concert, to which all persons who paid for their tickets were admitted.* After the lapse of years, part of the Music-hall fell down, and the remainder was converted into a theatre. A volume might be written, curious and amusing, of the history of the old Music-hall in Fishamble-street. But its most interesting associations are those of its earliest days. In that old building Handel held his concerts. Within those walls the first performance of the oratorio of the Messiah took place, under the superintendence of the great composer. It was there that those immortal notes were heard for the first time publicly; then, and ever after, to astonish and delight the world. On the 18th of November, in the year 1741, about six weeks after the opening of the Music-hall, Handel arrived in Dublin. His peculiar position at that period, the circumstances which induced him to make Ireland for a while his place of residence, and the influence which that memorable visit had on his future fortunes, will not be understood without a short narrative of some passages of his previous life. In the year 1710, Handel, then in the twenty-sixth year of his age, after making the tour of Italy, and having acquired a distinguished reputation, had visited England, towards the end of the reign of Queen Anne. He had taken this step, partly from curiosity and partly on invitation from several English noblemen, with whom he had been acquainted in Italy, and at the court of the Elector of Hanover, afterwards George I. At that * Whitelaw's History of Dublin; where see the Statutes of the Musical Academy, 1758. PREVIOUS LIFE OF HANDEL. 5 period he was retained in the service of the Elector, as maestro di capella, and had no intention of making a permanent stay in England. But the public applause with which he was met, the friendship and regard with which he was received by several eminent persons, and the munificent patronage of the Queen, and subsequently of her successor, George I., induced him to fix his abode in England; where, for many years, he enjoyed a high degree of popular favour, composed several operas and other celebrated works, and exercised a powerful influence in the musical world. In process of time, however, a change came over his fortunes. A Royal Academy of Music was founded in London, in 1720, under the auspices of the King, by certain of the nobility and gentry, for the support of Italian operas; and, after some disputes among the directors, Handel, Giovanni Bononcini, and Attilio Areosti (a Romish ecclesiastic), were engaged as a triumvirate of composers. Handel was also commissioned to engage the singers; for which purpose he went to Dresden, and engaged Senesino, and other eminent vocalists. It seems not to have been the design of the directors of the Academy, in appointing this triumvirate, to set them in rivalry against each other, but merely to secure the three most eminent composers of the day for their Academy. Rivals, however, they of necessity became. During the first year of the Academy, Handel and Bononcini furnished each an opera; but at the beginning of the second year, it happened that the task of setting to music the opera of Muzio Scevola was, by some accident or other, divided between the three composers; of whom, Attilio set the first act, Bononcini the second, and Handel the third.* Each man also wrote an overture for his own separate portion of this Cerberian production, and endeavoured to endow his act with the properties of a distinct drama—a beginning, a middle, and an end. Previously to this curious division of labour, public opinion, as well as that of the directors, had been divided on the relative merits of two, at least, of the triumvirate, Handel and Bononcini; for neither the fame nor the talents of Attilio were equal to those of the other two. This difference of sentiment led to a contest between the supporters of these musicians, which was carried on for several years, with exceeding vehemence and fury, in the genuine spirit of all party warfare; and the excitement of the strife was only further exasperated by what the public supposed to be intended as a formal trial of skill. Dr. Burney pronounces a high critical eulogy on Handel's execution of his part of the work, and adjudges to him a palm of immense superiority over his competitors. Public opinion or fashion, however, continued divided. Handel and Bononcini, and the admirers or partisans of either, maintained still the rivalry and the conflict. For several years the three members of the triumvirate continued to compose operas alternately; and the preponderance of public approval was generally in favour of Handel. In 1772, Bononcini ceased from the contest, and retired from the Academy. He was haughty and capricious in his temper; fond of telling incredible stories of himself; and before he quitted England, was convicted of the paltry dishonesty of pretending to be * The authorities differ as to the parts allotted to Attilio and Bononcini. the composer of an Italian madrigal, which had been written many years before by Lotti, organist of St. Mark's, at Venice, who proved his claim. The surges of party feeling, which had been powerfully excited, continued to heave and murmur as long as Bononcini remained in the kingdom.* Attilio (Padre Attilio, as he was called), a modest and ingenious man, also retired, and left England. It was in reference to these celebrated feuds that Dean Swift, who was by nature incapable of entering into the merits of the controversy, wrote the well-known epigram: "Some say that Signor Bononcini, Compared to Handel, is a mere ninny; In the year 1726, previously to the retirement of Bononcini, circumstances occurred which involved Handel in a series of painful and ruinous disputes; induced new matter of violent dissension among the musical world, and among many who were not musical, but who sided in the controversy from mere fashion, or from meaner motives; and eventually brought about the dissolution of the Academy. Almost from its first institu * Sir John Hawkins remarks that the cause of Handel was espoused by the Tories, and that of Bononcini by the Whigs.—Hist. of Music, vol. v. p. 276. Fifty years afterwards, a similar musical warfare raged at Paris, between the Gluckists and the Piccinists, as the partisans of Gluck and Piccini were called. It terminated in the Parisians getting tired of the controversy, and agreeing to appre ciate the merits of both composers. tion Handel had been on ill terms with Senesino, the singer. Handel was, perhaps, too imperious; and Senesino was capricious, spoilt, and refractory. Handel had a lofty idea of the office and dignity of a composer, and a very low estimate of the office and dignity of a singer. Senesino ill brooked the indifference with which he was treated by "Giant Handel." He was accustomed to the extravagant applause which an opera audience are wont to bestow on a favourite singer. He knew himself to be a prime favourite with the English nobility, and could not but feel that their raptures were conferred less on the beauty or grandeur of the composition than on the execution, and flights, and fopperies of the vocalist. He felt his importance, and took his measures accordingly. Handel, who always evinced consummate judgment in suiting his composition to the peculiar powers and idiosyncrasy of a performer, was made very indignant by Senesino refusing to sing what he composed for him. The composer could not act the part of a subordinate; and on the refusal of the directors to discard Senesino, Handel refused to compose further for him. Senesino left England in 1726, and went to Italy, in consequence of the state of his health, and did not return till 1730. Signora Cuzzoni, one of the best singers of the time, was also capricious and refractory, and, prompted by Senesino's example, refused to sing what Handel wrote for her. She stood very high in public favour; and Handel, in order to subdue her rebellious spirit, engaged for the Academy, in 1726, Faustina, a very celebrated singer, and, with a view to having Cuzzoni dismissed, composed his songs to suit the peculiar powers of her rival; and thereupon ensued new scenes of absurd ani |