in
the most elegant manner, under the direction of Captain Castell,' and
opened to the public on the 2d October 1741. It was within these walls
that the notes of the _Messiah_ first sounded in the ears of an
enraptured audience, and here that its author entered on a new career
of fame.
To prepare for the reception of this, his master-work, Handel first
gave a series of musical entertainments, consisting of some of his
earlier oratorios, and other kindred compositions. They commanded a
most distinguished auditory, including the Lord-Lieutenant and his
family, and were crowned with success in a pecuniary point of view,
answering, and indeed exceeding, the composer's highest expectations.
In a letter written at this time to Mr C. Jennens, who had selected
the words of the _Messiah_, and composed those of a cantata which had
been much admired, he describes, in glowing colours, his happy
position, and informs him that he had set the _Messiah_ to music
before he left England--thus inferentially affording additional
evidence that it had not been performed there. Moreover, the
advertisements call it Handel's _new_ oratorio, and boast that it was
composed expressly for the charitable purpose to which the proceeds of
its first performance were consecrated. This is confirmed by reference
to the minutes of one at least of these institutions, in which it
appears that Handel was in correspondence with them before he had
completed his composition.
The people of Dublin are passionately fond of music, and charitable
musical societies form a peculiar and interesting feature of its
society during the last century. These were academies or clubs, each
of which was attached in the way of patronage to some particular
charity, to which its revenues were consecrated. Whitelaw, in his
_History of Dublin_ (1758), mentions a very aristocratic musical
academy, which held its meetings in the Fishamble Street Hall, under
the presidency of the Earl of Mornington--the Duke of Wellington's
father. His lordship was himself the leader of the band; among the
violoncellos were Lord Bellamont, Sir John Dillon, and Dean Burke;
among the flutes, Lord Lucan; at the harpsichord, Lady Freke; and so
on. Their meetings, we are told, were private, except once a year,
when they performed in public for a charitable purpose, and admitted
all who chose to buy tickets. It does not appear, however, that this
academy was identical with the association that built the hall, and
whose concerts seem to have been much more frequent, as well as its
benevolent designs more extensive. It was called, _par eminence_, The
Charitable Musical Society; the others having distinctive designations
besides. The objects of its benevolence were the prisoners of the
Marshalseas, who were in circumstances similar to those which, many
years afterwards, elicited the benevolent labours of John Howard:
confined often for trifling debts, pining in hopeless misery, and
without food, save that received from the casual hand of charity. This
society made a daily distribution of bread among some of these, while
others were released through their humane exertions. On the 17th of
March 1741, they report, that 'the Committee of the Charitable Musical
Society appointed for this year to visit the Marshalseas in this city,
and release the prisoners confined therein for debt, have already
released 188 miserable persons of both sexes. They offered a
reasonable composition to the creditors, and many of the creditors
being in circumstances almost equally miserable with their debtors,
due regard was paid by the committee to this circumstance.' Their
funds must have improved considerably after the erection of their
Music Hall, which seems to have been the largest room of the kind in
Dublin, and in frequent requisition for public concerts, balls, and
other reunions where it was desirable to assemble a numerous company,
or employ a large orchestra. The hire of the hall on such occasions
would form a handsome addition to the proceeds of their own concerts.
It was to these funds that the proceeds of the first performance of
the _Messiah_ were devoted, in connection with those of Mercer's
Hospital, an old and still eminent school of surgery--and the Royal
Infirmary, which still exists in Jervis Street as a place for the
immediate reception of persons meeting with sudden accidents. The
performance was duly advertised in _Faulkner's Journal_, with the
additional announcement, that 'many ladies and gentlemen who are
well-wishers to this noble and grand charity, for which this oratorio
was composed, request it as a favour that the ladies who honour this
performance with their presence would be pleased to come without
hoops, as it will greatly increase the charity by making room for more
company.' In another advertisement it is added, that 'the gentlemen
are desired to come without their swords.'
On the ensuing Saturday, the following account was given of this
memorable festival: 'On Tuesday last (April 13, 1742), Mr Handel's
sacred grand oratorio, the _Messiah_, was performed in the New Musick
Hall in Fishamble Street; the best judges allowed it to be the most
finished piece of musick. Words are wanting to express the exquisite
delight it afforded to the admiring, crowded audience. The sublime,
the grand, and the tender, adapted to the most elevated, majestick,
and moving words, conspired to transport and charm the ravished heart
and ear. It is but just to Mr Handel, that the world should know he
generously gave the money arising from this grand performance to be
equally shared by the Society for Relieving Prisoners, the Charitable
Infirmary, and Mercer's Hospital, for which they will ever gratefully
remember his name; and that the gentlemen of the two choirs, Mr
Dubourg, Mrs Avolio, and Mrs Cibber, who all performed their parts to
admiration, acted also on the same disinterested principle, satisfied
with the deserved applause of the publick, and the conscious pleasure
of promoting such useful and extensive charity. There were above 700
people in the room, and the sum collected for that noble and pious
charity amounted to about L.400, out of which L.127 goes to each of
the three great and pious charities.'
Handel remained five months longer in the Irish metropolis, during
which period it is recorded that 'he diverted the thoughts of the
people from every other pursuit.' On his return to London in August
1742, he was warmly received by his former friends; his enemies, too,
were greatly conciliated. His having relinquished all concern with
operatic affairs, and opened for himself a new and undisputed sphere,
removed the old grounds of hostility; while the enthusiastic reception
which he had met in Dublin, had served as an effectual reproach to
those whose malignity had forced him to seek for justice there.
Notwithstanding some difficulties at the outset of his new career at
home, he lived to realise an income of above L.2000 a year, and never
found it necessary or convenient to revisit Ireland; but the custom of
performing his oratorios and cantatas for the benefit of medical
charities was maintained for many years; and it is believed that the
works of no other composer have so largely contributed to the relief
of human suffering.