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294 his rival was taken up and supported by the titled houses of England; for the German Elector who had inherited the British throne did not meet a warm reception at the hands of the English aristocracy. Though the nobility favored Buononcini, the people favored him who gave them the best music, and in spite of the titled opposition, Händel was for some time in the ascendancy.

Finally it was arranged that these two composers, together with a third, Ariosti, should conjointly compose an opera, and from it the public was to decide which was the greater composer. As it happened Händel had met both of his opponents before, when he was a mere boy. At that time, Buononcini, fearing a dangerous rival in the talented youth, had treated him with supercilious contempt; but Ariosti had warmly recognized his genius and had extended to him the courtesies that one artist should award another.

In this competition each wrote one act and an overture. Händel was on all sides proclaimed the victor. But he had, by his independence, made so many enemies among the aristocracy and even among his own adherents, that, some years later, popular tide had turned against him so completely as to drive him into bankruptcy. Many were the squibs and lampoons that were issued during this rivalry. One of the epigrammatic verses ran as follows:—

 

Another contest in which the competitors were more evenly matched, was that which took place in Paris, about 1780, between Gluck and Piccinni (or Piccini). Gluck had as his patroness no less a personage than Marie Antoinette, who had been his pupil in Vienna.