Three representative English choral works of George Frederic Handel: A study of their literary backgrounds and significance

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THREE REPRESENTATIVE ENGLISH CHORAL WORKS OP GEORGE FREDERIC HANDEL: A STUDY OF THEIR LITERARY BACKGROUNDS AND SIGNIFICANCE

A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School University of Southern California

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts

by Robert S. Riley June 1950

UMI Number: EP61867

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tyf LcA-p-e-c-

N\ w J'/zij thesis, w r i t t e n by

...........ROBERT^ S_.__RILEy......... u n d e r the g u id a n c e o f h..%®.. F a c u l t y C o m m itte e , and approved

by a l l

its m e m bers ,

has been

presented to a n d accepted by the C o u n c il on G r a d u a te S tu d y a n d R e s e a rc h in p a r t i a l f u l f i l l ­ m e n t o f the re q u ire m e n ts f o r the degree o f

Master of Arts

Date.

Faculty Committee

man

TABLE OP CONTENTS CHAPTER I.

PAGE

THE SCOPE, PURPOSE, AND ORGANIZATION OP THE STUDY The scope and purpose of the study

II.

1

...........

Summary of sources relative to the study • • • •

Ij.

Organization of the s t u d y .....................

5

Definition of terms

5

• • • ................. . .

A BRIEF SURVEY OF THE THEATER DURING HANDEL»S TIME IN ENGLAND

..................................

Audiences in the late seventeenth century

• • •

Some eighteenth century developments • • • • * •

III.

1

11 11 12

P a n t o m i m e ...................

13

P a s t o r a l s .........................

lif

ACIS AND G A L A T E A ..............

. . .

The m a s q u e ..............

18 18

The masque before the eighteenth century • • •

18

The masque in the eighteenth c e n t u r y ........

22

Literary backgrounds of Handel1s Acis and Galatea

..........

.

A history of the m u s i c .....................

2if. 27

Terminology applied to the form of Acis and Galatea

•

...............................

The character of the m u s i c ................... IV.

ALEXANDER1S F E A S T .........................

. . .

The o d e ........................................ The ode in the eighteenth c e n t u r y ...........

32

33 35 35 35

iii CHAPTER

PAGE Types of the ode dominant in the neo-classi­ cal period • • • • ............... . The St. Cecilia 1s Day Ode

36

. .

.............

37

The text of Alexander 1s F e a s t ...... ....

44

A history of the m u s i c ................... V.

49

HAMAN AND MORDECAI AND ESTHER . . . . . . . . .

54

54

French origins ................................ Racine!s Esther and other French drama in Eng­ land

56

.....................

Earlier English plays based on the story of E s t h e r .................................... .. Ham an and M o r d e c a i .......................

56 62

Es ther • • • • • .................... The beginnings of E s t h e r ................. ..

62

Organization of the music ofEsther

64

• •

• •

Critical opinion of E s t h e r ............... .. VI.

56

65

SOME ENGLISH INFLUENCES ON HANDEL *S MUSIC AND HIS CONTRIBUTIONS TO ENGLISH MUSICAL STYLE

. .

68

The Bible in English dramatic and non-dramatic 69

literature . ................... Hymn-singing in England as a relative influ­ ence ............................ Handel 1s use of the chorus

. . . . . .

..........

70

71

iv CHAPTER

PAGE Handel1ssetting of English words Conclusions

• •. .

. . . . . .

...........................

B I B L I O G R A P H Y ...........................................

73 80 83

LIST OP TABLES TABLE I.

PAGE St. Cecilia’s Day Odes written and 1 8 0 0

II. III.

................................ .

Other of Handel’s Works included in Esther A Brief Survey of the Choruses Handel’s Italian Operas

IV.

between 1683

.

.

Ip.

•

66

in Six of ...............

Choruses in Hainan and Mordecai • • • • . • • •

7^475

CHAPTER I

THE SCOPE, PURPOSE, AND ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY Ostensibly a thesis is supposed to pose a "problem" and solve it, or at least a portion of it.

In the case of

George Frederic Handel there exists probably less of a problem to be attacked than there is some value in the task of re-examining certain aspects of his work. Considering the extensive creative output of Handel, and the

very high quality of much of it, this master receives

little attention today that is really commensurate with his greatness.

Outside of the Messiah, arias from certain

operas and oratorios, and instrumental works such as the Concerti Grossl and the Water Music

to name some of the

more popular examples-— performances of other worthwhile com­ positions are negligible.

This is unfortunate, for as one

examines certain of the lesser known pieces one encounters a freshness, spontaneity, and grandeur about them that surely entitles Handel to an even wider recognition as a towering figure of the Baroque period in general and the neo-classical period in England than he already has.

At any rate, his

stature should rest not upon a small representation of h i s r work alone. The scope and purpose of the study.

The present

study was originally undertaken with a view toward examining

more works than are here included; this plan was gradually made less extensive in scope, and eventually became limited to three characteristic English choral works, Acis and Galatea, Alexander1s Feast, Haman and Mordecai and Esther* (The latter two compositions are grouped together since Esther is the revised version of Haman*)

The emphasis in the

study will be upon the literary backgrounds of these works— more specifically their English backgrounds, although the inclusion of information relevant to those English roots will be made when necessary.

The music will be discussed

from a historical standpoint, its technical aspects receiv­ ing no emphasis since such an emphasis really constitutes material for a separate study in itself. The purpose of the study is to attempt to show, in regard to the three works mentioned,

(1) English influences

on Handel, and (2) Handel*s influence on England, especially in Esther since that work is historically the most important of the three due to its being considered as Handel*s first English oratorio.

Because Esther retains characteristics

of the other two typically English compositions

although

indeed it possesses characteristics from other sources such as Handel!s Italian operas too— -a discussion of them in re­ lation to Esther is of value even though the chronology of all of them is of not too great importance. Galatea actually

Acis and

h a d four Versions: 1708, 1720, 1732 and

3 17^0•

Alexander 1s Feast was written in 1

Mordecai in 1720, and Esther in 1732*

7

Hainan and

Since the latter was

subsequently more important than the other two pieces, an attempt will be made to show some of the reasons why it pos­ sibly made the impression on England that it did* England obviously exerted itself on Handel, but it is probably safe to assert that Handel had more of an influ­ ence on England in the long run

one which even made it

difficult for native English composers to flourish both during and after his lifetime*

Handel1s oratorio style

was a strong force in the nineteenth century, and remains popular today.

Dryden in the latter part of the seventeenth

century, and such other writers of the eighteenth century as Pope, Swift, Addison, Johnson of them

to name the more important

were great representatives of their times, but

they were certainly not more outstanding in their spheres of creative activity than Handel was in his*

Fundamentally,

Handel*s message is more universal than theirs---especially as a force which continues to endure*

Handel*s relations

with such men as Pope, Gay, Arbuthnot, and indirectly with Dryden provide an interesting if rather elusive sidepath to Handel*s life as a composer*

Much has to be guessed at

since facts are either difficult or impossible to obtain. The present study makes no pretense at being conclusive about this phase of Handel*s^ work, but the search for what

4 material is presented here has proved most stimulating. Summary of sources relative to the study*

For the

most part works dealing with Handel in general mention the literary aspects of his music only briefly, if at all. Therefore many of the sources of this study were found out­ side of works dealing specifically with Handel.

Probably

two of the most valuable examples of such material include Handel1s Messiah by Robert M. Myers— an excellent book treat­ ing several aspects of Handel*s creative life and containing information relating to the cultural forces existing at the time.

Myers presents an authoritative and extensive bib­

liography that is of great value.

The other is the same

author*s article in the publication of the Modern Language Association of America entitled "Neo-classical Criticism of the Ode for Music.”

Complete editions of works by Pope,

Gay, and Dryden were consulted in addition to biographies and general books about these men.3-

For a background of

British drama Allardyce Nicoll*s British Drama, and A His­ tory of Early Eighteenth Century Drama was utilized nearly exclusively.

As to works on Handel--both books and period­

ical articles— there exist a great number*

Friedrich

1 The William Andrews Clark Memorial Library is especially rich in material on Dryden, and possesses many early editions of his works; the library also contains much material on this period in England generally.

5

Chrysander*s three-volume biography (not completed and end­ ing at 17 ^1-0 ) is considered the authoritative biography of Handel.

It is not readily obtainable, however, and the

lack of knowledge of the German language on the part of the writer rendered it impossible to utilize more than small fragments of that biography.

The biographies of Percy

Young> C.P. Abdy Williams, and Herbert Weinstock— to name a few out of several such books— proved helpful in certain respects, but they hardly represent ideal biographies since each contains more or less the same information, much of it based upon each other and the same general original sources. Newman Flower1s George Frederick,Handel contains the most exhaustive bibliography on Handel that the writer encounter­ ed, but unfortunately the work itself is too subjective and generally rather ineffectual.

Due to the fact that F l o w e r s

source material is so excellent, and to the fact that some of it would be found to be identical in other biographies, this study has drawn upon his book rather extensively for certain historical data, and occasionally for opinion to be quoted.

Some information about specific compositions can

be obtained in the H&ndelgesellschaft collection of Handel*s complete works, edited by Chrysander.

In some cases, how­

ever, there is no preface, and in certain instances the remarks are in German. In the case of research on Handel, it has often been

6 not so much a problem of finding material to use: it was oc­ casionally more of a task to decide what not to use. Organization of the study.

Chapter II aims at

briefly surveying London tastes in theater which were devel­ oping in the first half of the eighteenth century.

It will

not constitute an examination of trends in the larger dramatic genres and philosophies so much as it will mention certain smaller forms which are to a certain degree related to Handel!s work.

Chapter III will discuss Acis and Gala­

tea , Chapter IV Alexander fs Peas t, and Chapter V Haman and Mordecai and Esther.

The method to be followed in Chapters

III to V will be to present information about (1) the gen­ eral aspects of the literary form under consideration,

(2 )

information about the text itself and its author, (3 ) data relating to Handel 1 s music to the text, and (ip) some eight­ eenth century criticism of the work.

Chapter VI will

constitute a summary of certain English influences on Han­ d e l ^ music and his contributions to English musical style* The conclusion is a summary. Definition of terms.

As the foregoing indicates, a

discussion of literary backgrounds is reserved for the chapters to which it relates, a plan employed in order to maintain continuity of thought upon the subject.

There

are, however, two terms that should be considered at this

point* "Neo-classical period" was that period in England which may be considered as spanning the time from l66o to 1796.

fhat part of it from 16 60 to 1 7 0 0 is generally known

as the Restoration Period, and represents. a time of reaction against Puritanism.

Characteristics of the Restoration

Period, during which French influence was rather marked, include an emphasis on form and a critical point of view* Eminent literary figures included Dryden, Defoe, Butler, Milton, and Locke.2 The period from 1700 to 1750, which is our main con­ sideration, is often referred to as the "Augustan" period since Addison, Steele, Swift, and Pope are considered to have made those years in English literary history as not­ able for their polish and general perfection of letters as had Virgil and Horace during the age of the Emperor Augustus of Rome, who ruled from 27 B.C. to llj. A.D.

It was an age

in England sometimes referred to also as the Age of Pope since he was a dominant figure -of the time.

Characteristics

of the period generally were the continuance of a strong critical outlook, an emphasis on taste, polish, and reason. Literary trends showed the beginnings of romanticism, but

2 William Flint Thrall and Addison Hibbard, A Hand< book to Literature (New York: The Odyssey Press, 1936 J, p p • 5 0 0 -0 6 .

8

these elements were held in check; there were mainly the factors of realism, satire, and correctness. metrical regularity was

emphasized.3

In poetry

The drama will be dis­

cussed in Chapter II. ’’Oratorio” is a musical term with a long history; in relation to its use in this study, however, we shall define the term as a musical work for chorus, solo voices, and orchestra based upon a Biblical text.

In

Handel’s case,

the work is preceded by an overture often following the fastslow-fast principle; the remainder of the composition is then divided into recitatives, solos, duets, and choral sec­ tions.

In the seventeenth century German oratorio was more

serious, dramatic, and generally more complex musically be­ cause of the use of orchestra and chorus than were the Italian cantatas of the time,^- and Handel was consistent with those features.

Manfred P. Bukofzer lists four influ­

ences upon Handel’s oratorio style as those of (1) the German cantata,

(2) the Italian opera,

(3) the English choral

tradition, and (l^.) the oratorios of Carissimi.5

In refer­

ence to Handel’s vocal techniques, Bukofzer gives the

3

Ibid., pp. £ 0 7 - 8 .

4 Willi Apel, editor, Harvard Dictionary of Music (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 19^4-7)* p. 11?• 5 Manfred P. Bukofzer, Music in the Baroque Bra (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 19lp7), p* 338 •

9 following classification of those which Handel utilized:^ (1) the motet style in a grand manner. (2) the use of Venetian double choruses with a capella sections against a tutti accompaniment. (3) the continuo madrigal style. (4) the madrigal style applied to the full chorus. (5) the use of cantus firmus choruses (sometimes based upon Protestant chorale melodies, but for the most part by Handel himself). (6) choral dja. capo arias and dance songs. (7) choral chaconnes. (8) the use of the chorus in a concerto style (both with and without the accompaniment of a concerto grosso)• In summary, the writer cannot resist adding a comment on Handel1s oratorios by a late eighteenth century observer; it is hardly scholarly, but is somewhat amusing with its rather pompous and insular tone, and actually constitutes a fairly adequate appraisal of Handel*s place in England: This species of the drama was introduced into England by Mr. Handel, and carried on during his life with great success. It was borrowed from the Concert Spirituel of our volatile neighbours on the Continent, but conducted in a manner more agreeable to the native gravity and solidity- of this nation.^ The Concert Spirituel to which this dictionary refers is

6

ibid., pp. 338-339.

7 A New Theatrical Dictionary (No author or editor given; London: printed by S. Bladon, 1792), p. 3^0•

10 probably a term applying to the beginnings of public concerts in Prance.

A license was obtained to present concerts dur­

ing that period before and immediately after Easter and on other days when the Opera was closed; for a time, in order not to create competition with the Opera, there was a stipu­ lation that no French music and no excerpts from opera should be given.

The Concert Spirituel was founded in Paris by

A.D. Philidor in 1725* and continued until after the Revolu­ tion. 8 f,Serenata,f may be considered as a sort of dramatic cantata, frequently pastoral in character, and rather closely allied to opera except that the staging is simpler.

These

works were in fashion at European courts, often being present­ ed on the birthdays of royalty; the subject matter for the pieces were frequently chosen from the realms of mythology or ancient history, in a manner that might suggest flattery by its symbolism.9

® Percy A. Scholes, The Oxford Companion to Music (London: Oxford University Press'll 1 9 3 8 )* p. 210. . 9

Ibid., p. 859*

CHAPTER I I

A BRIEF SURVEY OF THE THEATER DURING HANDEL»S TIME IN ENGLAND Handel was essentially a man of the theater during his stay in London from 1717 to 1759, especially during the years until 1738 when his operatic ventures were predominant* Even the later years during which time the oratorio became his most important consideration, the atmosphere of the theater was not entirely absent.

The oratorios themselves

were performed in public places, not having been written ex­ pressly for church presentation*

Although Handel*s efforts

were confined largely to the oratorio, it is reasonable to assume that certain trends in London theatrical life had their effects, to some degree at least, on his masque, his St. Cecilia Day Odes, and on the first presentations of Esther.

There were, of course, forces at work in the larger

scale dramatic pieces presented at the time, but there came to the theater, in the first half of the eighteenth century, certain miscellaneous smaller types of entertainment, a few of which will be examined here. I.

AUDIENCES IN THE LATE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

London theater audiences of the latter part of the seventeenth century had had a change of attitudes; the act­ ors of the day turned to a type of public which had not attended performances of Shakespeare.

It consisted of

12 elements of society and its servants, with the hackneys in the upper galleries, the Quality in the boxes, and the critics in the pits.^-

The upper strata of society preferred plays

of license and comedies of manners (Dryden, Congreve, and others), while the lower class elements showed a disposition toward plays of a moralizing and sentimental nature *2

jn

contrasting Elizabethan and Restoration drama, George Henry Nettleton observes that, Shakespeare sounds the whole gamut of life, but the comic dramatists of the Restoration repeat the notes of fashion, frivolity, and vice. Comedy in Drydenfs age represents primarily only the life of the court* Hero and heroine know the world, but the world is London* . . ♦ Tragedy, which flowed full and free in Elizabethan days, is channelled in fheroic drama 1 between artificial banks difficult to surmount *3 II.

SOME EIGHTEENTH CENTURY DEVELOPMENTS

Although the Restoration period merged with the socalled Augustan Age, tastes underwent a change*

A legacy of

pseudo-classicism was left to the eighteenth century, and this element received stimulation through such characteristic figures as Addison, Pope, and Steele who maintained adherence

Allardyce Nicoll, British Drama (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1925), p. 260:: 2

Ibid*, p. 261.

3 George Henry Nettleton, English Drama of the Restoration and Eighteenth Century (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1 9 1 I4.), pp. Ip-5.

to the ancients as the basic concept of that philosophy in which order, intellectualism, and the were the keynotes*^-

13

classic unities

They were not entirely successful, how­

ever, although, It was not for want of courage or for want of pa­ tience that the pseudo-classicists failed to reform entirely the tastes of their age* Again and again they returned to the attack, but few were successful in their endeavours * 5 Reaction to the ’’classical chill” manifested itself in burlesque and farce; further decay in drama was to be found in the conflicting motives in comedy*

”It lay,”

observes Allardyce Nicoll, ” * . . in the lack of a dominant purpose and faith in any form of drama * ” 6

A form in which

there was an attempt to unite both tragic and comic elements was that of the tragi-comedy*7

Pantomine*

This genre became extremely popular

during the first half of the eighteenth century, having re­ ceived its initial stimulus principally by English theatrical managers who desired to compete with the productions

of

classical and lighter types of drama given by French and *4- Nicoll, British. Drama, p. 263* 5

Ibid*, p. 2 6 I4..

6 Allardyce Nicoll, A History of Early Eighteenth Century Drama (Cambridge England : at the University Press, 1929), p. 219*

7

Ibid* * p* 220.

llj-

Italian companies . 8

The entertainment was one in which

. . . there was usually a serious legendary story told by means of dancing and songs — in fact a short opera on a usual operatic theme. In these plots moved the figures of the commedia dell 1arte. burlesquing in silent movement the action of the more serious tale.p There was usually elaborate scenery and scenery changes. These pieces were as a rule presented along with the perform­ ances of regular comedies and tragedies; their aid in the process of degeneration of serious dramatic tastes and their influence on ballad-opera is obvious.10

Besides this, the

prevalence of Italian opera in eighteenth century London was partly responsible for the general popularity of pantomine.ll

Eighteenth century opera was not all that it

should have been. Through this very fact, . . . that opera is so high a form, the pitiful operas of the eighteenth century seem the more debased. The sight of Hydaspes struggling sonorously with the lion, or that of the effeminate heroes tearing their passion into soprano shreds, could hardly awaken in us overmuch enthusiasm . 12 Pastorals.

The pastoral type of drama was an

Italian development of the fifteenth century, being influenced ®

Nicoll, British Drama, p. 270.

9

Loc. cit.

10

ISid., p. 271.

xx Nicoll, A History of Early Eighteenth Century Drama, p. 218. --------------12

xb l d ». pp. 218-219.

15

by the pastoral romance,13 a usually long narrative in prose with a plot that is generally complicated, in which the characters have pastoral names, and in which pastoral conven­ tions are prevalent. these works.

There are often songs included in

It was revived in the Renaissance with Boccaccio*s

Arne to (13^-2); English pastoral romances include Sir Philip Sidney*s Arcadia (1590), and the Rosalynde (1590) of Thomas Lodge, the latter work serving as the source for Shakespeare *s As You Like It.lU The Aminta of Tasso, and II Pastor Fido (1590) by Guarini, were models for pastoral dramas during the English Renaissance, Samuel Daniel, John Fletcher, and Ben Johnson writing this type of play.

The Faithful Shepherdess of

Fletcher is considered the best of these. 15 In the Restoration various kinds of plays may be called pastorals; they are related to heroic drama and romance, comedy, at times with rough farce, and the masque.16

There

v/ere also versions of the two Italian pastorals, Aminta, and Pastor Fido again in this period*17

"Dull, monotonous,

^3 William Flint Thrall, and Addison Hibbard, A Handbook to Literature (New York: The Odyssey Press, 1936), p. 30I4-.

Ibid., p. 305* 15

Ibid.. p. 30l+.

16

G.H. Nettleton, og. cit.. p. 107. Ibid.. pp. 107-108.

16 vulgar, and tawdry, the Restoration pastoral usually is,,f asserts George H. Nettleton.18 In the eighteenth century the pastoral was exempli­ fied by some works that were mainly poetic in nature and which were not written for the theater, but most of the pastoral dramas were written to be produced, and were an influential element in dramatic development.19

There were both original

works and translations of Italian plays during this century; again we encounter Tasso*s L 1Aminta as translated in 1726 by P.B. Du Bois. appeared,

In 1737 William A y r e *s translation in verse

Rossi used I_1 Pastor Fido as

the basis for an

opera which was produced at the Haymarket in 1 7 1 2 ,2 0

an(j for

which Handel wrote the music; Dione by Gay (1720) is another example of this type.

According to Allardyce Nicoll, the

pastoral element is to be seen in the regular dramas, operas, and masques of the period, but • • • it is to be confessed that the general level of workmanship in the pastoral form is undoubtedly poorer and weaker than is that even in contemporary tragedy and comedy . 21

18

Ibid., pp. 109.

^•9 A. Nicoll, A History of Early Eighteenth Drama, p. 223* 20

Ibid., pp. 223-225.

21

Loc. cit.

Century

17 One critic of the early part of the eighteenth century wrote advocating tragedy, and commented on the hybrid types of entertainment to be found at the time: I would fain persuade some noble genius, says Mr. Stonecastle, to undertake the delivering us from the wretched slavery of Harlequins, Morris-Dancers, and Ballad Singers, which of late have been preferred to the noblest and most instructive Entertainment .2 2

22 Author*s name not given, ,T0n Play-Writing," Gentleman fs Magazine, No. 2QCIV: llOLf., December, 1732.

CHAPTER I I I

ACIS AND GALATEA I.

THE MASQUE

The masque before the eighteenth century*

The Eng­

lish did not employ the term mask until after 1$00, and masque * the French spelling of the word, did not become the customary usage of it as related to an entertainment until a century later*^

The masque was originally based on various

types of games or spectacles in which masked figures parti­ cipated, and which was popular in character*

It was adopted

by the aristocracy, becoming fused with elements from civic pageants, chivaliric customs, sword dances,

and religious

drama, and eventually it became elaborate and expensive In character*

The Epiphany spectacle, produced by and taken

part in by Henry VIII, Is often credited with being the first English

masque

*2

As a rule it was part of such celebrations

as weddings and coronations, and was occasionally the prelude to a ball*3

1 Edd Winfield Parks, and Richmond Croom Beatty, editors, The English Drama An Anthology 9OO-I6I4.2 (New York: W . W * Norton and Company, Inc., 1935)> p. 51-4-8«■ 2 William Flint Thrall, and Addison Hibbard, A Handbook t£ Literature (New York: The Odyssey Press, 1936), p. 2I4-3 . 3

Ibid.. p. 21(1)..

19

During the reign of Henry VIII participation in masques and pageants was one of the duties of a gentleman of the Chapel Royal.^

The early masques did not utilize scenery, but by

1501, at the celebration of Prince Arthur's marriage to Catherine of Aragon this was altered, and there were elabor­ ate decorations made,

and the inclusion of speech and singing.

A chronicler, Edward Hall, described the first entertainment called a masque, but it was essentially a "disguising" or "mumming", terms going back as far as 1 3 7 7 when the first descriptions of them were made, and which pertained to those persons participating as costuming themselves as devils, knights, emperor, et cetera.5

Although the masque is tra­

ditionally English, there were influences on it from Prance and Italy, one of the fundamental contributions from the latter country being that of the concept of t h e ‘ideal union of poetry, music,

and the dance . 6

In Christopher Marlowe's

play, Edward II (c. 15>9lj-), we find in Act I, Scene I, a refer­ ence to Italian entertainments of this nature in a speech by Gaveston:

Paul Henry Lang, Music in Western Civilization (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., Tpl^l), p. 30d. ^ Edd Winfield Parks, o p . cit., p. 5 l]-8 .

and Richmond Croom Beatty,

6 Edward J. Dent, Foundations of English Opera (Cambridge: at the University Press, 192B), p. 11.

20

Music and poetry is his delight; Therefore 1*11 have Italian masks by night.7 Continental and English characteristics were conjoined in the beginning and middle of the sixteenth century, developing around the close of that century in the Elizabethan and Stuart masque; our present day conception of a masque is that of the Stuart development . 8

A pastoral type of masque

evolved from rituals in which a welcome, based on formal speeches or mock debates, was made to a king or queen making a royal "Progress” through the country; sometimes this wel­ come took the form of an unexpected little play.

Sir Philip

Sidney!s The Lady of May is an example of this type, and although it is not essentially a masque, it was influential on the development of that form.9 The typical masque was built about three stage dances of the masquers: the "entry,” "main dance,” and "going off," the latter being followed by court revels, and the masquers engaging in ballroom dancing with ladies of the nobility whom they had taken from the audience. The music of the masques was mainly that of 7 Edd Winfield Parks and Richmond Croom Beatty, op. cit., p. 14-8 2 . 8 Allardyce Nicoll, British Drama (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1933), P* 210.

9 Edd Winfield Parks and Richard Croom cit. , p. 51+9 .

Beatty, op.

21 introductions, dance accompaniments, and those parts of the entertainments that were sung,11

Actually the music was

not of great importance, and the first mention of a recita­ tive is in Ben Jonson’s Vision of Delight (l6l7)*32

^Tl©

songs were usually written for voice and unfigured bass; a few choral sections were used, and were chordal in nature*13 Early masque composers included Campion, Coperario, Alfonso Perrabosco, G-iles, and Robert Johnson.^-

Masque music was

often the collective efforts of several composers; for example, the music for Shirley1s Triumph of Peace was by William Lawes and Ives* 15 As to plot material in the masque, there was a reli­ ance on the Italian intermezzo and the ballet de

cour

;l6

it was Ben Jons on who placed an emphasis on the literary aspects of the masque, thus making of it a meaningful form of art*

Later, Milton’s Cornus was a great example of the

masque because of its high quality in a literary sense*

11

Loc. cit*

12

Ibid., P* 182

13

Ibid., P* 184

1k

Ibid., P* 183

15

Ibid., p. 185

16

Ibid., P* 181

22 In the Masque of Queens (1 6 0 9 ), Jonson introduced a dance which became known as the antimasque, providing with its f!antikfr character a rather satyric element thatcontrasted the

lavish splendor of the regular masque.17 After 1 6 3 0 the masque began to decline, and its musi­

cal elements did not save it from that decline.

Attacks

such as the Histriomastix (1633) of Prynne condemned the masque and the theater generally, indicating elements of both early and subsequent criticism by the Puritans .3-8 The masque is generally accepted as being a precursor to English opera.

Drydenjs unsuccessful Albion and Alban-

ius (1685), was an attempt at developing the masque Into . opera, its use of dances and allegorical plot showing that influence.19

The court entertainments in this form had

of course not been open to the public, and their presenta­ tion

on the Elizabethan stage when introduced intoplays

not very elaborate due to the lack the great expense involved. plays and masques called

was

of stageequipment and

D fAvenant later gave the public

r,O p e r a s

•ff20

The

masque in the eighteenth century. The

17

Allardyce Nicoll, o p . cit., p. 211.

musical

Manfred P. Bukofzer, o£. cit., pp. 185-186. 19

Ibid., pp. 187-188.

20

E.J. Dent, 0£. cit., p.

ip2.

23 masque or interlude in the eighteenth century developed be­ cause of the attempt on the part of the English to establish a form of entertainment in competition to Italian opera and the efforts of managers to present afterpieces•

For the

most part they were still mythological in character, and the only difference between them and the Italian opera they were combatting lay in the

f act that they were in English

and consisted of from one to two acts*

Colley Cibber was

a contributor to this form, his Venus and Adonis being one of those which he wrote* these eighteenth century

For the most part, the poetry of masques was inferior.

The high

point of the genre was a work such as The Chaplet by Mendez, considered as introductory to the pastoral type of masque* Their popularity indicates that the tastes of audiences were veering away from the usual five-act comedies and tragedies *2 1 For an exhaustive list of English plays, operas, masques, Italian operas, oratorios, and serenatas, Allardyce Nieoll has provided an excellent reference source in the author!s A History of Eighteenth Century Drama (1700-1750)* pp . 2 9 ^-l|-00 *

21 Allardyce Nicoll, A History of Eighteenth Century Drama (Cambridge: at the University Press, 1929). P P * 2582 b0 •

2k II.

LITERARY BACKGROUNDS OP HANDEL!S ACISLAND GALATEA Handel!s Acis and Galatea has a substantial literary

background.

It is based on a mythological tale of the

Greek myths that dominated the writings of antiquity for so long a time.

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries

the Metamorphoses, along with Amadis of G aul, and jariosto!s Orlando Furioso, probably provided more opera librettists with material than practically any other

source.

22

Through

the literary works of the seventeenth and eighteenth cen­ turies the voices of the writers of antiquity were often heard again,, and we glimpse that old world through Ovid who . . . when he composed his Metamorphoses, . . . did it with the mental reservation that he was describing the world not as it is, but as it ought to be on the strength of the hearths logic. It was while the sun was setting on Greek myth that its skies glowed in the most gorgeous colors .2 3 Handel*s choice of libretti has often been questioned because of the unevenness in quality frequently encountered, but he was not alone guilty in this respect, and his music more often than not rises above the mediocrities of a text. Although John Gay*s book of the 1720 version can hardly be called the epitome of good poetry— especially when read out of the context of Handel’s music— it is reasonably 22 Herman Prankel, Ovid (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 19i[5), p. 2. 23

Ibid., p. 17.

25

acceptable*

Contained in it are lines from Dryden, Pope,

and John Hughes.

The two lines beginning, ”Not larks to

showers,” are from a poem of Pope*s entitled Autumn (Pope is said to have borrowed his lines from ”a charming but neglect­ ed poet,

Hawthornden)

.2i|

The two lines from Dryden beginn­

ing, ”Help, G-alatea, help,” were derived from Dryden Ts trans­ lation of Ac is Polyphemus and Galatea, of the thirteenth book of Ovid*s Metamorphoses.25

Five lines starting ”Would you

gain the tender creature” are those of an entire short poem of John Hughes* called

S o n g . 26

At this point it is probably necessary to mention the relationship of certain men of letters who were connected with Handel.

One of them was John Arbuthnot (1667-1735 )■$ Scotch

physician and writer who during the last years of Queen Anne rs reign became intimate with Pope and Gay and who belonged to a group called the ”Scriblerus Club,” their purpose being to satarize ”the abuses of human learning in every branch.”27

2-k- Rt. Hon. John W. Croker and Rev. Whitwell, Intro­ duction and notes by, The Works of Alexander Pope (London: John Murray, l871)f I, 288. 25 John Dryden, The Poetical Works of John Dryden (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, n.d.77 II* 282-290. 26 John Hughes, Poems on Several Occasions (London: for J. Tonson and J. Watts, 1 7 3 5 T , I, ll|5. 27 Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee, editors, Dictionary of National Biography (New York: The Macmillan Company,

T 9 W T I, 53t-535.

26 Arbuthnot was also a friend of Swift's, and being a musician, helped Swift obtain singers for his cathedral.28

John

Hughes (1677-1720), a contributor to the Tatler and Spectator, had had his Venus and Adonis and other cantatas set to music by Handel.29

There are indications that Handel was acquaint­

ed with John Gay; Handel supposedly wrote music to a ballad, beginning n 'Twas when the seas were roaring” from Gay's play, What d'ye call ijt.30

When Gay's collected Poems came out

Handel's name appeared on the subscription list along with those of Lord Burlington,31 the Duke of Chandos (of whom we shall speak later), and others.32

Direct reference to Han­

del is made by Gay in a passage from his Trivia (he also mentions the home of Lord Burlington): There Handel strikes the strings, the melting strain Transports the soul, and thrills through every vein . 33

28

Ibid.. 535.

29

Ibid.. X, 178-180.

30 Willi am Henry Irving, John Gay (Durham, North Car­ olina: Duke University Press, 194-0) > P* ll6 . 31 Richard Boyle, the third Earl of Burlington (16951753)9 was a director of the Royal Academy of Music for per­ forming Handel's ?/orks, and was a well-known patron of litera­ ture and art. Both Pope and Gay have referred to him with warmth for his interest in the arts, and Handel is said to have been received in the home of the Earl. (Dictionary of National Biography. II, 102lj.-1026.) 32

w.H. Irving, op. cit.. pp. 177-178*

33 John Gay, The Poetical Works of John Gay (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, n.d.), I, 233*

27 Pope also refers to Handel in four lines found in the fourth book of The Duneiad: Strong in new Arms, l o I Giant Handel stands Like bold Briareus, with a hundred hands; To stir, to rouse, to shake the soul he comes, And Jovefs own Thunders follow M a r fs Drums* 3 lj. Pope, too, had written a translation of the Acis story which was published after his death in The London Magazine of December, 1714-9; at the conclusion of the poem there is a memorandum that it was composed at the age of fourteen, but no authorfs name is given.

Reference to this publication

is found in The Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature which attributes it to,Pope.35

A footnote in the edition of

Pop e fs works utilized throughout this study states that he had made such a translation at the age of fourteen, but that it was in the possession of Spence, and that it v/as never brought out since it was thought unworthy of printing . 3 6 III.

A HISTORY OF THEIMUSIC

In 1707 Handel Journeyed to.Italy, visiting Rome, Florence and Naples* He remained in Naples for nearly a

3li

The Works of Alexander Pope (editor cited), IV,

19k35 F.W. Bateson, editor, The Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (New York: TEe M acmi 11 an Comp any J lylfl), II, 300. 36

The Works of Alexander Pope, I,

28

year, having arrived in June of 1 7 0 8 .3 7 Florence with excellent credentials,

He had come from

and it is generally ac­

cepted that he wrote Aci Galatea e Polifemo for the wedding of the Duca d fAlvito, a musical patron of that city.

The

title d fAlvito was that of an important Neopolitan family of antiquity.

The marriage, which took place on July 19, 1708,

was an elaborate affair, and Newman Flower believes that nIt is hardly possible that Handel, freshly arrived in a city which was beginning to assume all the decoration for an event of distinction would wish to be out of it . f,3 8 In 1720 Acis and Galatea in an entirely new version was performed at Cannons, the home of the Duke of Chandos. The extremely wealthy James Brydges, Earl of Carnarvon, had inherited the estate located near Edgware; according to Flower, it possessed a theater and a beautiful organ.

Handel

replaced Dr. Pepusch who had been Kapellmeister over a group of Italian and English musicians.39

Daniel Defoe tells us

that the magnificent Cannons had a full choir, the music being of the best, and "after the manner of the Chappel Royal,

37 H.C. Colles, editor, Grovefs Dictionary of Music and Musicians (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1$27TT II: JUS. 38 Newman Flower, George Frederick Handel (New York: Charles Scribner fs Sons, 1 9 W T 7 p p '«~55-P5T~ 39

Ibid., p. 136.

29 which is not done in any other nobleman’s Ghappel in Britain; . . ."1+-0 According to C.P.A. Williams, Acis seems to have been done without action;!p- however, Defoe’s description of the interior of the estate, and accounts by others of the fabulous style in which the Earl lived, together with reports that he entertained extensively, would seem to sustain the suggestion that a well-staged, or at least adequately staged, performance must have occurred.

It was produced with the Duke’s chorus

and orchestra, and doubtless had but one

performance!^

a

—

logical assumption, too, since it was probably a private one. Handel had no legal means of protecting his works from being pirated; in 1731 John Rich, gave performances of Acis in his Lincoln’s Inn Fields theater;!j-3 Walsh, the pub­ lisher, was pillaging what songs from the piece he pleased, and it was being presented by various other people .kb

The

lj.0 Daniel Defoe, A Tour T hro’ the Whole Island of Great Britain (London: printed for Peter Davies, 1927). pp. 3^5-387. ^-1 C.F. Abdy Williams, Handel (London: J.M. Dent and Sons, Ltd., 1935), P* 63. I4.2

Flower, o£. cit., p. 1I4.6 .

k-3 According to W.H. Irving (op. cit., p. 28 3 ), Gay was in London for about ten weeks during the winter of 1730“ 1731, and in March (c. March 26) he supervised the initial London performance of Acis t which might have been this one done by Rich. Williams, ££. cit. , p. 85.

30 prize example of pirating, however, was that of the Covent 'Garden upholsterer, Thomas Arne (father of Dr. Arne), who sponsored a performance of the composition on May 17, 1732* It was given at the New Theater (also called the "Little Theater"), situated on the site of the present Haymarket. The Cannons version was given by young Thomas Arne conducting and his sister, Susanna Maria, singing the part of Galatea. (Susanna later married the son of Colley Cibber, famous actor-author of the time.

She was later friendly with Handel,

and sang in the first performance of Messiah at Dublin in 171+2.)

Handel was not easily defeated, however, and showing himself as one who had of necessity learned to handle many varied situations during his London career, he announced a competitive performance for the 10th of June at the King fs Theater,

across the street from the Little Theater.

It was

a judicious move since it proved extremely successful, attracting crowds.

It must have been a strange spectacle!

Handelfs rebuttal consisted of sections from the 1708 ver­ sion (in Italian), and the 1720 version (in English), and there were both Italian and English singers in the cast. ♦

Whereas Galatea at Cannons had been a contralto, Handel now gave the role to the soprano, Strada.

Acis was sung by

Sensino, the Italian male soprano, although at Cannons a

31 tenor had performed it#U5

The advertisement stated that

• . # there will be no action on the stage, but the scene will represent, in a picturesque manner, a rural prospect, with rocks, groves, fountains, and grottos, among which will be disposed a chorus of nymphs and shepherds, the habits and every other decorations suited to the subject *[|_6 The Monthly Heview of July, 1790, after quoting this adver­ tisement, comments:

"A curious mungril species of dramatic

exhibition, in which the opera had got only half-way through its metamorphosis, into the oratorio . . ."^-7 The 1732 Acis was presented again in 1733 for the Oxford Act, and in 17^4-0 Handel revised it, returning to the Cannons arrangement.

A comparison of the 1720 work with.a

score printed in 17^-3 shows the two to be identical except that the 17 ^4-3 score gives the bass continuo figuring through' out, and that Damon*s aria, "Would you gain the tender crea­ ture" is in G major rather than P major of the 1720 score# The 1732 production of the work contained the following choruses from the 1720 version: "Oh the pleasures of the plain!," "Smiling Venus, queen of love," "Galatea, dry thy tears," and a section marked "Chloris" in the Handelgesell-

N. Flower,

o jd .

cit., p. 218.

"Dr. Burney*s General History of Music#" (no author given), The Monthly Review. I: 129* February, 1790. 14-7

Loc. cit#

32 schaft score, ’’Hush, ye pretty warbling choir All in all Acis became a rather consistent success, being offered frequently during Handelfs lifetime, including a presentation in Ireland in 1714-1* Terminology applied to the form of Acis and Galatea. The appellations we find given to this work among the contem­ poraries of Handel and also by his biographers are several. In reference to the 1708 version, Chrysander states that the autograph is indistinctly titled and could read either ’’Cantata” or ’’Serenata,” being a Serenata a tre, since the only three characters are Aci, Galatea, and Polifemo.

Since

no librettist of this version is indicated, there is no assistance from that quarter.

The 1714-3 score, already men­

tioned, and which states on the title page, ”As it was Originally Composfd,” refers to it as ”A

M a s k .

”50

In the

Daily Journal of March 13, the term given was that of a pas­ toral; the same paper on June

1732 called it a serenata.

Daily Post of May 2, 1732 named it a pastoral opera. Walshfs edition of 1730 gave the composition as a ”Mask.”5l

I4-8 P. Chrysander, editor, Georg Friedrich H£ndel*s Werke, Vols. 2-3# ^9

ibid., vols. 5 3 -5 5 .

59

see Bibliography for the full title page of this

score. 51 Percy M. Young, Handel (London: J.M. Dent and Sons, Ltd., 191+7), p. 165.

33 We have seen, however, that there was a great deal of over­ lapping of of

dramatic forms during the period, and in speaking

Handel, to whom strict classification was probably not of

very great importance, we must recognize, with Young, that "Beyond the pale of oratorio lies a sequence of works, neither opera nor oratorio, though related to both."52 One critic of the period, in a plea for reform in contemporary opera, including that of the use of English bases for opera plots, refers to the capabilities of some composers of the period; he says of Handel: H 1 would furnish us with Airs expressive of the Rage of Tyrants, the Passions of Heroes, and the Distres­ ses of Lovers in the Heroick Stile . . .H____ 1 would warm us in Frost or Snow, by rousing every Passion with Notes proper to the Subject.^ The character of the music*

In Ovid*s story of

A c i s * and in John G a y fs version of it, we have the transfor­ mation of the comely youth, Acis, into a s tream of water after his destruction by the jealous giant, Cyclops*

This is

subject matter that was consistent with the sort of subject matter to be found in the early English masques, and Handel created in Acis what is considered one of his better works. The music possesses an intangible English pastoral quality 52

Ibid.. p. 165.

53 James Ralph, The Taste of the town: or, A guide to all publick diversions (Printed and sold by the book­ sellers of London and Westminster, 1731), P* 30*

3h that eludes definition or analysis unless one bases such a formulation on certain sections of the text as, for instance, those of the opening chorus, n0 h the pleasure of the plains , ’1 or the aria, ’’Hush, ye pretty warbling choir,” the latter having a delicate, rather fluttering orchestral accompaniment implying the singing and movement of birds.

There is a

dramatic orchestrally accompanied recitative of Polypheme, ”I rage, I burn,” in which tremolos and scale passages give character and coloring to the text.

The choruses are mainly

polyphonic, and play a role of commenting and accentuating the tale.

,In general the music is lyric in quality, and ex­

pressive of the story, possessing a freshness that should stimulate performance of this never-heard work.

CHAPTER I V

ALEXANDER'S FEAST I.

THE ODE

The ideal concepts of the ode were those of elaborate lyricism, dignity, imagination, and intellectualism.

The

Greek use of the ode was choral, the strophe, anti-strophe, and epode being illustrated by movements of a chorus of sing­ ers, this motion probably emphasizing an emotional rising and falling*^ The ode in the eighteenth century.

Generally there

were technically two forms of the ode to be found on the eighteenth century literary scene: first, there was the Greek Pindaric Ode in which the meter and rhythm change often, thus making possible a wide variety of treatment.

Secondly,

there was the Horatian Latin Ode in which the metrical pat­ tern of the verses remains the same,^

In France the ode

was revived as a literary form by Ronsard who attempted to bring the Pindaric Ode back into use.

In England the first

poet to write odes in a formalistically strict manner was

! William Flint Thrall and Addison Hibbard, A Hand­ book to Literature (New York: The Odyssey Press, 19jT677 p. 2 9 0 , 2 Robert M. Myers, "Neo-Classical Criticism of the Ode for Music," Publication of the Modern Language Associa­ tion of America. 62:lj.02. June, 1957•

36 Spenser in his Bp j thalami um and Prothalamium.

Later poets

using the form included Jonson, Randolph, Cartwright, and Herrick.

Milton's Hymn on the Morning of Christ 's Nativity

is considered an example of this genre too.

It was Cowley,

however, who was important in attempting to base odes on the Greek pattern,

and his works in the form were popular in the

Restoration.

Dryden, Congreve, West, and others were con­

tributors to English "odett poetry.3 Types of the ode dominant in the neo-classical period. These were: (1) the sacred ode, which was rather like an elaborate hymn or anthem.

(2) The musical odes which were

secular in nature; they were frequently known as cantata odes (John Hughes wrote a number of these).

(3) Occasional Odes;

Pindaric birthday odes had begun to appear after 1689, the time during which Thomas Shadwell had initiated the practice. They became elaborate works, and were written for whatever public or private festivals required a celebration.

In Eng­

land during the Augustan Age they were used for every type of royal eventl+ (Purcell had v/ritten twenty-nine Odes and Welcome Songs)

and an example of Handel's of this type was the

3 Walter Yust, editor. Encyclopedia Britannica (Chicago, etc., 191+9), XVI: 702. 1+ R.,M. Myers, p£. cit., p. 1+03. 5

Ibid., p. i+02.

37 Birthday Od© for Queen Anne).

Jonathan Swift, the bril­

liant eighteenth century satirist, had something to say about this practice in his poem Directions for a Birthday Song (1729)*

It is rather a long poem, of which the last

eight lines are here given: Supposing now your song is done To Minheer Hendell next you run, Who artfully will pare and prune Your words to some Italian Tune: Then print it in the largest letter, With Capitals, the more the better Present it boldly on your knee, And take a Guinea for your Fee.£> The S t * Ceciliafs Day Ode.

Since the consideration

of this type of neo-classical ode comprises the main body of this chapter, it is given as a special subdivision of those types of odes which were prevalent in that period.

First,

a brief background of St. Cecilia herself will be given. The oldejst historical account of St. Cecilia is found In the Martyrologium Hieronymianum, her name occurring sev­ eral times in this work.

Her feast was celebrated In the

Roman Catholic Church in the fourth century, and in about the middle of the fifth century the Acts of her martyrdom were originated; this was through several manuscripts which were also translated into Greek.

The story of her martyr-

^ Poems of Jonathan Swift, Harold Williams, ed­ itor (Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1937) 9 II> 4-&9*

38 dom, which apparently has little historical authenticity, tells of the virgin, Cecilia, who came from a senatorial family, and who was put to death after her husband, Valerianus, and his brother had been killed following their conversion to Christianity through Cecilia*s influence*

Actual infor­

mation concerning her is indefinite, but there are numerous medieval pictures of her; she is given the organ as an attri­ bute, probably depicting what had been related about her in the Acts in which it is said that while the musicians played at her wedding ceremonies ,fshe sang in her heart to G-od only (cantantibus organis ilia in corde suo soli domino decantab a t ) *tf7

The Catholic Encyclopedia believes that w * • •

possibly the cantantibus organis was erroneously interpret­ ed of Cecilia herself as the organist*

In this way the

saint was brought into closer relation with music* In 1502 Cecilia was named patroness of a musical society in Louvain,9 and at the founding of the Academy of Music in Rome in 15&J- her name was similarly honored, there­ by further strengthening her position as that of the patron­ ess of church

m u s i c . ^ O

7 Charles G. Herbermann, et al., editors, The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: The EneycTopedia Pres, Inc*, 191'3)» III:2j73. o Loo. cit* 9 H.C* Colles, editor, Grove *s Dictionary of Music and Musicians (New York: The Macmillan Co*, 1932), I:£90* 10

The Catholic Encyclopedia, III:lf.73*

39 The earliest known celebration in honor of St, Cecil­ ia was held in Evreux, Prance, in 1571, and was a mixture of both secular and sacred elements.

The first recorded

observation of a festival was of that which was held in Eng­ land in 1

6

8

3

It was sponsored by a group known as ’’The

Musical Society1’ which held ’’Musick Feasts,” and which con­ sisted in membership of both professionals and amateurs. The members appointed as Steward of the Feast one of their number who appejars to have been responsible for making the necessary arrangements.

On November 22 the members attend­

ed Divine Service at St. Bride* s Church where a choral ser­ vice and an anthem, usually composed specially for the festival, were sung.

A sermon, as a rule upholding church

music, followed, after which the group proceeded elsewhere to hear the specially composed St. Cecilia*s Day Ode sung. At the conclusion of the Ode there was entertainment.

The

singers seem to have been those of the combined choirs of St. Paul*s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, and some theater singers*

the Chapel-Royal,

Boys, rather than women, were

probably used to sing the treble parts. Among the more notable

0 des composed was that of

II William Henry Husk, An Account of the Musical Celebrat ions on S b . Cecilia* s Day in the Sixteenth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries^London: Bell and Daldy,

TBF777 ~ 8 . -------------

4o Henry Purcell in 1 6 8 3 .

The text was by Christopher Fish-

burn, about whom nothing is known except that his name is given as the composer of some of the songs in the fifth book Choice Ayres, Songs and Dialogues (l6 8 ij.), and to some of the songs, both as author and composer in D ’U r fey’s Wit and Mirth*^-2

Table I, on the following page, gives a list of

Odes written between 1 6 8 3 and 1800

by which time the prac­

tice had nearly ceased.13 The Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day was not exempt from being satirized, and we again find Swift, whose tongue is just as tart on this topic as it had been about the Occasion­ al Ode.

The Dean to himself on St. Cecilia’s day, quoted

below, was probably written in reference to the musical fes­ tival held in 'St. Society on

Patrick’s Cathedral by the Dublin Musical

November 23, 1730, at which time Sheridan

preached a sermon.

12

Ibid., pp. 11-13.

U

ibid., pp. 1 ^ 3 - 2 3 3 .

TABLE I

ST. CECILIA'S DAY ODES WRITTEN BETWEEN 1683 AND 1800

YEAR

AUTHOR

1683

Christopher Fisburn

Henry Purcell

1683

Unknown

Henry Purcell

1684

John Oldham

Dr. John Blow

1685

Nahum Tate

William Turner

1686

Thomas Fletcher

Thomas Fletcher

1687

John Dryden

Giovanni Baptista Draghi

1690

Thomas Shadwell

Robert King

Samuel Wesley

Samuel Wesley (the authorrs grandson

1691

Thomas D*Urfey

Dr. John Blow

1692

Nicholas Brady

Henry Purcell

COMPOSER

At Oxford by Joseph Addison 1693

Theophilus Parsons

Godfrey Finger

1693

Thomas Yalden

Daniel Purcell

Prior to 1700

Unknown

Dr. John Blow

1697

Dryden

Originally by Jere­ miah Clark-later by Handel

1698

Thomas Bishop

Daniel Purcell

1699

Theophilus Parsons Unknown

Dr.

John

Blow

TABLE I

YEAR

1701

1703

1708

1730

c. 1 8 0 0

( C o n t in u e d )

AUTHOR

COMPOSER

William Congreve

John Eccles

Unknown

Vaughan Richardson

Unknown

George Holmes

John Hughes

Philip Hart

Unknown

Dr*

Alexander Pope

William Walond (in about 1 7 5 7 )

John

Blow

Dryden* altered by John Hughes in 1711

Thomas Clayton

Alexander Pope (alter­ ation of the 1 7 0 8 Ode for St* Cecilia1s Day)

Maurice Greene

Rev* Mr* Vidal

William Boyce

John Lockman

William Boyce

Christopher Smart

William Russell

(This chart? is compiled from the Appendix of H*W. H u s k !s An Account of the Musical Celebrations on St* Cecilia1s Day in the Sixteenth* Seventeenth* and Eighteenth Centuries * in which the texts of the poems are given*)

43 Grave D. or S^. P ho w comes it to pass . That y ou who know musick no more than an ass That you who was found writing of Drapiers Should lend your cathedrall to players and scrapers To act such an opera once in a year Is offensive to every true Protestant ear With trumpets and fiddles and organs and singing Will surely the Pretend^ and Popery bring in. No Protestant Prelate, His L^shp or Grace Durst there show his right or most revud face How would it pollute their Crosiers and Rochets To listen to minims and quavers and Crochets .qjj Bonne11 Thornton carried it farther--perhaps too much so--in his rather violent A Burlesque Ode on S t . Cecilia1s Day, to which Dr. Charles Burney wrote the music: Be dumb, be dumb, ye inharmonious sounds And Music that t h 1 astonished ear with discord wounds: No more let vulgar rhymes profane the day, Grac*d with divine Cecilia1s name; Let solemn hymns this awful feast proclaim, And heav*nly notes conspire to raise the heav*nly lay. The viler melody we scorn, Which meaner instruments afford; Shrill flute, sharp fiddle, bellowing horn, Rumbling bassoon, or tinkling harpsichord. In strains more exalted the salt-box shall join, And clattering, and battering, and clapping combine; With a rap and a tap while the hollow side sounds, Up and down leaps the flap, and with rattling rebounds* The various musical instruments are further unmercifully de­ picted, and the poem concludes with the lines: Such matchless strains Cecilia knew, When Angels from their h eav!nly sphere By Harmony*s Strong pow*r she drew, Whilst e v !ry Spirit above would gladly stoop to

3-4

Jonathan Swift, o£. cit., 11:521-522.

3-5

W.H. Husk, o£. cit*, pp* 234-236.

h e a r . 3.5

II.

THE TEXT OP ALEXANDER1S FEAST

Despite the detractors of the custom--and some of the bad poetry contributed to the occasion justly deserved attack— there are some examples of good verse; Alexander1&

Dryden1s

Feast Is probably the greatest of them.

In

connection with the practice of the St. Cecilia Day Ode, of which Alexander1s Feast Is an example, Mark Van Doren re­ marks that It seems now to have been almost Inevitable that there should grow up at the end of the seventeenth cen­ tury a custom of celebrating St. Cec i l i a ^ Day with poems set to music; so close were poets and musicians together, and so worshipful ‘of music in that age were men as dif­ ferent as Milton, Cowley, Waller, Marvell, and Dryden. During half a century before 1 6 8 3 , when the first Feast was celebrated, Orpheus and Amphion had been among the mythological personages most affectionately cultivated in English verse; and a whole splendid language had been constructed for the praise of the powers of harmony. Dryden1s Song for St. Cecilia1s Day in 16 8 7 and his Alexander 1s Feast Tn 1&97 were the most distinguished performances of the century, each making fasionable a new and sensational m e t h o d . ^ Concerning Alexander1s Feast, Dryden himself wrote his sons: . . . I am writeing a Song for St. Cecilia1s feast, who you know is the Patroness of Musique. This is trouble some, 8c no way beneficiall: but I coud not deny the Ste­ wards of the feast, who came In a body to me, to desire that kindness. •

Mark Van Doren, John Dryden (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 19 ^ 6 ), pp. 200-201. '3-7 Charles E. Ward, collector and editor, The Letters of John Dryden (Durham: Duke University Press, 19^4-2) 9 P^ 93•

ks

Nearly all of Dryden*s songs were set to music, being sung at either plays or concerts before appearing as reading matter,1$ and Alexander*s Feast was no exception*

The

first performance of the work was at Stationer*s Hall on November 22, l697> with music by Jeremiah Clark which was not printed.I9

Indications of the choral sections were made

in the Folio edition of l697> however, and at the last cho­ rus, beginning ”At last, Divine Cecilia came,1* the marking, "Grand CHORUS” appears *2^

After the publication of the

poem Dryden wrote his publisher, Jacob Tonson: I am glad to hear© from all Hands, that my Ode Is esteemed the best of all my poetry, by all the Town: I thought so my self when I write it but being old, I mis­ trusted my own Judgment * 2 1 That Dryden had theories on the union of music and poetry can be clearly seen in the preface to his opera, Albion and Albanius (1685); it is an intelligent analysis of those elements— rhyme, versification, music, stagecraft, et cetera,— that enter into the creation of opera . 22

18 Cyrus Lawrence Day, editor, The Songs of John Dryden (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1932), p. xiii. 19

Ibid., p. 182.

2°

Ibid., p. 121.

21

C.E. Ward, o£.cit., p. 9 8 .

22 w.P. Ker,editor,Essays of John Dryden (Oxford: at the Clarendon Press, 192o)7 1:2?0-281.

Augustan critics had concepts of what constituted an ode suitable for a musical setting; Robert M. Myers lists what he considers to be ten essential qualities as based upon neo-classical criticism.

The poem to be set should poss

ess: (1) Excellence as a poem. (2) A form which is historical or narrative, rather than a mythological one; there should be unity of action, and only one episode. (3) Metrical precision. (4) Imagery (even though there was a certain amount of feeling against it in the eighteenth century because some composers had gone too far in this respect)• (5) A style that is lyric* (6 ) Passion. (7) Variety. (8 ) Simplicity. (9) Adaptability--in which a poem can be divided into recitatives, arias, duets, et cetera.

Dryden did

not have these definite distinctions in mind. (10) Flexibility:- which could be achieved in four ways a* Repetition— this technique needs no explanation b. Vocal polyphony: one or two lines are given to voices entering successively, and their sense

is not damaged in so doing. c. Antiphony: two lines may be exchanged back and forth alternately between two groups of singers without harming the effect of the poetry. d. Sequence: two or more lines are given to simi­ lar musical phrases or motives following each other in varying registers or tonalities. In Alexander1s Feast of Dryden we find vocal polyphony in such a line as ”With Ravished ears the Monarch Hears;” an example of antiphony is ”Rich the treasure, Sweet the plea­ sure,” and a sequential line is ”Flush*d with a purple grace, He shows his honest face.”23 Newburgh Hamilton (1715-1714-3) $ who made the adapta­ tion ofDryden*s poem for Handel, relativeof the Duke of Hamilton.

seems to have been a At any

rate, he was an

unsuccessful dramatist, two plays of his, Doatjng Lovers, and Petticoat Plotter, having been very sho^t-lived on the stage.2l|.

He also wrote the text of Handel 1s oratorio,

Sams on (17 ^4-3)» based on Milton* s Samson Agonistes and some six of the shorter poems of Milton*25 23

Handel left felOO

R.M. Myers, o£. cit., pp. 413-421*

24 David Erskine Baker, at al., Biographica Dramatica or A Companion to the Playhouse "{London: printed for Longman, et. al., 1 8 1 2 ), I, 309-310. 25 Herbert Weinstock, Handel (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 194 ^ ) 9 P* 232.

48

to Hamilton in his will, referring to the writer as the one f!. • • who has assisted me in adjusting words for some of my

c o m p o s i t i o n s

•f|26

jn fris preface to the published text

of the adaptation, Hamilton justifies his work,

and praises

Handel and Dryden: The Alteration in the Words, (necessary to render them fit to receive modern Composition) being thought scarcely practicable without breaking in upon that Flow of Spirit which runs thro1 the whole of the Poem, which of conse­ quence w o u !d be render1d flat and insipid* I was long of this Opinion, not only from a Diffidence of my own Capa­ city, but the ill Success of some ingenious Gentlemen, whose Alterations of, or Additions to the Original, provfd equally ill-judgld. But upon a more particular Review of the Ode, these seeming Difficulties vanish1d; t h o 1 I was determined not to take any unwarrantable Liberty with that Poem, * • • I therefore confined myself to-a plain Divi­ sion of it into Airs, Recitative, or Chorus1s ; looking upon the Words in general so sacred, as scarcely to vio­ late on in the Order of its first Place

If this Entertainment can, in the least degree, give Satisfaction to the real Judges of Poetry or Musick, I shall think myself happy in having prompted it; being persuaded, that it is next to an Improbability, to offer the World any thing in those Arts more perfect, than the united Labours and utmost Efforts of a Dryden and a Handel*27

26

ibid., p. 301.

27 For the title-page of this volume, refer to p. 50 of this thesis*

h-9 III.

A HISTORY OP THE MUSIC

After Handel's unsuccessful operatic venture at the new Covent Garden, he left temporarily for the Continent; in May of 1735 a newspaper gave notice of his departure:

"Mr.

Handel goes to spend the summer in Germany, but comes back against the winter and is to have Concerts of Musick next Season, but no

0 p e r a s . n 28

According to the manuscript score, Handel completed the music for Alexander1s Feast on January 1?, 1736*

Hamilton

had added two choruses for which Handel wrote the music at the same time he set Dryden's text, but these were apparent­ ly not performed at the premiere of the work, and on that occasion it closed with the chorus, f,Let old Timotheus," for which Handel took three of the four subjects from his Italian trio, Quel flor che al alba ride.29

At a revival of

the piece in March, 1737* the two additional choruses were performed, as was an Italian Cantata praising St. Cecilia, sung by Strada,

and a tenor, Aragoni; there was also an

Italian song for the contralto, Anniboli.

A new edition of

the score, including these appendages, was published later. The William Andrews Clark Memorial Library has in its poss­ ession an undated score which is catalogued as 1 7 3 8 9 at 28

w. H. Husk, op. pit., pp. 65-66.

29

Ibid.. p. 69.

V

50

least mainly on the basis of information in the Catalogue of the K i n g 's Music Library by William Barclay Squire.

(For

the full title of this catalogue, reference is made to the complete bibliography of this study.)

The title page is as

follows: ALEXANDER'S FEAST/ OR THE/ Power of MUSICK./ An ODE/ Wrote in Honour of St. CECILIA/ By UV DRYDEN/ Set to Musick by/ M? Handel/ With the Recitativos, Songs, Sympho-/nys and Chorus1s for Voices & Instruments./ Together, with the Cantata, Duet, and Songs,/ as Performed at the Theatre Royal, in/ Covent Garden./ Publish*d by the Author./ A book of the text, containing Hamiltonfs preface and changes, dated 1 7 3 6 , has the following title page: ALEXANDER'S FEAST;,/ OR, THE/ POWER OF MUSICK./ AN ODE/ Wrote in Honour of St. CECILIA,/ By Mr. DRYDEN./ Set to MUSICK by Mr. HANDEL./ LONDON:/ Printed for J*. and R. T0NS0N in the Strand./ MDCCXXXVI./... (This volume, too, Is to be found at the W.A. Clark Library.) An examination of this book shows interesting directions; following the recitative, Timotheus plac'd on high Amid the tuneful Quire With flying fingers touch'd the Lyre: The trembling Notes ascend the sky, And heavn'ly Joys inspire. we note the picturesque insertion, n^A Concerto here, for the Harp, Lute, Lyricord, and other InstrumentsTJ u

At the

beginning of Act II, a "Concerto for two Violins, Violoncello, &c" is indicated.

At the end of the Ode, before the addi­

tional chorus, "Your voices tune," et cetera, there is the

Si following: f*/jConcerto for the Organ and other Instruments*]] " Also, at the beginning of this book there are, in reference to the appended Italian Cantata, the lines, ”A CANTATA, perform1d at the Beginning of the Second Act.H

Whether or

not all of these directions were followed, and whether the cantata was performed at the rather curious point of the be­ ginning of the Second Act or not--especially in view of the fact that the cantata is found at the end of the 1 7 3 8 score already cited--cannot be fully ascertained in this study. However, since we know Handel to have been adept at making whatever changes the occasion demanded— probably being fre­ quently forced to do so hurriedly--it is not extraordinary if he did not follow the textual instructions mentioned. Another possible alternative is that the 1736 text was pub­ lished after the initial performance or performances, the month of publication not being given.

The directions in

themselves are not unusual either; instrumental music--concert!, et cetera— -were frequently performed by Handel at the public and private presentations of his works.

An il­

lustration of this was at the first benefit concert for the Fund for the relief of decayed Musicians (which later became the Royal Society of Musicians) in 1739 where, in addition to performances of Alexander»s Feast and Dr* Arne»s Judgement of Paris, Handel played several concert! for the organ and

52 other instruments*30 The work was introduced at Covent Garden on February 199 1736, the leading singers being Strada, a Miss Young (who later became the wife of Dr. Arne), the famous John Beard for whom Handel wrote most of the tenor parts in his oratorios, and a Mr. Erard.

The success of the initial per­

formance was echoed in the London Daily Post and General Ad­ vertiser the following day: Last night his Royal Highness the Duke, and her Royal Highness the Princess Amelia were at the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden, to hear Mr. Dryden's Ode, set to Musick by Mr. Handel. Never was upon the like Occasion, so numerous and splendid an Audience at any Theatre iri London, there being a t l e a s t 1300 Persons present; . . .-It'met with general applause, though attended with the Inconvenience of having the Performers placed at too great a distance from the Audience, which we hear will be rectified the next Time of, Performance . 3 1 It was repeated the following nights, and then was withdrawn for two performances of Acis and two of Esther, ending

Lent

.32

In respect to both Drydenfs text and Handelfs setting of it, the result was, as Hamilton had said it was, that ideal union of poetry and music which neo-classicists desired, and at which poets and musicians— good, bad and indifferent— had often aimed in the name of St. Cecilia and other bases of

30

Ibid.. p. 72.

31

Ibid.. p. 6 7 .

32

Loo. cit.

53 antiquity.

One anonymous scribe became quite rhapsodic

about it in The Gentleman 1s Magazine of May, 17^-0: If ever Arion* s music calmed the floods And Orpheus ever drew the dancing woods; Why do not British seas and forests throng To hear the sweeter notes of Handel*s song? This does the falsehood of the fable prove Or seas and woods, when Handel harps, w o u fd move *3 3 The Supplement to the European Magazine of May, 1781]. contained an

Sacred to the Genius of Handel which eulogised: Charm*d with the noble wildness of thy lyre^ From his bright sphere astonish*d DRYDEN bends, Owns thy bold song his loftiest flight transcends, And learns to glow with more exalted fire.3 ]^

33

R.M. Myers, o£. cit.» p* I4.O9 *

3k- Loc. cit.

CHAPTER V

HAMAN AND MORDECAI AND ESTHER I.

FRENCH ORIGINS

At the Maison de Saint-Cyr, a school for the daughters of the poorer nobility headed by Mme. de Maintenon, the re­ vival of the sixteenth custom of amateur theatricals was introduced by that lady; she had her girls produce tragedies, and rlthe youthful actresses entered into the spirit of pas­ sionate roles like Hermione and Orestes with • . • gusto • • .M3In requesting another play of Jean Racine, inasmuch as his Andromaque had proved so successful, Mme. de Maintenon asked that singing be incorporated in it since that art was a part of the girls1 curriculum.

In complying with this request,

Racine wrote: . . . I was in some sort carrying out a project that had often passed through my mind, which was to link, as in the ancient Greek tragedies, the chorus and the singing with the action, and to utilize for singing the praises of the true God that part of the chorus which the pagans utilized for singing the praises of their false divinities#2 The king and Mme. de Maintenon chose Jean Baptiste Moreau (l656-1733)> a church musician, to write the music for Esther.

It consisted of recitatives and choruses in classical

1 A.F.B. Clark,'Jea n 'Racine (Harvard Studies in Com­ parative Literature,'Vol. XVI. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1939), p. 2£2. 2

Ibid.. pp. 253-2S1*..

55 style, the same manner in which he had treated Racine’s Athalie*

His collaboration on Esther established him, and

in 1 6 9 7 he re-arranged its music into a composition which he entitled Concert Spirituel, ou jLe peuple juif est delivre par Esther*

The latter work was performed in Paris, but has not

been preserved in this form.3 In his revival of the use of the chorus, a standard element of drama in the sixteenth and at times of the seven­ teenth centuries, Racine allied both Esther and Athalie more closely to the Greek drama than he had done in his "profane *1 dramas*^-

In reality Racine’s biblical dramas are philoso­

phical and not psychological; IT . . . the voice we hear is that of Jehovah, the God of battles and of vengeance, demand­ ing an eye for an eye and a tooth for a

tooth.

in the play are observed---a classical rule

u5

The unities

though Racine

maintained that it was done less so in this case because he desired "• * * to make this entertainment more agreeable to children, * . . " 6

3 H.C. Colles, editor, Grove’s Dictionary of*Music a n d ‘Musicians (New York: The Macmillan Company, ly27T. Ill:

5lS.

Clark,

ojd•

cit*, p.

5

Ibid., p. 251.

6

^ i d *, p* 251+-.

56 Mme. de Maintenon1s presentations of the piece were uniquely successful--perhaps too much so; it became a fashion­ able attraction for the French court, of Louis and performances were subsequently limited to teachers and pupils*

The first

public performance of the work was in Paris, under the Re­ gency, on May 8 , 1721*7 II.

RACINE*S ESTHER AND OTHER FRENCH DRAMA IN ENGLAND In the middle of the seventeenth century many

Royalist refugees entered England; later in the century, and in the beginning of the eighteenth century, there were the French Hugenots.

The migration of these groups seems to

have stimulated the translation into English of French tra­ gedy.

8

The two Bible dramas of Racine fared differently

than other French tragedy, however; they were ,f. • . surround­ ed by an atmosphere other than that of the dramas translated for the stage . . ."9

In Athalie, for example, 11 . . . the

religious element In R a c i n e ’s great masterpiece ♦ . . attracts."10 Apparently the first of the English translations of Esther was in 1715 by Thomas Brereton of Oxford University. 7

He was

Ibid.. p. 2 6 1 *

® Dorothea Frances Canfield, Corneille and Raci n e 'in England (New York: The Columbia University Press, 1901^), p. 205* 9 10

Ibid., p. 2 ij.9* Loc. cit*

57

the author of two adaptations of French tragedy: Esther, or Faith Triumphant, a. sacred Tragedy in Rhyme, with a chorus after the manner of the ancient Greeks; translated with im­ provements from Racine, and a play based on Corneille!s Polyeucte*

Neither of these adaptations were acted, and

both are said to possess little merit *1 1 Attempts of Restoration translators to establish French tragedy had been unsuccessful, and eighteenth century attempts fared no better*

Differences in taste of the two

countries, the fact that translations do not constitute a real part of a nation1s literary heritage, together with the fact that the recitation of verses on the stage had declined (French tragedy is strong in the use of declamatory verse), were probably the basic reasons for such failure*12

There

had been three periods of attempts at such translations of French tragedy in England: the first was the period beginning with the restoration of Charles II, continuing throughout his reign; this was period of some serious attempts.

The second

stage was during that time from the death of Charles to the accession of Queen Anne; during her reign, which was the high point of the period, several translations appeared.

After

H Leslie Stephen, and Sidney Lee, editors, Dictionary of National'Biography (New York: The Macmillan Company, 190877 II, 1177* 12

D.F. Canfield,

o jd .

cit*, pp. 256-257*

58

1750 the last of the efforts were made.13 III.

EARLIER ENGLISH PLAYS BASED ON THE STORY OP ESTHER Although such earlier productions do not bear direct­

ly on this study, it is interesting to note that such early drama based on the Esther theme exist* The first was Queen Hester "A newe Enterlude, drawen oute of the holy Scripture of godly Queene Hester, very nec­ essary, newly made and imprinted this present Yere l56l*nl^jLater there was a Hester and Ahasuerus, acted by the Lord Admiral *s men on June 3* l59l|-, and which was perhaps Queen Hester.l^

Another was an Interlude by Robert Cox, Hester

and Ahasuerus. written about 1 6 5 6 * ^

IV.

HAMAN AND M0RDECAI

The masque, Haman and Mordecai constituted the first version of Handel*s later work— the first oratorio

Esther.

The text, an adaptation of Racine*s Esther, is generally

13

Ibid. , p. 275.

lJ+ Biographic a Dramatic a ;'or A Companion to the Play­ house , David Er ski he Baker; ejb al •, compilers ("London: printed for Longman, et al., 1812), III, 189. ^

Ibid.. II, 301.

^■° W. Carew Hazlitt, editor, A Manual for the Col­ lector of Old English Plays (London: Pickering and Chatto, 1892), p. 1 0 6 .

59 attributed to Alexander Pope, but this can apparently be neither proved nor disproved.

References to Handel*s asso­

ciations with Arbuthnot, Gay, Pope, and the Duke of Burling­ ton have already been made; on this basis it is not inconceivable that there were perhaps several contributors to Haman from among these gentlemen.

According to Chrysander,

Pope did not deny the authorship of Haman. but also implies that the nMusenklubblf of Lord Burlington*s had some influence on the text. 17

That Pope was familiar with both Racine and

Corneille may be gleaned to a certain extent from lines by Pope himself; in his The First Epistle of the Second Book of Horace, we find the following reference: Exact Racine, and Corneille*s noble fire Showed us that France had something to admire . 18 In the same poem he later refers to both Boileau and Racine. Pope is, of course, noted for his translations of classical literature, but his ability to translate French, or at least his predisposition regarding it, may be seen to some degree in a letter he wrote to Lord Bolingbroke who, in a letter to Pope on February 18, I 72 I4-, had spoken of a tragedy by Voltaire he had just read, making a comparison of its verse with that

17 Friederich Chrysander, G.F. Handel (Leipzig: Breitkopf and H&rtel, 1858), Vol. I, p. I£71*1 18 Rt. Hon. John W. Croker and Rev.'Whitwell, The Works of Alexander Pope (London: John Murray, 1871). Ill, 371.

60 of Racine.^-9

Pope replied on April 9, 172Ij., in reference

to his reading of Voltaire1s Henriade, that I cannot pretend to judge with any exactness the beauties of a foreign language which I understand but im­ perfectly. I can only tell my thoughts in relation to the design and conduct of the poem, or the sentiments .2 0 In another letter to Pope on August 18, l?2l|-, Bolingbroke asks Pope:

nI wanted to know whether she [Lady Bolingbroke}

understood you as little as you say that you understood her.”21

The footnote to this letter states that Pope was

unable to speak French, and that Lady Bolingbroke could not speak English at the time, all of which may or may not be of any significance regarding his rendering of Racine *s Esther. Pope evinces a certain antipathy toward France in several works 5 one example Is from Windsor Forest s Still in thy song should vanquished France appear And bleed for ever under Britain*s spear*22 This, however, may indicate nothing more than an outburst of nationalism.

In fact Pope himself recognizes French

influence on English literature when he observes, in his Imitations of Horace (Book II, Epistle^I):

*9

ibid., VII, 398.

20

ibid.. VII, J+01.

21

V I I > U0 3 .

22

ibid.. I, 359.

We conquered Prance, but felt our captivefs charms Her arts victorious triumphed o ’er our arms . 23 Chrysander states that Dr. Arbuthnot and the Duke of Chandos had become acquainted with the Concert Spirituel in Paris, and stimulated interest in this type of work in the poetic circle and in H a n d e l , b e l i e v i n g that Arbuthnot provided the plan and the inspiration for Handel and that Pope was mainly responsible for the actual text.

Chrysander tells us

that no word book for the first performance at Cannons exists Handel’s autograph score exists, but it is not a complete one since the last leaf and several of the middle ones are missing.

There is a copy based directly on Handel’s auto­

graph bearing the title, Haman and Mordecai.

A Masque/

Composta per il Sig£ George Frederick Handel. / ^ At any rate Haman was performed at Cannons on August 29, 1720.

The Duke

of Ghandos is supposed to have paid Handel L1000 for the little

m a s q u e .

23

26

Ibid., Ill, 365.

2^1* P. Chrysander, o£. c i t ., II, 276-277* 25 Friedrich Chrysander, editor, Georg Friedrich Handel’s Werke (Leipzig: Breitkopf and H&rtel, 1$£8-1902), Vols. 3 9 - W ^ 26

p. Chrysander, G.F. Handel, I, lj-71.

62 V.

ESTHER

The beginnings of Esther,

On February 23, 1732,

Bernard Gates, Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal, privately performed Haman in tribute to Handel1s fortyseventh birthday*

Gates had performed in the original ver­

sion at Cannons, and so probably possessed a copy of the score even though no printed copy existed then.

Another

performance was given a little later at the Crown and Anchor Tavern in Arundel Street, the Strand, by the Academy of Ancient Music, of which Gates was a member.27 responsible for it, we

Whoever was

at least have a contemporary refer­

ence to the performance; the Earl of Egmont wrote in his Diary on that date: * . . the King’s Chapel boys acted the History of Hester, writ by Pope and composed by Hendel; this oratoria or religious opera is exceeding fine, and the com­ pany was highly pleased, some of the parts being well performed *2 8 Princess Anne wished a public performance of Haman at the King’s Theater in the Haymarket, but Dr, Edmund Gibson, the Bishop of London, in his capacity of Dean of the Chapel Royal, forbad

its performance in his diocese since he wished no

27 Newman Flower, George Frederick Handel (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 19^-8), p, 213* 28 Robert Manson Myers, Handel’s Messiah (New York: The Macmillan Company, 19k&) 9 p. 23*

63

use of scenery and action in connection with a Biblical drama.

He may, therefore, be credited with being at least

an indirect force in Handel’s turning to oratorio.29 Handel’s work was pirated, for The Daily Journal of April 17 announced that his Esther, "an Oratorio