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 Zachau, have seen the first volumes of the clavier works of Kuhnau, which were published at that time.

Moreover, it seems that Zachau knew the work of Agostino Steffani, who later on took a fatherly interest in Handel; and Zachau followed sympathetically the dramatic musical movement in Hamburg. Thus the little Handel had, thanks to his master, a living summary of the musical resources of Germany, old and new; and under his direction he absorbed all the secrets of the great contrapuntal architects of the past, together with the clear expressive and melodic beauty of the Italian-German schools of Hanover and Hamburg.

But the personal influence of the character and the art of Zachau reacted no less strongly on Handel than did his methods of instruction. One is struck by the relationship of his works to those of Handel; they are similar in character and style. The reminiscences of motives, figures, and of subjects count for little; there is the same essence in the art