2014 sees the 300th anniversary of the coronation of George I, the first Hanoverian king on the British throne, and a number of large exhibitions are marking the impact of the House of Hanover on British culture and royal history. These two smaller exhibitions on the German-born Baroque composer and great philanthropist Georg Friedrich Händel (he dropped his umlaut when he came to England) provided more insights into the rich and highly sophisticated cultural background to the early Hanoverian period. Handel (1685-1759) had been appointed Kapellmeister at the Court of Hanover in 1710 and followed the Elector of Hanover, who would become King George I, to England. Although he was never appointed Master of the King’s Musick, he enjoyed the royal patronage of Queen Anne, George I and George II. He taught music to the royal princesses and went on to compose the coronation anthems for George II (Zadok the Priest), the Music for the Royal Fireworks, and Water Music. The latter was first performed in 1717 in spectacular fashion on barges on the River Thames, at the request of George I, adding greatly to the popularity of the new king from Hanover. In addition to this, Handel composed more than 25 operas, most of them performed at the Queen’s / King’s Theatre, Haymarket, of which he became co-manager.
The first of the exhibitions reviewed here, By George! Handel’s Music for Royal Occasions, was at the Foundling Museum and coincided with the 10th anniversary of this gem of a museum. It was a most appropriate place for it, given the strong connection between Captain Thomas Coram’s children’s charity and hospital, founded in 1739, and the composer. Handel was a governor of the Foundling Hospital and donated the organ to its chapel, frequently staging benefit concerts there. Today it houses the Gerald Coke Handel Collection, which has become one of the most important research sources for Handel studies in the world. Many of the objects on display in this exhibition, particularly autograph manuscripts of his compositions, were sourced from the Coke Collection, but were greatly embellished with important and rarely seen documents from the archives of Westminster Abbey, the British Library and private collections. Highlights were, for example, a very early (no later than 1719) score of Water Music and several scores of the Coronation Anthems from George II’s own collection.
Fascinating as these documents are to a music specialist and Handel enthusiast, they are not the most visually stimulating of objects, so the curators opted for a multi-sensory approach. As part of this the exhibition included a collection of nine musical instruments dating from the first half of the eighteenth century, loaned by the Bate Collection from the Faculty of Music at Oxford University. The space these were displayed in was small and intimate, allowing close inspection of the instruments, and at an audio station visitors had the opportunity to listen to these or similar instruments being played. In the same area was also a large audio-visual projection, showing Handel’s compositions in performance, including footage of the 2012 Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the River Thames, highlighting the continued significance of Handel’s works and linking him to twenty-first-century royal occasions.
The exhibition was divided into five thematic sections. The first, Hanover to London, addressed the German origins of Handel and the House of Hanover, by means of mezzotint engravings (sadly, the majority of these were photographic copies). The next section introduced major works by Handel composed under royal patronage: Water Music and Coronation Anthems. Two smaller sections elaborated on Handel’s role as tutor and his funeral music for Queen Caroline. The most extensive and colourful section was the final one, which focussed on Music for Royal Fireworks, a suite composed in 1749 under George II. Here the visitor could finally indulge in important royal portraits and other paintings documenting and advertising royal patronage in the mid-eighteenth century, including one of several versions of Philip Mercier’s The Music Party (1733), showing the young Frederick, Prince of Wales (George II’s eldest son,who tragically died before his father), and his sisters playing music against an idealised backdrop of the ‘Dutch House’ (Kew Palace) at Kew. It is an image that encapsulates the lightness, splendour and joyfulness of Baroque music and was an inspired choice for inclusion in this exhibition. Also in this section were a number of images of the temporary structure for the fireworks in Green Park in 1749, designed by Giovanni Servandoni and built from wood and plaster. The structure itself is symbolic of the brilliance and exuberance of eighteenth-century royal entertainment, and this was carried over into the representation of the building and the fireworks display: A coloured engraving by Paul Angier of Brookes’ Perspective View of the Building for the Fireworks in the Green Park (c. 1749) formed the theatrical and fitting finale of the exhibition. The engraving was embellished with a variety of shimmering paper, the fireworks cut out and replaced with fabrics, the edges of the structure pin-pricked, and the whole lit to great effect from behind with candles, an effect recreated in the gallery space by clever lighting.
The exhibition was located in the rather uninspiring basement area of the museum, which must have been an additional challenge for curators and designers, but as this was only one of several exhibitions focussing on Handel at the Foundling Museum in 2014, it did not deter from the enjoyment and value of the exhibition as a whole. On the occasion of the reviewer’s visit, for example, a free lunchtime concert took place in the Picture Gallery, under full-length portraits of Handel and Coram, adding much to the understanding of eighteenth-century culture. Regular curator’s talks, numerous other concerts, an impressive programme of related events and, of course, the permanent displays of the Foundling Museum gave visitors ample opportunity to engage further with any special exhibition. There was no catalogue for this exhibition, only a small and nicely produced brochure, but there is no shortage of in-house publications on Handel and his times. Of particular relevance is Handel the Philanthropist, published by the Foundling Museum in 2009 alongside another exhibition on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the composer’s death.
Across town, at the Handel House Museum, another exhibition, She Was Despiséd: Handel and Susannah Cibber, examined the other world Handel inhabited, the Covent Garden theatre and opera scene. Handel lived in 25 Brook Street, a new and fashionable middle-class area in central London, from 1723 until his death in 1759. Here, the vast majority of his works were composed, including Messiah, which he wrote in just 21 days in 1741. He also ran his opera company, The Royal Academy of Music, from here, making this house a hugely important place in British cultural history. The museum is run by the Handel House Trust, which was set up in the early 1990s and which decided to restore the interiors to the early Georgian period. Much of this work has been carried out, and the museum opened to the public in 2001. This exhibition was located in rooms of the adjoining house, 23 Brook Street, which are in the process of being restored, with further plans for the creation of a Learning Studio and offices for museum staff. The life story of Susannah Cibber, one of the most illustrious and successful actresses and singers of eighteenth-century London, was told in these barren, yet surprisingly unspoilt wood-panelled rooms. There were few objects on display to illustrate the fascinating and tumultuous life of Garrick’s leading lady, who was chosen by Handel to sing the first ever performance of Messiah in 1742 (the title of the exhibition alludes to Cibber’s moving rendition of the aria ‘He was despised’), apart from a few musical scores and privately printed books telling the story of one of the scandals she was involved in. However, the sterling work of the curators (Deputy Director Martin Wyatt, administrator Luke Holmes and a volunteer) resulted in a well-written and hugely informative display in an intimate space, which brought the theatricality and liveliness of the mid-eighteenth century London opera and music scene to life. Given the lack of objects this was a text-and-panel-heavy display, but a good example of what concise, informed and elegant writing in a museum context can achieve. The exhibition worked because the visitor experienced it in a relevant and significant context. The small, seemingly untouched eighteenth-century rooms of 23 Brook Street, seen in relation to the expertly restored interiors next door, were also conducive to conversations with other visitors.
The Handel House is an often overlooked gem among London museums. It puts on an extensive programme of events, including many concerts and exhibition talks. The quality of the research and writing that informed the Susannah Cibber exhibition was impressive, much of it carried out by ‘administrator’ Luke Holmes, who deserves to be referred to as a curator. We must hope that the Handel House Museum will receive further funding that will allow them to put on exhibitions that are more object-based and that their excellent research can be put into publications.
By George! Handel’s Music for Royal Occasions was at the Foundling Museum, London, from 7 February to 18 May 2014.
She Was Despiséd: Handel and Susannah Cibber is at Handel House Museum, London, from 26 February to 28 September 2014.