George Frideric Handel was the house composer at Cannons from August 1717 until February 1719.[1] The Chandos Anthems and other important works by Handel were conceived, written or first performed at Cannons.
Cannons was a large house in Middlesex, the seat of James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos who was a patron of Handel. The duke, a flute player, had a private orchestra, consisting of 24 instrumentalists.[2] Johann Christoph Pepusch was the Master of Music at Cannons from 1716 and he saw the size of the musical establishment at first expand and then decline in the 1720s in response to Brydges' losses in the South Sea Bubble, a financial crash which took place in 1720.[3]
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Handel settled in England in 1712, but appears not to have maintained his own household in London until 1723.[4] He attracted the patronage of noblemen such as Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington,[5] and he was based at Burlington House before becoming Cannons’ resident composer from 1717 to 1718. It has been suggested that the move to Cannons was related to the fact that in 1717 there was reduced demand for his services in central London because operatic productions were experiencing a temporary downturn. At the end of Handel's stay at Cannons the Duke and his friends helped the composer establish a new opera company in London, the so-called Royal Academy of Music.[6]
While Handel was at Cannons the ducal chapel was still being constructed (and finished in 1720). Brydges had already rebuilt the local parish church (St Lawrence, Whitchurch) to his baroque taste.[7] Here Handel's church music was performed, the Chandos Te Deum and the Chandos Anthems (settings of texts from the psalms for use in the Anglican liturgy). St Lawrence still contains artwork by Louis Laguerre and Bellucci (who also worked on the decorative scheme of the house). At the east end of the church is the organ used by Handel. The instrument was modernised over the years, but in 1994 it was restored using the surviving parts of the original 1716 single-manual organ as the reference point.[8]
The Chandos Anthems were written at a time when the musical establishment at Cannons was still being expanded. The scoring of the anthems varies: the strings are first and second violins (with violas occasionally), cellos and basses. There is usually a separate part for an oboe, and occasionally bassoons join the basses, and a part for organ.[9]
The number of singers at Handel's disposition is not known, although Daniel Defoe referred to the duke having a "full choir" at a slightly later period. [10] It seems altos were missing at the start of Handel's association with Cannons (see As pants the hart).
Handel's Esther (HWV 50a), which is now recognised as the first English oratorio, was performed by the Cannons musicians as early as 1718.[11] The libretto, based on a tragedy by Jean Racine, was by John Arbuthnot and Alexander Pope, and according to Dean appears to have been given in a semi-staged version, but cannot be proved by any document. Handel used several parts from his Brockes Passion.
Another premiere in May 1718 is without doubt [12] the masque Acis and Galatea.[13] The libretto was by John Gay, who was to collaborate with Pepusch on "The Beggar's Opera" in 1728. According to tradition, Acis and Galatea was performed in the garden. Appropriately for Cannons, which had expensive water features, the hero Acis is transformed into a fountain.
In 1720 Handel published eight keyboard suites. It is possible that some of this music was written while he was at Cannons, but there is no proof. Dating the music is made difficult by that fact that it was written over a number of years and the composer had been happy to leave it in manuscript until he got wind of a forthcoming unauthorised publication. A myth grew up that The Harmonious Blacksmith (a set of variations included in the 5th suite) was written at Cannons.[14]
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