The Occasional Oratorio

I don't often get the chance to sit down and listen to an oratorio just for pleasure, but a few travel days recently meant I had more uninterrupted listening time. I packed Handel's Occasional Oratorio, which I hadn't got off the CD shelf for a few years. What a piece! 1745 may well have been a bad year for Handel (as Robert King states in his sleeve notes) but looking at this piece from a distance of several hundred years, I can only conclude that the difficult year produced an AMAZING work. Yes, there are borrowings and re-heatings, but the music, not to mention the text is so strong. Many favourites reappear, including Zadok the Priest. What's not to like? Now to raise funds to put on a performance!

Covent Garden

I cricked my neck and since I needed to be in playing condition again pretty quickly I sought help in London's Covent Garden, at Neal's Yard. Whilst lying on the table having deep tissue massage, I was struck by how little has actually changed in this area since the days when Handel knew it. The building I was in dated back to the 18th century, and the sounds of people chatting and drinking coffee in the courtyard below, enjoying the sunshine, were timeless. Sure, the shops are selling different things, but only modern updates if you think about it. At times like this it's easy to feel very connected with Handel's London, whilst enjoying the more modern concepts of decent plumbing and hygiene!

The joy of buying music

Buying music always feels like an essential luxury, if such a statement isn't a contradiction in terms. Somehow I always want to own it rather than hire or borrow it. The latest acquisition is a facsimile score of Handel's Jephtha, a thing of great beauty. Handel's original manuscript is available on IMSLP, but it's pretty impossible to read. He made so many corrections and changes. The original manuscript does however have the famous words scrawled in 'How Dark O Lord are thy Decrees' (which roughly translates as 'stopped owing to poor sight') which the Randall copy from later in the 18th century lacks. Handel was actually losing his sight at this point.

Handel v Sullivan

The Band is preparing for a forthcoming production of Handel's amazing oratorio Jephtha. I was due to meet the conductor yesterday to take delivery of the parts. Slight change of plan... it turns out he had been sent Arthur Sullivan's arrangement! A little bit of me was disappointed that we discovered this in good enough time to source the correct parts. It could have made for a 'fun' performance , if not historically accurate. Or rather, historically accurate to only one hundred years after Handel's death, the era of the great Crystal Palace Handel celebrations!

More Handel

I enjoyed another opportunity to see the majestic Thomas Hudson portrait at the NPG last Friday night. I introduced him to two friends, who both remarked how different he looked compared to the image they'd had of him, just from hearing his music. They remarked how humble he looked in the flesh, despite the trappings of his successful life all around him in the portrait. Perhaps that's how he felt in the mid 1750s when he sat for the portrait, blind and heading towards the end of his life.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday dear Handel

Happy Birthday to you!

Handel is 327 today. I wonder if he could have imagined how well his music would survive the onslaught of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries? He was certainly aware of his popularity whilst alive and I am sure he would be absolutely chuffed (and not at all surprised) by his recognition today. One important question remains however. What kind of cake would he have preferred?

Private audience with Handel at the Foundling Museum

It's not often that you get a private meeting with the great man. Last week I attended a 'do', hosted by London's Foundling Museum. Everyone was enjoying drinks downstairs, and I wandered up to look at the Handel manuscripts, his will and the Thomas Hudson portrait. What a privilege to have them all to myself.