The George Frideric Handel - An 1852 Pamphlet on the Performance History of "Messiah" Page at the Teri Noel Towe Home Pages
George Frideric Handel
An 1852 Pamphlet on the Performance History of Messiah
In 1994, I had the good fortune to spot in a catalogue from the British music antiquarians, May and May Ltd., and purchase from them a short account of the performances of Messiah that had been given by Handel before his death in 1759. Privately published in London in 1852, this pamphlet, written by one Richard Clark "of the Chapels Royal, St. Paul's, and Westminster Abbey" (the man who concocted the wonderful, but totally apochryphal story about how Handel allegdely was inspired to write the set of keyboard variations that are familiarly known as "The Harmonious Blacksmith"), is only moderately accurate in its account of the history of the work, even in light of what was known at the time, but, for that reason alone, I hope it will prove of interest to those who are as devoted to Messiah, as I am.
Until I first posted this page, I knew of no other copy, and I had forgotten about the reference to it in the bibliography to Otto Erich Deutsch's Handel: A Dcoumentary Biography (which I had not looked at in years!), and I am grateful to those of you, most particularly the great Handel scholar Anthony Hicks, who have visited this page who have taken the time to set me straight, or rather gaily forward, about the pamphlet.
Because of its novelty, I leave the scan of it here for those who may wish to read it and study it.
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