Great German Composers | Page 5

sat at the
harpsichord, and astonished the company with his playing; but no one
could tell who it was that ravished the ears of the assembly. Presently
another masquerader came into the room, walked up to the instrument,
and called out: "It is either the devil or the Saxon!" This was Scarlatti,
who afterward had with Handel, in Florence and Rome, friendly
contests of skill, in which it seemed difficult to decide which was victor.
To satisfy the Venetian public, Handel composed the opera
"Agrippina," which made a furore among all the connoisseurs of the
city.
So, having seen the summer in Florence and the carnival in Venice, he
must hurry on to be in time for the great Easter celebrations in Rome.
Here he lived under the patronage of Cardinal Otto-boni, one of the
wealthiest and most liberal of the Sacred College. The cardinal was a
modern representative of the ancient patrician. Living himself in
princely luxury, he endowed hospitals and surgeries for the public. He
distributed alms, patronized men of science and art, and entertained the
public with comedies, operas, oratorios, puppet-shows, and academic
disputes. Under the auspices of this patron, Handel composed three
operas and two oratorios. Even at this early period the young composer
was parting company with the strict old musical traditions, and his
works showed an extraordinary variety and strength of treatment.
From Rome he went to Naples, where he spent his second Italian
summer, and composed the original Italian "Aci e Galatea," which in its

English version, afterward written for the Duke of Chandos, has
continued a marked favorite with the musical world. Thence, after a
lingering return through the sunny land where he had been so warmly
welcomed, and which had taught him most effectually, in convincing
him that his musical life had nothing in common with the traditions of
Italian musical art, he returned to Germany, settling at the court of
George of Brunswick, Elector of Hanover, and afterward King of
England. He received commission in the course of a few months from
the elector to visit England, having been warmly invited thither by
some English noblemen. On his return to Hanover, at the end of six
months, he found the dull and pompous little court unspeakably
tiresome after the bustle of London. So it is not to be marveled at that
he took the earliest opportunity of returning to the land which he
afterward adopted. At this period he was not yet twenty-five years old,
but already famous as a performer on the organ and harpsichord, and as
a composer of Italian operas.
When Queen Anne died and Handel's old patron became King of
England, Handel was forbidden to appear before him, as he had not
forgotten the musician's escapade; but his peace was at last made by a
little ruse. Handel had a friend at court, Baron Kilmansegge, from
whom he learned that the king was, on a certain day, going to take an
excursion on the Thames. So he set to work to compose music for the
occasion, which he arranged to have performed on a boat which
followed the king's barge. As the king floated down the river he heard
the new and delightful "Water-Music." He knew that only one man
could have composed such music; so he sent for Handel, and sealed his
pardon with a pension of two hundred pounds a year.
II.
Let us take a glance at the society in which the composer moved in the
heyday of his youth. His greatness was to be perfected in after-years by
bitter rivalries, persecution, alternate oscillations of poverty and
affluence, and a multitude of bitter experiences. But at this time
Handel's life was a serene and delightful one. Rival factions had not
been organized to crush him. Lord Burlington lived much at his

mansion, which was then out of town, although the house is now in the
heart of Piccadilly. The intimate friendship of this nobleman helped to
bring the young musician into contact with many distinguished people.
It is odd to think of the people Handel met daily without knowing that
their names and his would be in a century famous. The following
picture sketches Handel and his friends in a sprightly fashion:
"Yonder heavy, ragged-looking youth standing at the corner of Regent
Street, with a slight and rather more refined-looking companion, is the
obscure Samuel Johnson, quite unknown to fame. He is walking with
Richard Savage. As Signor Handel, 'the composer of Italian music,'
passes by, Savage becomes excited, and nudges his friend, who takes
only a languid interest in the foreigner. Johnson did not care for music;
of many noises he considered it the least disagreeable.
"Toward Charing Cross comes, in shovel-hat and cassock, the
renowned ecclesiastic Dean Swift. He has just nodded patronizingly