Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 24.djvu/296

 earlier in the same month, and addressed to his brother-in-law Michaelsen, he excuses himself for not paying an intended visit of condolence on the death (8 Aug. 1718) of his sister, whose fondness, mentioned in her funeral sermon, for the passage in Job, 'I know that my Redeemer liveth,' may have impressed the verse upon Handel's mind, and have suggested the allotment of the words to a female voice, in his greatest masterpiece (, i. 451, 493).

In the course of the year, however, he visited Germany by the king's command (Applebee's Original Weekly Journal, 21 Feb. 1719, quoted by Chrysander), in order to engage singers for the grand operatic undertaking which, under the name of the Royal Academy of Music, was carried on for nine subsequent seasons. The enterprise was a result of that mania for speculation which reached its culmination in the South Sea Bubble. It was under the most distinguished patronage, the king subscribing l,000l. towards its funds, and appointing the lord chamberlain its chief governing officer. A capital of 50,000l. was disposed in five hundred shares of 100l. each, each share carrying with it a single admission to the theatre. At Dresden, which he visited either in October or December, Handel engaged his best singers, the castrato Bernardi (Senesino), Signora Durastanti, and Boschi, the bass. These artists were not free to make new engagements until October 1721. They therefore took no part in the first season, when operas were given on Tuesdays and Saturdays, from 2 April 1720 to 25 June. Handel, who quitted the service of the Duke of Chandos in order to devote himself entirely to the direction of the opera, supplied, during the existence of the Academy, the following thirteen operas of his own composition : 'Radamisto,' 27 April 1720; 'Floridante,' 9 Dec. 1721 ; 'Ottone,' 12 Jan. 1723 ; 'Flavio,' 14 May 1723 ; 'Giulio Cesare,' 20 Feb. 1724 ; 'Tamerlano,' 31 Oct. 1724; 'Rodelinda,' 13 Feb. 1725; < Scipione,' 12 March 1726; ' Alessandro,'5May 1726; t Ammeto,' 31 Jan. 1727 ; 'RiccardoPrimo,' 11 Nov. 1727 ; 'Siroe,' 17 Feb. 1728 ; and 'Tolomeo,' 30 April 1728, besides joining with Buononcini and Filippo Mattel, a violoncellist in the orchestra, in the composition of 'Muzio Scevola,' 15 April 1721. The question has been raised whether the last-named composer (generally called 'Pippo' or 'II Pipo') or Attilio Ariosti wrote the first act of 'Muzio.' Mairiwaring (p. 105) assigns it to Ariosti, and he is followed by both Burney and Hawkins. But the matter may be said to be settled in Pippo's favour by the recent discovery by Mr. W. H. Cummings of a contemporary manuscript score of the work in question, in its original binding, which is lettered on the back 'Mutius Scsevola, Mr. Handel, Sigs. Pipo and Bononcini.' On p. 157 there occurs 'Overture to Muzio Scævola, with several of ye favourite songs in yt Act, with another Overture,' after which, in Handel's handwriting, the heading 'Pipo Ouverture' appears. The volume formerly belonged to Thomas Chilcot, and is said to have been used by Handel (Musical Times, July 1890, p. 399). The ill-advised attempt to give the public an opportunity of comparing the work of Handel and Buononcini in this opera fanned into flame the rivalry between them and between their respective partisans (cf. epigram, 1725, and  pamphlet against Handel, 1728). The affair never became a public scandal, like the other celebrated operatic quarrel between the two great sopranos, Cuzzoni, who had arrived in England in 1722, and Faustina, who did not appear until 1726, when she was paid 2,500l. for the season, her rival having been paid 2,000l. for the same time. Mainwaring (p. 110) relates that Handel mastered Cuzzoni by seizing her in his arms and threatening to throw her out of the window unless she consented to sing the song he had written for her début. No doubt the 'great bear,' as he was justly called, was not long in obtaining the same ascendency over Faustina, for the two were actually induced to appear in the same opera, 'Alessandro,' and to sing a duet in which it was impossible to say which had the more important part. Even he, however, could not prevent the scandalous scenes between the supporters of the two singers, the frequency of which at last drove all respectable people from the opera. Partly owing to this cause, and partly to the changes of fashion illustrated by the popularity of the 'Beggar's Opera,' the opera declined. Handel refers definitely to its failure in his preface to 'Tolomeo,' the last opera of the series. By 1728 all the capital had been exhausted, and the company was wound up.

Handel had published in 1720 the first set of harpsichord suites, which he had dedicated to and written for his pupils, the daughters of the Prince of Wales. An air in the fifth suite, subsequently known as 'The Harmonious Blacksmith,' was absurdly said to have been suggested by the beat on the anvil of a blacksmith near Edgware (cf., Dict. of Music, iv. 667). Handel was naturalised on 13 Feb. 1726, and soon afterwards was given the title of composer to the court, apparently without additional emolument. An entry in Chamberlayne's 'Angliæ No-