Handel | Page 8

Handel was no doubt recommended to him by Ferdinand de' Medici,
and at the Cardinal's weekly musical parties he soon came into contact
with Domenico Scarlatti, as well as with Corelli and Pasquini.
Alessandro Scarlatti had left Naples, probably for political reasons, in
1702, and at the end of 1703 Ottoboni had secured him a subordinate
post at the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, at the same time
appointing him his private director of music. Domenico was a young
man of Handel's own age--"a young eagle" as his father called
him--brilliantly gifted, and (to judge from Thomas Roseingrave's
impression of him) possessed of a singular personal fascination.
"Handel," says Mainwaring, "used often to speak of this person with
great satisfaction; and indeed there was reason for it; for besides his
great talents as an artist, he had the sweetest temper, and the genteelest
behaviour." We may indeed regard his friendship with Handel as safely
authenticated. It is just possible that Handel may have met Alessandro
Scarlatti at Pratolino in the previous autumn, as his opera Il Gran
Tamerlano was produced there in September; he may well have met
him between January and April of 1707. From April to September
Alessandro Scarlatti was in Urbino.
Handel's movements now become very difficult to follow. It seems
probable that his opera Rodrigo was performed at Florence in the
autumn of 1707; Mainwaring says that it was composed for Ferdinand
de' Medici, but there is no record of any performance at Pratolino. As
Handel is said to have been presented to Prince Ernest Augustus of
Hanover at Venice, he must have been there in October or November,
as the Prince is known to have spent only those two months in that city.
Whether Handel remained at Venice over Christmas, or whether he
returned to Rome, is uncertain. Domenico Scarlatti is said to have
identified him at Venice at a masquerade by his playing of the
harpsichord. It would be most natural to suppose then that Handel and
the two Scarlattis were in Venice together for the production of
Alessandro's two operas, Mitridate Eupatore and _Il Trionfo della
Libertà_, both of which were brought out at Venice in 1707, but, as it is

not known whether this took place at the beginning or at the end of the
year, there is not sufficient evidence to support such a conjecture.
During March and April 1708, Handel was the guest of Prince Ruspoli
in Rome; this has been definitely ascertained by Mr. Flower. Prince
Ruspoli was another great Roman patron of music, and Scarlatti
frequently composed works for him; his Annunciation Oratorio was
performed under his auspices on March 25. On Easter Sunday, April 8,
Handel made a triumphal appearance with La Resurrezione, which was
given on a sumptuous scale, at Ruspoli's expense, in the Palazzo
Bonelli, which he was occupying at the time. Corelli led the orchestra.
After La Resurrezione, Handel seems to have returned to the patronage
of Cardinal Ottoboni, in whose palace he produced a serenata (i.e. an
allegorical cantata) called Il Trionfa del Tempo e del Disinganno,
which he remodelled fifty years afterwards as The Triumph of Time and
Truth. The libretto was by Cardinal Pamphilij. It was the overture to
this work which caused so much difficulty to Corelli. Handel, irritated
at his lack of understanding, snatched the violin from his hand and
played the passage himself, to show how it should be executed; Corelli,
gentlest of souls, took no offence, although thirty-two years his senior
and the greatest violinist living, but merely observed, "My dear Saxon,
this music is in the French style, of which I have no knowledge."
It has been assumed by many biographers that Handel attended the
meetings of the Arcadian Academy, and since Prince Ruspoli was a
great, benefactor to the Academy, this is extremely probable, although
there is no evidence for it. Handel was not a member of the Academy,
and various reasons for this have been suggested, such as that he was a
foreigner and also too young to be admitted. It is more probable that his
admission to that exclusive society was never even contemplated;
musicians were generally engaged professionally for the concerts of the
Italian academies, but very seldom admitted to the honour of
membership. Corelli, Pasquini and Alessandro Scarlatti were all
admitted together in 1705; they were the three senior and most
distinguished composers of the time, and as no other musicians were
then members, it may be assumed that these elections constituted an

exceptional honour.
Mainwaring relates that Cardinal Pamphili; on one occasion wrote a
poem in honour of Handel and desired him to set it to music himself; in
this poem "he was compared to Orpheus, and exalted above the rank of
mortals." Later biographers, being unable to trace any music of