In 1738 Handel was obliged to close the theatre and suspend payment.
He had made and spent during his operatic career the sum of £10,000
sterling, besides dissipating the sum of £50,000 subscribed by his noble
patrons. The rival house lasted but a few months longer, and the Duchess
of Marlborough and her friends, who ruled the opposition clique and
imported Bononcini, paid £12,000 for the pleasure of ruining Handel. His
failure as an operatic composer is due in part to the same causes
which constituted his success in oratorio and cantata. It is a little
significant to notice that, alike by the progress of his own genius and
by the force of conditions, he was forced out of the operatic field at
the very time when he strove to tighten his grip on it.
His free introduction of choral and instrumental music, his creation of
new forms and remodeling of old ones, his entire subordination of the
words in the story to a pure musical purpose, offended the singers and
retarded the action of the drama in the eyes of the audience; yet it was
by virtue of these unpopular characteristics that the public mind was
being moulded to understand and love the form of the oratorio.
From 1734 to 1738 Handel composed and produced a number of operatic
works, the principal ones of which were "Alcina," 1735; "Arminio," 1737;
and "Berenice," 1737. He also during these years wrote the magnificent
music to Dryden's "Alexander's Feast," and the great funeral anthem on
the occasion of Queen Caroline's death in the latter part of the year
1737.
We can hardly solve the tenacity of purpose with which Handel persevered
in the composition of operatic music after it had ruined him; but it was
still some time before he fully appreciated the true turn of his genius,
which could not be trifled with or ignored. In his adversity he had some
consolation. His creditors were patient, believing in his integrity. The
royal family were his firm friends.
Southey tells us that Handel, having asked the youthful Prince of
Wales, then a child, and afterward George the Third, if he loved music,
answered, when the prince expressed his pleasure: "A good boy, a good
boy! You shall protect my fame when I am dead." Afterward, when the
half-imbecile George was crazed with family and public misfortunes, he
found his chief solace in the Waverley novels and Handel's music.
It is also an interesting fact that the poets and thinkers of the age
were Handel's firm admirers. Such men as Gay, Arbuthnot, Hughes, Colley
Cibber, Pope, Fielding, Hogarth, and Smollett, who recognized the deep,
struggling tendencies of the times, measured Handel truly. They defended
him in print, and never failed to attend his performances, and at
his benefit concerts their enthusiastic support always insured him an
overflowing house.
The popular instinct was also true to him. The aristocratic classes
sneered at his oratorios and complained at his innovations. His music
was found to be good bait for the popular gardens and the holiday-makers
of the period. Jonathan Tyers was one of the most liberal managers
of this class. He was proprietor of Vauxhall Gardens, and Handel
(_incognito_) supplied him with nearly all his music. The composer did
much the same sort of thing for Marylebone Gardens, furbishing up old
and writing new strains with an ease that well became the urgency of the
circumstances.
"My grandfather," says the Rev. J. Fountagne, "as I have been told, was
an enthusiast in music, and cultivated most of all the friendship of
musical men, especially of Handel, who visited him often, and had a
great predilection for his society. This leads me to relate an anecdote
which I have on the best authority. While Marylebone Gardens were
flourishing, the enchanting music of Handel, and probably of Arne, was
often heard from the orchestra there. One evening, as my grandfather and
Handel were walking together and alone, a new piece was struck up by the
band. 'Come, Mr. Fountagne,' said Handel, 'let us sit down and listen
to this piece; I want to know your opinion about it.' Down they sat, and
after some time the old parson, turning to his companion, said, 'It
is not worth listening to; it's very poor stuff.' 'You are right, Mr.
Fountagne,' said Handel, 'it is very poor stuff; I thought so myself
when I had finished it.' The old gentleman, being taken by surprise, was
beginning to apologize; but Handel assured him there was no necessity,
that the music was really bad, having been composed hastily, and his
time for the production limited; and that the opinion given was as
correct as it was honest."