Cornell universiiy UDrary 
 
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 Two lectures on the genius of Handel, an 
 
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TIVO LECTURES 
 
 GENIUS OF HANDEL 
 
 And the Distinctive Character of his 
 Sacred Compositions, 
 
 BY 
 
 E. B. RAMSAY, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S.E., 
 
 Dean of the Diocese of Edinburgh. 
 
 Delivered to the Members of the Edinburgh Philosophical Institution, 
 in the Music Hall, Januaiy 6 and 13, 1862. 
 
 WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 
 
 EDINBURGH AND LONDON. 
 1862. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 000 
 
 VER since I had any power of mu- 
 sical discernment, I have been an 
 enthusiastic admirer of the works of 
 Handel, and I have always considered him as 
 the greatest composer of sacred music that ever 
 lived. Having formed this opinion from a 
 study of various compositions of his own, and 
 from a comparison of his compositions with 
 those of other eminent musical writers, it occur- 
 red to me that an interesting lecture might be 
 given upon the subject, were it only to convey 
 to others the train of thought through which I 
 had arrived at this conclusion. I was most 
 generously assisted in carrying out this purpose 
 by the Secretary and Directors of the Edinburgh 
 Philosophical Institution, and for the Members 
 of that large and prosperous Association the 
 two following Lectures were delivered. The 
 
iv Preface. 
 
 remarks in the Lectures were illustrated by a 
 performance of pieces from the works of Handel, 
 executed by a choir and orchestra of nearly fifty 
 performers. The Lectures were both nights at- 
 tended by very numerous audiences, who mani- 
 fested throughout a warm and genial interest in 
 the subjects discussed, and in the various pieces 
 of music which were performed in the course of 
 their delivery. 
 
 I am quite aware how much the success of 
 these lectures on the genius of Handel depended 
 on the illustrations by which they were accom- 
 panied. I now feel that the pains and skill evinced 
 by Mr. Adam Hamilton in getting up the 
 choruses — the careful and masterly services of 
 Mr. Edwards at the organ — the great attention 
 paid throughout by the chorus singers — the 
 effect and precision in the performances demand 
 my sincere acknowledgments, as they won my 
 approval and admiration. I am quite aware 
 also how much I am indebted to those amateur 
 performers who so kindly volunteered their 
 
Preface. v 
 
 valuable assistance with stringed instruments. 
 They were of great importance as giving 
 strength and distinctness to the several musical 
 passages. 
 
 I would take this opportunity of again ex- 
 pressing my deep regret that I could not repeat 
 the Lectures at Glasgow, for which I had re- 
 ceived an invitation, conveyed in terms too 
 kind and flattering for me ever to forget. I 
 felt that my strength was quite unequal to 
 undertaking their repetition. I was much dis- 
 appointed at not going to Glasgow, and there- 
 fore feel more deeply the interest taken by my 
 friend Mr. John Blackwood in these Lectures, 
 who, to other acts of kindness, has added this 
 one, of bringing them before the public in the 
 beautiful form in which they are now pre- 
 sented, and nearly in the very words in which 
 
 they were delivered. 
 
 E. B. RAMSAY. 
 
 23 AiNSLiE Place, 
 March 1862. 
 
L 
 
 ECTURES 
 
 The Genius of Handel. 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 AM much afraid that it will be con- 
 sidered I have undertaken a bold, or 
 perhaps a presumptuous task. It may 
 be said, that, to lecture upon Handel, the greatest 
 of composers, and upon his Oratorios, the most 
 sublime of musical compositions, requires a very 
 considerable knowledge of music as a science; 
 that the lecturer ought to have such an acquaint- 
 ance with the subjects which are to form these 
 lectures as can only be expected from a profes- 
 sional musician, or from one who has studied 
 the art as carefully and effectually as is usually 
 
2 'The Genius of Handel. 
 
 done by musical professors. Now, let me at 
 once disabuse the minds of my hearers of the 
 impression that I am a deep musical scholar. I 
 have no scientific knowledge of the theory of 
 music properly so called. I have some general 
 notions of the ordinary rules of composition, and 
 some general acquaintance with the chief charac- 
 teristics of the chords, and harmonies, and dis- 
 cords, as distinguished from each other. But 
 we all know that music is a very difficult study 
 — a very intricate science. When a non-profes- 
 sional student of the theory of music has gained 
 so much knowledge that he feels persuaded he 
 really knows little or nothing at all of counter- 
 point, he has gained something, and perhaps 
 this I have attained to. But, ladies and gentle- 
 men, for what I propose in these lectures, I do 
 not require profound musical science. With a 
 mixed audience such science would be unintelli- 
 gible; nor, if I did possess it, would it answer 
 my present purpose. It would little interest or 
 profit you were I to talk of dominants and sub- 
 dominants, of diminished sevenths or enhar- 
 monic modulations. I wish to present to my 
 hearers, not a scientific, but a popular view of 
 
'The Genius of Handel. 3 
 
 Handel as a musician ; to point out marks of 
 genius which are intelligible to all. 
 
 Two classes of persons may be supposed 
 affected by the works of a great master : — First, 
 the profound musical scholar, who studies them 
 as compositions, analyses their structure, and 
 traces their scientific skill ; secondly, the intelli- 
 gent listener, who, although no great musician, 
 feels the beauty and the sublimity of the strains 
 set before him, and who, although he cannot 
 follow the scientific rules under which they are 
 produced, can yet fully understand that he listens 
 to the productions of a master mind. He is 
 happy to be directed to any striking features of 
 the composer. He desires that specific beauties 
 should be pointed out to him, and that peculiari- 
 ties should be explained. At any rate he will be 
 disposed to listen to the comments of a profound 
 admirer of the music he discusses, although the 
 lecturer may not know much more of the sub- 
 ject than he does himself. This, then, ladies 
 and gentlemen, is about the aim which I have 
 in these lectures upon the Oratorios of Handel, 
 and the peculiarities of his genius as a musical 
 composer. Although, alas ! what I shall em- 
 
4 The Genius of Handel. 
 
 brace in my remarks to you will be like select- 
 ing for your admiration but detached portions 
 of a mighty edifice, like reciting a few cantos 
 from a sublime and magnificent poem. 
 
 I propose, then, the following division of 
 the subjects embraced in the two lectures. In 
 this lecture I propose to oifer a brief sketch of 
 Handel's Life, marking the vicissitudes of his 
 musical career, and the character of the man, as 
 these tended to develope the innate faculty for 
 sacred composition. At the same time attempt- 
 ing an estimate of the Genius of Handel and of 
 his musical powers and productions, as those 
 powers and productions constitute his pre-emi- 
 nence, or, at any rate, as they mark his diiference 
 from other great composers of sacred music. 
 These peculiarities I hope, by the able assistance 
 of Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Edwards, and of the 
 excellent choir in attendance, to be able to illus- 
 trate hj examples taken from the works of Handel. 
 
 For the next lecture I propose to say a few 
 words on the Oratorios of Handel, considered 
 under their moral and religious aspect, and to 
 endeavour to meet with fairness, with candour, 
 and with delicacy towards others, the objections 
 
The Genius of Handel. 5 
 
 which have been raised to an attendance upon 
 these sacred performances^ whether in church or 
 in hall. I will then resume the subject of his 
 distinctive peculiarities, and endeavour with more 
 minuteness to analyse some of his peculiarities, in 
 illustration of which the choir will execute more 
 of Handel's choruses, introduced or followed 
 by a few remarks on the author's special object 
 in the construction of each piece selected for 
 performance. I have been anxious that some 
 choruses should be selected from portions of the 
 Oratorios which are less generally known than 
 those usually performed. I have long been of 
 opinion that they are not Handel's finest com- 
 positions, fine as they are, which have been 
 most familiar to the public ear. At the same 
 time you must be aware that, considering the 
 pains and labour required for conquering the 
 great difficulties of some of his more elaborate 
 and intricate compositions, it is a much harder 
 task to bring before you new pieces than 
 pieces that have been previously well practised. 
 Difficult choruses are not to be got up on one 
 or two rehearsals, Handel's music is not be 
 sung at sight. 
 
6 ~ 'The Genius of Handel. 
 
 It is narrated by Dr. Burney, the author of 
 the " History of Music," that when Handel went 
 to Ireland and took with him the MS. scroll of 
 the " Messiah," which he had just composed, as 
 he had to pass through Chester, a cathedral 
 town, he thought it would be a good opportu- 
 nity for trying some of the pieces. He was 
 directed to a man named Janson, who was con- 
 sidered the best singer of the cathedral choir, 
 and he asked him if he could sing at sight. 
 " Oh, yes, he could sing at sight." However, 
 when he began to rehearse he found he made 
 such bad work, and was so deficient in doing 
 anything like justice to his composition, that 
 Handel fell into a great passion, and reproached 
 him in his usual violent manner when he was 
 angry, " You schountrell, tit you not tell me 
 dat you could sing at saighte ? " " Yes sir," 
 said poor Janson, "but not at first sight." 
 Handel burst out a laughing, and the rehearsal 
 went no farther. 
 
 George Frederick Handel was born at Halle, 
 in the Duchy of Magdeburg, Lower Saxony, 
 23d February 1685. His father was a surgeon, 
 and he had many relations in very respectable 
 
'The Genius of Handel. 7 
 
 positions of life. He was the child of an ad- 
 vanced age, his father being sixty-three at the 
 time of his birth. It is curious to observe how 
 often the particular bent and disposition of the 
 human mind are made manifest from the earliest 
 years. Like the late Dr. Crotch, Handel shewed 
 his disposition towards musical sounds almost 
 before he could speak, and the child was evi- 
 dently born to be a musician. But in this case, 
 as not unfrequently happens, the promptings of 
 nature were obstinately opposed by the preju- 
 dices of the father. Old Dr. Handel could not 
 bear the idea of his son taking to music as a 
 serious occupation. He did not object to the 
 cultivation of music as an amusement, or as an 
 elegant accomplishment, but he had a perfect 
 horror of his child ever becoming a professor. 
 He intended him to become a lawyer, and used 
 every eiFort to divert his attention from the 
 more captivating study of music. He prohibited 
 his access to musical instruments, and cut off 
 all means and opportunities of cultivating his 
 favourite art. But nature was too strong for 
 the Doctor. The child practised upon a dumb 
 spinet in his own room at night, and through 
 
8 'The Genius of Handel. 
 
 the influence of a half brother got access to the 
 organ of the reigning Duke of Saxe Weisenfelds, 
 who heard the boy play, and persuaded his 
 father to allow him to follow the bent of his 
 natural genius. He told him that it would be 
 an absolute sin to deprive the world of such a 
 genius. His father gave way. He was per- 
 mitted to take lessons from Sackau, the organist 
 of the cathedral at Halle. Handel, all through 
 life, gratefully acknowledged his deep obliga- 
 tions to the Duke for the good office he had 
 done for him in this early period of his life. 
 It is said that compositions of his at eight years 
 old were in existence, but biographers have 
 sought for them in vain. At eleven years of 
 age he went to Berlin, where he passed for a 
 prodigy, and made the acquaintance of Bonon- 
 cini, with whom in after life, and in England, 
 he was destined to be much connected. Soon 
 after his return from Berlin his father died, and 
 left him so poor that he had seriously to consider 
 how he could employ his talents to procure sub- 
 sistence. He accordingly went to Hamburg, 
 a town of great commercial prosperity, having a 
 regular Opera House, and therefore a place 
 
The Genius of Handel. 9 
 
 more likely to offer scope for his genius than 
 Halle. Here, although a very young man, he 
 held the responsible musical position of presiding 
 at the harpsichord in the orchestra. He was 
 candidate, however, for the more important 
 situation of organist at Lubeck in 1703. The 
 old organist had retired, and the place was open 
 to competition. There was one condition, how- 
 ever, that he would not agree to. The success- 
 ful candidate was expected to marry the daughter 
 of the retiring organist. Handel was not a 
 marrying man, nor a likely man, at any rate, to 
 take a wife upon compulsion. He was never 
 married, although it has been reported that 
 ladies in after times sighed for love, nay, even 
 died for love of him. But he remained single, 
 and the organist's daughter was wedded to an- 
 other. Handel remained in Hamburg some 
 time, and composed his first dramatic work, 
 " Almira, Queen of Castile," and other pieces. 
 He then went to Florence and produced the 
 opera of " Roderigo." He went to Venice in 
 1707, where he was held in high estimation, and 
 composed an opera called " Agripina." He 
 was sometime at Rome, where he met with the 
 
I o 'The Genius of Handel. 
 
 celebrated musician Scarlatti. Under the patro- 
 nage of Cardinal Ottoboni, Handel and Scarlatti 
 were pitched together in musical competition. 
 On the harpsichord the victory was doubtful, 
 but on the organ Scarlatti acknowledged his 
 rival's superiority ; indeed, in after times when- 
 ever Handel's organ playing was mentioned 
 before him he always crossed himself. He then 
 went to Hanover, where he was appointed 
 chapel master in the chapel royal. He stayed 
 but a short time in Hanover on this occasion, 
 however. And having now acquired a great re- 
 putation as a musician, both as performer and as 
 composer, Handel came to London for the first 
 time in 1710. This, of course, we must consider 
 as a great era in his history. From this time 
 he belongs to England. In England he became 
 a British subject, naturalised by Act of Parlia- 
 ment. In England he was to compose the 
 " Messiah," and " Israel in Egypt." In Eng- 
 land he was to die, and occupy a place in West- 
 minster Abbey, amongst her men of genius. 
 
 There is no doubt that music was much in 
 fashion at the time of Handel's coming to 
 London, and foreign artists were much en- 
 
'The Genius of Handel. 1 1 
 
 couraged. There was, for example, a furor of 
 admiration for a famous singer called Farenelli, 
 which amounted to insanity. He was at once 
 engaged as a composer, and brought out his 
 Opera of " Rinaldo," the subject of which is 
 taken from Tasso's " Jerusalem Delivered." 
 " Rinaldo" was from the first extremely popular, 
 and had a run of fifteen nights, a great hit in 
 those days. '' Rinaldo " is, I believe, esteemed 
 by judges one of his best Italian Operas ; at any 
 rate there occurs in it one of his purest and most 
 beautiful airs, '' Lascia che io Pianga," an air as 
 popular now as it was when first brought out. 
 Indeed, it is one of those strains which can never 
 die, but, like all Handel's fine Italian airs, essen- 
 tially of sacred character. And I wish it to be 
 distinctly understood, that one object of these 
 Lectures is to develope that high faculty with 
 which Handel was endowed from on high. 
 They are not Lectures on Handel simply as a 
 musician, but on Handel as the greatest of sacred 
 musicians. We notice throughout his whole 
 career how he was marked out as a sacred com- 
 poser, and it is curious to observe how circum- 
 stances gradually tended to develope those 
 
12 The Genius of Handel. 
 
 powers which could only be said to be properly 
 applied when they were engaged on subjects 
 which called forth the expression of ideas of the 
 highest and the most sublime nature. It was a 
 complaint of Addison's that musicians seemed 
 to think nothing could be properly set to music 
 but nonsense. Handel had his trials in this 
 respect, for some of the words prepared for 
 him were great trash ; but he always rose 
 with his subject. Dr. Beattie beautifully ob- 
 serves — " His genius never soared to Heaven 
 « till it caught fire from the strains of inspiration." 
 At this time Handel remained six or seven 
 months in London. The King of Hanover, 
 afterwards our George I., required his presence 
 as his Chapel Master ; but Handel's heart was 
 with England. He returns to London, and 
 composes for Queen Anne two magnificent 
 sacred pieces — the " Te Deum," and ''Jubilate" 
 for the peace of Utrecht. But what gave the 
 turn of his professional career towards the style 
 in which he was afterwards to become so eminent, 
 was his engagement in 171 8 as Chapel Master 
 at Canons, the princely seat of the Duke of 
 Chandos. Canons was situated on the Edge- 
 
The Genius of Handel. 13 
 
 ware Road, nine miles from London. The 
 chapel was at a short distance from the house, and 
 there Handel presided as Chapel Master. He 
 composed for the choir the " Chandos Anthems," 
 magnificent compositions now little known, but 
 which contain germs and foreshadowings of his 
 future works. There, too, he composed his first 
 Oratorio — "Esther." This Oratorio has not 
 been popular since Handel's time. It has not 
 of late been performed ; indeed, it is not in- 
 cluded in the popular editions of the Oratorios 
 published by Novello and others, which have 
 contributed so much to extend a knowledge of 
 Handel's sacred works ; but the overture has 
 never lost its place. The slow movement with 
 which it opens is of the grandest and most 
 majestic character, and the fugue which fol- 
 lows is in the best style of the great master. 
 Canons, with all its splendours, has now passed 
 away ; the palace, which cost ;^ 230,000, was 
 purchased by builders for ;^ 11,000 for the 
 materials. The chapel only remains, and is 
 the parish church of the village of Edge- 
 ware. In this church is preserved the very 
 organ on which Handel so often performed 
 
1 4 'The Genius of Handel. 
 
 whilst Chapel Master to the Duke of Chandos. 
 It is a small insignificant instrument, but an 
 instrument on which the lover of Handel's music 
 would look with interest and reverence. An in- 
 habitant of the Edgeware Road, Julius Plumer, 
 — honour to his memory ! — placed on it a little 
 brass plate in 1750, with this inscription : — 
 
 Handel was Organist of 
 THIS Church from the year 1718 to 1721, 
 
 AND COMPOSED THE OrATORIO OF 
 
 Esther on this Organ. 
 
 This Duke of Chandos held a high situation 
 in Queen Anne's army, and his establishment at 
 Canons indicates a liberal and munificent spirit. 
 An anecdote is recorded which indicates his ex- 
 treme good nature. Riding along the road he 
 saw a drunken groom of a neighbouring noble- 
 man unmercifully beating his wife, who was 
 quite a young creature, and whose situation and 
 appearance much interested the duke. The man 
 was not disposed to acquiesce in the remon- 
 strance made against his cruelty, so nothing re- 
 mained but for the Duke to buy the man's wife 
 
'the Genius of Handel. 1 5 
 
 from him, which accordingly he did. He was 
 a Httle puzzled to know what to do with his 
 purchase, but in the meanwhile sent her to an 
 excellent school, where she turned out a very- 
 apt scholar. In a short time the husband died 
 of drink from the money he had received for 
 his wife. The Duchess of Chandos, his second 
 duchess, also soon died. The Duke married 
 his purchase, who became an excellent and ex- 
 emplary character as his third wife and duchess. 
 About the beginning of 1720, Handel, al- 
 though still chapel master at Canons, threw him- 
 self with great energy into the service of a great 
 body of noblemen and gentlemen, who joined 
 together for the promotion of Italian operatic 
 music. George I. was a subscriber, and allowed 
 the association to be called the Royal Academy 
 of Music. Handel was permitted by the Duke 
 of Chandos to take an active part in the con- 
 cerns of the academy. Here he came in con- 
 tact again with Bononcini, whom he had known 
 as a rival in Italy. The rivalry continued in 
 London. Bononcini had his admirers, who pitted 
 him against Handel as a composer. The con- 
 test ran tremendously high, and the musical 
 
1 6 'The Genius of Handel. 
 
 world was divided into two parties. Tlieir com- 
 parative powers were tested in the opera of 
 Muzio Scsvolo. The drama was in three parts. 
 Attili, an established musician of his day, com- 
 posed the first act, Bononcini the second, Han- 
 del the third. The contest has passed away, 
 and the opera which created such an intense in- 
 terest has become one of the forgotten things, 
 which have passed away. So little can we 
 depend upon the permanency of what engages 
 the attention of the day. But the wit of Dean 
 Swift, which the contest called forth in his well- 
 known epigram, will never be forgotten. -Swiffrf 
 had no ear, no taste for music. He had, indeed, 
 no admiration for anything of an elegant and 
 sentimental character, so he thus sarcastically 
 brought the names of the two musical com- 
 batants under his satire : — 
 
 " Some say that Signer Bononcini, 
 Compared to Handel is a ninny ; 
 Whilst others say that to him, Handel, 
 Is hardly fit to hold a candle. 
 Strange that such a difference should be 
 'Twixt tweedledum and tweedledee." 
 
 This year, 1720, Handel brought out his 
 
The Genius of Handel. 17 
 
 well-known suites of lessons for the harpsichord. 
 Their reputation was universal. They at once 
 took a place amongst the musical pieces of 
 Europe, and were republished again and again 
 in Germany and France. These lessons are 
 wonderful performances, especially the first 
 series. There is always a marked and defined 
 air or subject, which is treated most skilfully 
 and scientifically. The grandmothers of the 
 present generation played these lessons, but now 
 they are known only to musical students, and 
 to the curious in musical composition. One 
 reason of this, no doubt, was that the instru- 
 ment itself for which they were composed has 
 become obsolete. They are, strictly speak- 
 ing, harpsichord lessons ; and as some of my 
 younger hearers may not be aware of the dif- 
 ference between a pianoforte and a harpsichord, 
 in a few words I will endeavour to explain it. 
 The harpsichord was essentially of the same 
 class of instruments as the pianoforte. Like 
 the pianoforte, the tone was produced by strings, 
 and outwardly it had the same appearance ; 
 but internally there was a great difference, I 
 mean in the action upon the strings, or the mode 
 
1 8 T^he Genius of Handel. 
 
 of bringing out the notes. When the ivory key- 
 was struck on the harpsichord, a quill caught 
 the string, and made it vibrate. It gave a hard, 
 clear, distinct tone. Strike hard or soft it was 
 nearly the same. The quill pulled the string, 
 and the performer could produce no variety. 
 The improvement of the pianoforte was this : 
 The note was produced by a hammer striking 
 the note, and it is evident that a strong action 
 putting out a hammer covered with soft leather 
 must produce not only a better tone but a varied 
 tone, according to the strength used by the per- 
 former in striking the note. Hence the new 
 instrument was called a pianoforte, i.e., it was 
 capable (which the harpsichord was not) of play- 
 ing soft or loud, besides having that rolling sus- 
 tained tone so diiFerent from ihe hard staccato of 
 the harpsichord. But Handel never saw a 
 pianoforte. It_ was invented after his death. 
 His keyed instrument music, therefore, has the 
 obsolete and unpopular style which has caused it 
 to be distasteful to pianoforte players. Indeed, 
 sorne of Haydn's early pieces were written for 
 harpsichord, and therefore partake of this cha- 
 racter. But although these harpsichord pieces 
 
The Genius of Handel. 1 9 
 
 may be said to have passed away in a popular 
 sense, one portion has become immortal ^ — a 
 piece of music inseparably associated with the 
 name and history of Handel. In the first suite 
 is found the air with variations, well known 
 under the denomination of Handel's " Harmoni- 
 ous Blacksmith." He never called it so. The 
 name was attached to it, and connected with the 
 following story : — When Handel was at Canons 
 attending his duties, he was walking in the 
 country, and a shower coming on he took shel- 
 ter in a blacksmith's shed or workshop. The 
 blacksmith's name was Powell, and being parish 
 clerk, he knew Handel. After civilities had 
 passed between them, the blacksmith resumed 
 his work, and sung over it a musical air. 
 The sounds produced by the hammer on the 
 anvil accorded to the key, and formed a sort of 
 fundamental bass to the air. The attention of 
 the great chapel master was arrested, and on 
 going home he composed in his private room, 
 from what he had heard in the smithy, the beau- 
 tiful piece called the " Harmonious Blacksmith" 
 — an exquisite air, with exquisite variations. 
 The romance has been assailed. Dr. Crotch 
 
20 I'he Genius of Handel. 
 
 (who, I am sorry to say, was too fond of bring- 
 ing the charge of plagiarism against the most 
 original of all musicians) declared he found it in 
 a collection of airs by a German composer called 
 Wagenseil, and pointed it out to Mr. Richard 
 Clarke, who, in his enthusiasm, had gone in 
 search of Powell's identical anvil. But how 
 comes it that, when Handel's air and variations 
 had become so well known as to be published 
 again and again — how it comes that Wagenseil, 
 who was a contemporary, and living at Vienna, 
 had not claimed it? I cannot give it up. It 
 bears the stamp of internal evidence. I should 
 say it was essentially Handelian. In fact it 
 seems a kind of specimen in miniature of his 
 style in all his works, and till further proof 
 against it I shall continue to call it Handel's 
 "^Harmonious Blacksmith;" and what I wish 
 you to observe is how entirely it bears through- 
 out the character and impress of the composer's 
 genius. "We might almost call it the type or 
 epitome of all Handelian music. 
 
 Up to 1729 Handel's affairs seem to have 
 been very prosperous. At that time he was 
 worth ;^ 1 0,000 ; but theatrical speculations be- 
 
T^he Genius of Handel. a i 
 
 came most unproductive. The tide turned 
 against him, and for years he was destined to con- 
 tend against difficulties; he struggled manfully, 
 but in the end was beaten. This era is an inte- 
 resting one to us, because it turned his attention 
 more particularly to his Oratorios. Indeed, 
 we may reckon this crisis the proper commence- 
 ment of his career as a composer of sacred 
 music. Esther, as I have mentioned, had been 
 composed at Canons some years before, and 
 had been since that time unnoticed, nor was it 
 now revived at the instance of Handel himself, 
 but some persons got the MS. score and made 
 arrangements for its public performance ; it was 
 attended by royalty, and there were six repeti- 
 tions of it to crowded audiences. From this 
 period was a regular performance of the Han- 
 delian oratorios. He now fairly commenced 
 the series of those noble compositions — compo- 
 sitions which confer an honour on our country, 
 and the glories of which no familiarity can 
 ever vulgarise, no change of taste or caprice 
 of fashion can ever supersede. He struggled 
 against difficulties, against party spirit, against 
 ignorance, against envy, and against jealousy. 
 
11 The Genius of Handel. 
 
 As in true sublimity his genius was allied to the 
 genius of Milton, so like Milton he had full 
 confidence in his own powers, and like Milton 
 was " born to what is great." Under such diffi- 
 culties were those stupenduous musical works 
 produced. His oratorios, properly so called, 
 amount to seventeen. They commenced with 
 "Esther," composed in 1720, "Deborah," in 
 1733, the period when he was becoming in- 
 volved in difficulties, "Athalia," 1733, "Saul," 
 1738, "Israel in Egypt" in 1738, "Messiah," 
 1740, with which he visited Ireland. After his 
 return from Ireland he wrote " Samson," 1743, 
 "Joseph," 1743, " Belshazar," 1745, "Occa- 
 sional oratorio," 1745, "Judas Maccabeus," 
 
 1746, "Alexander Balus," 1747, "Joshua," 
 
 1747, "Solomon," 1748, "Susannah," 1748, 
 " Theodora," 1750, " Jephtha ," 17^:2, last. Be- 
 sides these seventeen oratories from sacred sub- 
 jects, he wrote "Acis and Galatea," "Hercules," 
 " Triumph of Time and Truth," usually called 
 interludes or serenatas. 
 
 An Oratorio is intended to represent a pas- 
 sage of sacred history, and so far it partakes of 
 the nature of a sacred drama, that there is the 
 
The Genius of Handel. 23 
 
 chorus somewhat like the Greek tragedy. The 
 different solo and duet passages are supposed 
 to be sung by individuals of Scripture history. 
 In two of his Oratorios, however, and those his 
 greatest, the words are from Scripture only, and 
 have not the dramatic element at all. 
 
 There has been a difference of opinion re- 
 garding the origin of the name " Oratorio." It 
 has been said to be derived from " Orare," to 
 pray ; but although, no doubt, the term de- 
 scribes a sacred performance, the mere idea of 
 prayer does not meet the peculiarity of the com- 
 position. Now, it is well known that the term 
 oratory was of long use to express generally a 
 chapel, or place of prayer and divine service. 
 The oratory was a name attached to a distin- 
 guished church, and the priests of the oratory 
 were called Oratorians. From the middle ages 
 it had been usual to represent sacred subjects in 
 what were called mysteries or moralities. These 
 were in fact sacred dramas or plays, and had a 
 stage, music, dresses, characters, and even danc- 
 ing. Dr, Burney, in his history of music, has 
 shewn how this kind of performance was used 
 under the highest ecclesiastical sanction. In 
 
24 ^he Genius of Handel. 
 
 1600 they were performed in the church of 
 Santa Maria della vallicella, called the church 
 of the Oratorians. These pieces were called 
 sacred dramas, till, in 16^2, Baldinucci called 
 some pieces which he composed " Oratorios," 
 simply because they resemhled those performances 
 of the fathers of the oratory, but had less of a 
 dramatic character. Indeed, the unfitness of 
 some of their accompaniments for the church 
 had become apparent, and the Oratorios became 
 what the greater part of Handel's works really 
 are, namely Scripture history, with the characters 
 belonging to them treated musically, but neither 
 with scenery or dresses. 
 
 In 1734 we find Handel at Oxford. He 
 went down to conduct his Oratorio of " Athaliah." 
 A prejudice was got up against him. In a curious 
 book lately published, and called " Reliquiae 
 Hearnianas," or Extracts from the Diary of 
 Thomas Hearne of Edmund Hall ; Hearne 
 mentions the visit of one Handel, a foreigner, 
 and is very indignant at the patronage shewn to 
 him by the Vice-Chancellor, and to his " lowsy 
 crew even," as he calls the persons whom he had 
 brought down to perform the Oratorio. Not- 
 
the Genius of Handel. 25 
 
 withstanding all this, however, due honour seems 
 to have been paid to his abilities in that ancient 
 seat of learning. You are perhaps aware that 
 at the two Universities of England music is one 
 of the sciences which form the academic career, 
 and that there are degrees in music conferred as 
 there are degrees in arts, in law, in divinity. 
 The doctorate costs £100. His friends wished 
 Handel to become an Oxford Doctor of Music, 
 but he spurned the idea, saying in his broken 
 English — " Vat de dyfil I trow my money away 
 for dat wich de blockhead wish ? I no want." 
 He thought such degree could add nothing to 
 the intrinsic value of his compositions. 
 
 Although going on with composition and 
 performance of his oratorios, he still was engaged 
 with operas. But soon every thing went wrong ; 
 in fact, he seems in 1737 to have been com- 
 pletely ruined. Spent all his ;^ 10,000 of pre- 
 vious savings and incurred debt. He had a noble 
 spirit. He made good fight, but his health 
 gave way, and for a time he was exceedingly 
 ill. In 1737 he had an attack of paralysis, but 
 was cured by the waters of Aix-la-Chapelle 
 in so remarkable a manner that the nuns who 
 
26 The Genius of Handel. 
 
 heard him playing the organ almost immediately 
 after his bath, set his recovery down as a miracle. 
 But at this others demurred when it was known 
 that he was a Lutheran, or In other words, a 
 heretic. 
 
 On his return to London he recommenced 
 his labours and produced some of his greatest 
 works. The first was his most touching com- 
 position — a funeral anthem for the burial of 
 Queen Caroline, wife of George II. It is a long 
 piece of eighty printed pages, and no part of it 
 is performed now except the quartett, of which 
 the words are adopted from Job — " When the 
 eye saw me then it blessed me, and when the ear 
 heard me it gave witness to me." It has been 
 termed, in reference to the celebrated funeral com- 
 position of Mozart, the " Protestant Requiem." 
 This solemn strain is, to my mind, one of the 
 most beautiful productions of mortal harmony. 
 He now published his organ concertos. He 
 composed the Oratorio of "Saul." He com- 
 posed " Israel in Egypt." It adds to the wonder 
 with which we contemplate the magnificent Ora- 
 torio of " Israel in Egypt," that it was composed 
 in twenty-seven days ! There are musicians of 
 
The Genius of Handel. 27 
 
 great name who consider this Oratorio as Handel's 
 greatest work ; and certainly there is a breadth 
 and grandeur in the conception, a skill and 
 power in the execution, which have never been 
 so long sustained in any musical work ; and yet 
 it was never popular in the composer's lifetime, 
 and at his death it had been unedited. It is 
 now certain that it could only come in for a 
 hearing when joined with the performance of 
 popular songs. The great interest excited 
 by the execution of this master-piece in its 
 complete form is one of the best musical 
 signs of the age. Mendelsshon edited the full 
 score and added a fine organ part for the Handel 
 Society. It was a great tribute to Handel's 
 genius when, at the Handel Festival, this Ora- 
 torio was performed by 4000 performers to an 
 audience of 27,000 listeners, and drew ^18,000. 
 For three years Handel struggled on with 
 his difficulties, but without effect. He resolved, 
 therefore, in 1741, to visit Ireland, from which 
 country he had received cordial invitations from 
 all ranks. From the Lord Lieutenant the Duke 
 of Devonshire, downwards. He had just finished 
 the Messiah. He took the MS. with him, and 
 
28 The Genius of Handel. 
 
 in Dublin was the first performance of the im- 
 mortal work, — and let the great composer have 
 the credit of it, the first performance was for a 
 charity. With a very diiFerent feeling from the 
 sarcastic Swift, Pope refers to this Irish visit : 
 
 Strong in new arms, lo ! giant Handel stands, 
 Like bold Briareus with his hundred hands. 
 
 There is much temptation to dwell on many 
 matters connected with his sojourn in Dublin, 
 but time permits not. I will only refer to one 
 circumstance of it. The directors of the ora- 
 torios and of the concerts performed there, found 
 that the room would hardly contain the appli- 
 cants for seats, accordingly they requested that, 
 for the evenings of the performances, the ladies 
 would kindly lay aside their hoofs, as thereby 
 they could accommodate 150 more visitors. 
 The ladies did, very considerately, lay aside 
 their hoops for the occasion. I state the inte- 
 resting fact ; I make no application of it to the 
 wants or requirements of our own times. 
 
 Handel remained in Dublin from 4th No- 
 vember 1741, to September 5, 1742. After 
 his return to London he composed many of his 
 
'The Genius of Handel. 29 
 
 greatest works, as I have stated in the catalogue 
 I have enumerated. 
 
 The Dettingen " Te deum " was composed 
 for the victory at Dettingen. His Oratorio of 
 "Judas Maccabaeus" was composed to celebrate 
 the unhappy campaign of '45. I wish, with all 
 my heart, the " Maccabasan," chief of the ora- 
 torio, had represented a better hero than the 
 cruel Duke of Cumberland. 
 
 Handel's affairs from this time, with some 
 varieties, soon began to wear a brighter aspect. 
 He gave up theatrical composition entirely, and 
 adhered closely to the oratorios. He had re- 
 verses, but during the last ten years of his life, 
 paid all his debts, and accumulated a fortune. 
 His oratorios in the last year of his life yielded 
 nearly f^ 2000. In 1752 his sight began to fail. 
 He had gutta serena, the same complaint as 
 caused Milton's bhndness. 
 
 " So thick, a drop serene had quenched these orbs.'' 
 
 As it was the will of God that Beethoven 
 should be afflicted by loss of hearing, Handel 
 was visited by loss of sight. In 1753 he was 
 quite blind. At first he was afraid he would be 
 
20 The Genius of Handel. 
 
 entirely laid aside; he got his pupil and friend 
 Christopher Smith to take his place ; yet, in a 
 short time, one of the most interesting features 
 of the evening's performance was the great mas- 
 ter being led to the organ, on which he per- 
 formed a concerto with a skill, and force, and 
 taste, such as all who have described it, pro- 
 nounced to be inimitable. By and by he re- 
 sumed his place and presided at the organ till 
 his death. " Samson" was one of his favourite 
 oratorios, and strong as he was in mental power, 
 he has been known to be deeply affected when 
 the words were sung in which Samson so pathe- 
 tically bewails his own blindness. 
 
 Total eclipse, no sun, no moon — 
 All dark amidst the blaze of noon ; 
 O gloiious light! no cheering ray- 
 To glad my eyes with welcome day. 
 
 In 1759 his health began to decline; he 
 lost his appetite, and it was evident the time of 
 his departure was drawing near. He was quite 
 sensible of it himself, and knew he should not 
 recover. Dr. Burney has recorded, that for 
 several days before his death, he expressed the 
 
The Genius of Handel. 3 1 
 
 wish that he might breathe his last on Good 
 Friday, in hope, he said, " of meeting his good 
 God and sweet Lord and Saviour on the day of 
 his resurrection," and so it happened. He pre- 
 sided at the performance of the Messiah, 6 th 
 April 1759. On going home he felt very ill, took 
 to his bed, from which he never rose, and died 
 quietly on Good Friday, April 13, aged seventy- 
 four. On the 24th April, his funeral in West- 
 minster Abbey was attended by a vast con- 
 course of people. Dr. Zachary Pearce, Bishop 
 of Rochester and Dean of Westminster, preached 
 a funeral sermon. He left ^^ 2 0,000, and after 
 naming charities and legacies to the amount of 
 j^6ooo, he left to his executrix and niece, 
 Johanna Frederica Floerchen, of Gotha, in 
 Saxony, the bulk of his fortune. To his 
 friend and favourite pupil, Christopher Smith, 
 he left his musical- books. The King of Prussia 
 offered ;^ 2000 for the MSS., 87 volumes, but 
 Smith would not allow them to go out of Eng- 
 land. He presented them to George III., an 
 enthusiastic Handelian. They are now de- 
 posited in Buckingham Palace and are the pro- 
 perty of the Queen. George III. possessed 
 
3 1 The Genius of Handel. 
 
 Handel's harpsichord, which bore testimony to 
 the unremitting diligence of its former master, 
 by having the ivory keys hollowed like bowls 
 by constant use. It passed, I believe, into the 
 hands of Mr, Broadwood, the great pianoforte 
 manufacturer. 
 
 One hkes to know the impression pro- 
 duced on cotemporaries by the death of dis- 
 tinguished characters. Such impressions shew 
 the estimate formed of them at the time. 
 Now, in the third volume of Memoirs of Mr. 
 Delany, there is a reference to the death of 
 Handel. It is in a letter from Mr. Smith to 
 Bernard Granville, dated April 17, 1759, — 
 " Dear sir — According to your request to me 
 when you left London, that I would let you 
 know when our good friend departed this life, — 
 on Saturday last, at eight o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, died the great and good Mr. Handel." He 
 then states some particulars of his death and the 
 disposal of his property, and adds, " He died, 
 as he lived, a good Christian, with a true sense of 
 his duty to God and man, and in perfect charity 
 with all the world." 
 
 We have now, so far as time permitted, and 
 
The Genius of Handel. 2,Z 
 
 therefore in a cursory manner, gone over some 
 of the leading incidents in the life of the great 
 composer. A man distinguished by many great 
 qualities, I mean, by many qualities besides that 
 musical power which constituted his peculiar 
 greatness. It has been customary to represent 
 Handel as a very dull, stupid, common-place 
 character, apart from his musical powers. It is 
 not correct. If I had time to read a long letter 
 of his from Dublin, addressed in English to Mr. 
 Jennens, who selected the words from Scripture 
 which form the Oratorio of the Messiah, you 
 would at once say it was the production of a 
 man of education, of good and liberal feeling, of 
 shrewd observation. The truth is, without power 
 of character he could not have been what he was. 
 He was a remarkable man ; — remarkable from 
 his energy of purpose, his thorough integrity, 
 his perseverance, and his industry. 
 
 There are many private anecdotes of a tradi- 
 tionary nature regarding the manners and sayings 
 of Handel, some of which may be true and some 
 fictitious. They have, many of them, a ludicrous 
 and depreciating effect, and certainly would give 
 an erroneous impression of the man as separate 
 
34 '^he Genius of Handel. 
 
 from the musician. They turn upon his irasci- 
 bility of temper, his love of eating and drinking, 
 his swearing in broken English. We may at 
 once allow that Handel in early life, and amidst 
 its struggles and excitements, had his faults; 
 that he had an irritable temper, such as is too 
 commonly associated with very fine taste and 
 exquisite feeling for artistic excellence ; that he 
 shared a fondness for good cheer with many of 
 his countrymen of robust frames and strong ape- 
 tite, and that he had fallen into the almost uni- 
 versal custom of the time in which he lived, viz., 
 the absurd use of oaths in common conversation. 
 But these were faults which were softened by ad- 
 vancing years, by the loss of sight and the pro- 
 spect of dissolution. His deep and solemn 
 feeling for texts of Holy Scripture which he 
 set to music shewed the influence they had 
 obtained over his mind. He had high, and 
 generous, and noble qualities. He was ever 
 alive to the calls of charity, and always ready to 
 give the benefits of his talents and his perform- 
 ances to benevolent purposes. No man ever 
 more heartily disdained mean and dishonest con- 
 duct. In his compositions he looked to impres- 
 
The Genius of Handel. 35 
 
 sions being made upon the hearers beyond mere 
 admiration of the music. Lord Kinnoul has 
 himself recorded his answer to the compliment 
 he was paying him upon the production of the 
 Messiah, — " Mr. Handel, you have provided a 
 noble entertainment for the town ; " " My Lord," 
 said Handel, " I should be sorry to think it was 
 only an entertainment j I intended to make them 
 better." That he was a man of religious feeling 
 and had a keen sense of the meaning and force 
 of passages of Scripture which he set to music, 
 is well known. He was found weeping over the 
 composition of the music to the words, " He was 
 despised," in the " Messiah," and evinced great 
 emotions on other occasions. During the later 
 years of life he regularly attended daily prayers 
 in St. Paul's church, Covent Garden, and by his 
 manner indicated great fervency of devotion. 
 
 I remember, long ago, when I lived in the 
 west of England, hearing a traditionary story of 
 him from a clergyman of the Church of England 
 which was characteristic, and which, in a curious 
 bluff way, expresses his consciousness of power 
 and of the merit of his productions. Some acute 
 and lynx-eyed critic had detected a grammatical 
 
^6 The Genius of Handel. 
 
 error in the " Hallelujah Chorus," which he had 
 the boldness to point out to the author himself. 
 Handel, instead of getting into a storm of rage, 
 simply replied, "Mend it!" Like many great 
 authors, he was not the best judge of his own 
 compositions. Milton preferred " Paradise re- 
 gained " to " Paradise lost." Handel preferred 
 to all his works the Oratorio of " Theodora," a 
 work now never performed, although there 
 occurs in " Theodora" the most seraphic air that 
 Handel ever wrote, or that any man ever wrote, 
 " Angels ever bright and fair." 
 
 His conversation is described by contem- 
 poraries as lively, and at times as very humor- 
 ous. Dr. Burney says no man could tell a 
 story better, but then it was necessary to know 
 something of four languages, English, German, 
 French, and Italian, for he made use of them all. 
 The following anecdote is by Dr. Busby : — Dr. 
 Maurice Greene, who admired Handel much, and 
 who was himself a learned and profound, but very 
 dull and dry composer, once sent him some 
 anthems, and wished to have his judgment upon 
 them. Handel, thinking them very stupid, did 
 not wish to say anything, but invited Greene to 
 
T!he Genius of Handel. 37 
 
 coffee. The Doctor went, but not a word was said 
 about the anthems. Greene accordingly pushed 
 the question, and asked him what he thought of 
 his pieces. " Oh," said Handel, "I thought they 
 wanted air, and so I put them out of the window." 
 This anecdote, however, Mr. Schoelcher will not 
 believe. A quiet sarcasm on the taste of the 
 fashionable world, worthy of Swift, has been 
 preserved by Dr. Burney. When the Opera of 
 '^ Ariadne" came out, some one insinuated that 
 it was not of a very elevated character, and was 
 rather calculated to take the taste of the vulgar 
 than to satisfy the wishes of good musicians. 
 Handel said he wrote it to recover the favour of 
 the nobility, whom he was aware he had displeased 
 by some of his higher and more elaborate com- 
 positions. His answer to Walsh the musical 
 publisher was also characteristic. Walsh had 
 managed to make a good thing of some music 
 of Handel's which he had published, whilst the 
 poor composer had got little or no profit from 
 the performance. " Next time," said Handel, 
 " we will make a change of our places, you shall 
 compose the music, and I will publish it." 
 
 We naturally feel interested about the ex- 
 
2 8 T/ie Genius of Handel. 
 
 ternal qualities and personal appearance of men 
 of genius whose works we admire, and who have 
 afforded us pleasure and instruction. Handel 
 was a large, heavy person. He had round fat 
 hands, with short thick fingers. When he played 
 on the organ or harpsichord, he bent his fingers 
 to the keys, which gave rise to an anecdote of 
 Foote, the celebrated comedian and wit. He 
 was present when Handel was performing to the 
 great delight of those who listened. A lady of 
 quality, addressing Foote, said, " Is it not beauti- 
 ful, Mr. Foote ; what a finger Mr. Handel has." 
 "Fingers, Ma'am," said Foote, *'I call them 
 toes." He was, as I say, a large heavy man, 
 but his countenance, as described by Dr. Burney, 
 who knew him well, full of dignity and fire. 
 He further describes his general look as some- 
 what dull and sour, but that when he did smile, 
 it was like the sun bursting out of a black cloud. 
 " There was," he said, " a sudden flash of intel- 
 ligence, wit, and good humour beaming in his 
 countenance, which I hardly ever saw in any 
 other." Nichols, in his literary anecdotes, re- 
 cords that Burney had said that " Handel's smile 
 was like heaven." There are several busts and 
 
'The Genius of Handel. 39 
 
 many portraits of Handel, by means of which 
 his countenance may be said to be well known. 
 A bust by Roubiliac in the gallery of the 
 Queen's private apartments at Windsor; the 
 statue on the monument in Westminster Abbey ; 
 a bust at the Foundling Hospital, of which 
 Handel was an unwearied patron, and to which 
 he bequeathed the original scroll of the " Mes- 
 siah." Handel enjoyed a rare distinction. A 
 public statue was erected during his life time. 
 It was placed in Vauxhall, and was purchased 
 when the gardens broke up by the London 
 Sacred Harmonic Society. The best likeness 
 is the head of the Westminster Abbey statue, as 
 Roubiliac took a model for it on the same day 
 that Handel died. There are many portraits 
 and prints of the great musician. Schoelcher 
 speaks of having seen fifty-three; but the 
 chief are, Denner's picture, which now belongs 
 to the Sacred Harmonic Society ; Hudson's, 
 who painted him twice ; there is a good small 
 picture by Grafoni; a fine picture by Thorn- 
 hill, painted for the Duke of Chandos ; a 
 picture by Kyte, engraved by Houbraken ; 
 and the Windsor Gallery picture, by Selb. I 
 
40 The Genius of Handel. 
 
 have the print of the Windsor collection, when 
 Handel was comparatively a young man — copies 
 of which were lately in all the shops. I have a 
 very small engraving of the picture by Hudson, 
 sent to me anonymously with a Latin inscrip- 
 tion — the kind donor of which I have never 
 ascertained ; and I have Lewis's engraving of 
 Kyte's picture. There is a curious story at- 
 tached to this engraving which I would narrate 
 in a few words. Kyte's picture was known to 
 have existed from Houbraken's print, executed 
 for "Randall's edition of the Oratorios;" but 
 no one knew what had become of the picture. 
 In fact it was supposed to be lost. A Scottish 
 gentleman, Mr. Keith Milnes, not satisfied with 
 the engraving done for that work, determined if 
 possible to find out the original picture. He 
 rummaged amongst the old picture and curio- 
 sity shops all over London, and, strange to say, 
 actually discovered the picture in Wardour Street. 
 He had a fine engraving of it made by Lewis, 
 and printed a memoir of the whole transaction, 
 at nearly eighty years of age. He was a most en- 
 thusiastic Handelian. He did not publish his 
 engraving, but he gave copies to those whom he 
 
The Genius of Handel. 41 
 
 considered to have a spirit kindred with his own 
 in their appreciation of Handel as a musician. 
 I had the happiness and the privilege of receiv- 
 ing from Mr. Milnes a copy of this engraving, 
 owing to the kind introduction of Lord North- 
 esk. The frame I had made for it pleased the 
 venerable donor so much, that he had a dupli- 
 cate executed for himself. 
 
 Having taken this rapid sketch of the per- 
 sonal and professional career of George Frederick 
 Handel, we now enter upon the interesting task 
 of illustrating the peculiarities which mark his 
 style, his genius, and the effect produced by his 
 works ; and on this portion of my lecture, I 
 should say, the question now before us is simply 
 this : Wherein does Handel differ from other 
 composers ? What is it that distinguishes Han- 
 del's works from the works of others ? How is 
 it that, after all the revolutions of fashion, and 
 the changes of public taste, his music always 
 resumes its place? The works of Haydn, 
 Beethoven, Mozart, Mendelsshon, Spohr, and 
 others — great masters ! — are performed, and 
 they are admired, and justly so, but they have 
 not the hold upon the taste and feelings (of 
 
42 The Genius of Handel. 
 
 Englishmen at least) that Handel has. He is 
 the greatest, and the favourite. He stands 
 alone. His great productions are unaffected 
 by time. The vicissitudes caused by varying 
 fashions, by changing tastes or changing schools, 
 are temporary. We cannot conceive the possi- 
 bility of any human composition permanently 
 taking the place of the Messiah. There has 
 of late years been a great revival of taste for 
 high music ; but the more high music is 
 cultivated, the more marked amongst great 
 composers is the supremacy of Handel. I 
 can remember his comparative obscuration, and 
 a subsequent restoration of supremacy. I can 
 remember when Handel's was called the heavy 
 music, and was but partially received into the 
 bills of fare at music meetings and concerts. 
 One indication of this treatment was, that his 
 music was performed in detached pieces. It 
 was by selection. At a great music festival, 
 which I attended at Oxford in 1818, the Mes- 
 siah even was not performed entire. A selection 
 of that great work was joined with selections 
 from other productions to make up materials for 
 one of the meetings. I asked a friend of the 
 
The Genius of Handel. 43 
 
 professor of Music (Dr. Crotch) how he per- 
 mitted such an arrangement. He told me the 
 Dr. had said, " Handel's whole Oratorios were 
 heavy." There was heaviness somewhere, I 
 grant, but it was not in the music of Handel ; 
 rather I fear in the taste of the professor, or in 
 the audience for whom he had to provide. 
 
 Thirty years ago, the concerts called the con- 
 certs of ancient music were the concerts for the 
 performance of high-class music. By " ancient 
 music" they meant, not music of the ancients, 
 but classical compositions which excluded all 
 living composers. A great deal of very fine 
 music, both secular and sacred, was brought 
 forward through their means, compositions by 
 Cherubini, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beeth- 
 oven, and many fine old glees and madrigals 
 were performed in high style. But all on the 
 wretched cutting-up principle of selection. I 
 recollect one of the programmes being even 
 then adverted to as most incongruous. It was 
 a concert when the director of the evening 
 was the Archbshop of York, the Venerable 
 Vernon Harcourt, then bordering upon ninety, 
 and a great enthusiast in classical music. I 
 
44 '^he Genius of Handel. 
 
 recollect quite well these pieces in this order : — 
 " Haste my Nannette, my lovely maid," a 
 madrigal by Travers ; "Holy, Holy, Holy," by 
 Handel ; " O Nannie wilt thou gang with me," 
 harmonized for four voices; "Hallelujah Chorus," 
 Handel, from the " Messiah." I since find an 
 even still more preposterous association of pieces 
 referred to in Schoelcher's Life of Handel. Se- 
 lections never can give an adequate conception 
 of a great work. How would you say it was 
 treating Macbeth or Othello to give extracts 
 from those two productions of genius ? Handel 
 never came before the public in his full strength 
 till his Oratorios were performed entire. This 
 was the policy adopted by the London Sacred 
 Harmonic Society. They produced these mas- 
 ter-pieces as they were intended by the com- 
 poser. The harmony, and the connection of 
 each part with what next, before, and with what 
 followed, was preserved. The consequence of 
 this has been notorious. The taste for high 
 music has increased amazingly since the per- 
 formance of entire Oratorios at Exeter Hall, 
 and Handel has been restored to his place in 
 the great school of sacred music, as with us. 
 
T^he Genius of Handel. 45 
 
 unquestionably " The Mighty Master." No 
 greater proof can be offered of this than the 
 enthusiasm with which "Israel in Egypt" is 
 now listened to when performed entire. It is 
 the most colossal of all his Oratorios. Thirteen 
 choruses follow in succession. In Handel's own 
 time it always required to be relieved by an ad- 
 mixture of lighter materials; but an account 
 of the performance of this Oratorio from the 
 " Times/' will shew the manner in which it is 
 now estimated by the public in England: — 
 " Exeter Hall was never filled by a more dense 
 or more enthusiastic audience. Every year 
 raises Handel's great choral master-piece higher 
 in the estimation of the public, and a few more 
 such performances as the one under notice will 
 go far to effect what has been looked forward to 
 for half a century, viz., its ultimate universal 
 acceptance as at the least the equal of the 
 ' Messiah,' which — as Handel has illustrated the 
 Old Testament with just as much truth and 
 sublimity as the New — is nothing more than a 
 simple recognition of his merits." 
 
 But we again revert to the question, and ask 
 why he has taken this place ? What are the at- 
 
4-6 The Genius of Handel. 
 
 tributes which distinguish his works so as to 
 give them their hold upon our untiring atten- 
 tion, our growing admiration ? If I were to 
 answer the question merely for myself, I should 
 say it was simply his superiority. I believe 
 Handel to be the most attractive composer, be- 
 cause he is the best. I believe his works to 
 maintain their place because they tower above 
 all other musical productions ; but this, though 
 it may satisfy me, may not satisfy others. Let 
 us therefore descend a little more to particulars. 
 To state as briefly as possible the general 
 grounds on which I argue the merits of Handel 
 as a composer, I should say they are — ist, the 
 majesty and sublimity with which he treats his 
 subjects ; 2d, his great power in 'pathos; and 3d, 
 generally in an exquisite appropriateness of his 
 music to the words he has to set. 
 
 I. The first mark then by which I would 
 distinguish Handel as a composer, and which is 
 all I can touch in this lecture is that of simple 
 grandeur ; and in regard to the essential sublimity 
 of Handel's genius, I have great pleasure in 
 referring to the opinion of Dr. Crotch, a most 
 competent judge, and far from being a bigotted 
 
'The Genius of Handel. 47 
 
 admirer of Handel. In his Lectures on Music 
 he draws this distinction : " The choruses of 
 Mozart and Beethoven are frequently magnifi- 
 cent, but seldom sublime." The fact is, that 
 these composers, grand and powerful as they 
 are at times, lack the simple grandeur with 
 which Handel can bring forth his ideas. What- 
 ever is truly great in art ; whatever is to rivet 
 the attention of mankind for ages, and stand 
 the test of time and repetition, is simple, and 
 Handel most forcibly illustrates the principle. 
 He produces some of his most touching and 
 most sublime effects by efforts which are won- 
 derfully simple. One is surprised how so much 
 effect arises from such simple materials. I 
 will give a familiar example. What mortal 
 composition is more solemn, more moving, 
 than the funeral march in the Oratorio of 
 " Saul," popularly called " The Dead March 
 in Saul ; " and yet, as far as any real science or 
 modulation is concerned, it might have been 
 written by a young lady at a boarding school. 
 The effect of the opening notes is astonish- 
 ing. But then, beautiful as it is, we do 
 not hear it as Handel intended, or as Handel 
 
48 'The Genius of Handel. 
 
 introduced it. We hear it played at soldiers' 
 funerals, and occasionally in church as a volun- 
 tary, when there has been a funeral occasion, 
 and very striking is the effect produced; but 
 consider how it was first made use of by the 
 composer himself. In the Oratorio of Saul, 
 after the battle of Gilboa, Saul's death is an- 
 nounced by a fugitive Amalekite, who informs 
 David that he had seen Saul in the agonies of 
 death; and that at the king's own urgent re- 
 quest he had put an end to his sufferings by 
 slaying him, and he had brought to David the 
 royal crown from his head, and the bracelets 
 from his arm. David, indignant at this impiety 
 of the Amalekite in putting to death "the 
 Lord's anointed," orders that he should be put 
 to death, and he reproaches the man for his 
 audacity in the act he had committed. The 
 words of this address of David are : — 
 
 " On thine own head thy blame will lie, 
 Since thy own mouth has testified, 
 By thee the Lord's anointed died." 
 
 This song closes with a minor symphony ; 
 and then in connection with the address to the 
 
the Genius of Handel. 49 
 
 Amalekite, follows the funeral march for the 
 king's death. Let any one only perform the 
 conclusion of the song and its minor symphony, 
 and, after a short pause, play the march as it 
 stands in the oratorio, and I think the ear 
 must perceive the effect which the composer 
 intended to be produced by the harmonies which 
 form the introduction to the march. After the 
 excitement and agitation consequent upon the 
 king's death, and condemnation of the Amalekite, 
 the mind of the hearer naturally feels the grave 
 and solemn change of the music to the funeral 
 rites. 
 
 Conclusion of Symphony. 
 
 ^^^^^^m. 
 
 
 ,* — r 
 
 rm 
 
5° 
 
 l!he Genius of Handel. 
 
 The Dead March. 
 
 i^!Pp^i^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^- ^- 
 
 r 
 
 f 
 
 s 
 
 ii 
 
 ii; 
 
 ^ 
 
 Jri-i- 
 
 OE 
 
 r r 
 
 r f 
 
 =1: 
 
 ? 5 
 
 There is this peculiarity in Handel's funeral 
 marches by which they differ from Beethoven 
 and others^ — they are in the major key. They 
 lose nothing in solemnity, and the composer has 
 the advantage that he can take the minor key 
 in reserve and can increase his effect as he does 
 in the March in Saul, where the introduction of 
 the flat seventh has a beautiful effect. Perhaps 
 I could not adduce a finer example of this grand 
 simplicity of which I speak, in the treatment 
 
the Genius of Handel. 5 1 
 
 of the leading idea, than the opening and re- 
 peated subject of the concluding chorus of the 
 Oratorio of Samson. The commencement of 
 the chorus is this, — 
 
 " Let their celestial concerts all unite." 
 And the composer, instead of employing deep 
 and intricate harmony to give effect to such 
 grand opening words, puts them in the plainest 
 form of melody, in fact they are expressed with 
 two notes ; and you will observe throughout the 
 whole chorus how he recurs again and again to 
 this more simple form of clothing the words,-^ 
 
 " Let their celestial concerts all unite." 
 
 i 
 
 ^ I V V V- — V — v^^- 
 
 Let their ce - les - tial con - certs all u - nite. 
 
 It has always appeared to me that nothing 
 is a stronger proof of the vastness of Handel's 
 conceptions, and the colossal character of his 
 choral productions, than their suitableness to such 
 immense numbers of performers. They seem 
 beyond all compositions to crave power to set 
 them off. At the first commemoration of 
 Handel in Westminster there were 500 perfor- 
 
52 The Genius of Handel. 
 
 mers; at the commemoration In 1785} 616; at 
 the commemoration in 1786, 741 ; at the com- 
 memoration in 1787, 806. At the ordinary 
 meetings of the Sacred Harmonic Society there 
 are 700. The opening of the Crystal Palace 
 was by 1500, when the "Hallelujah" chorus by 
 Handel was performed. The preparatory com- 
 memoration of Handel in 1857 mustered 2500. 
 The great commemoration in 1859 had near 
 4000 performers.* But in each case the majesty 
 of the effect rose with the numbers. This 
 property of his music, if I may so call it, seems 
 to have been marked by his contemporaries. I 
 recollect reading somewhere, long ago, an anec- 
 dote of a gentleman telling him, " Handel, you 
 ought to have Salisbury Plain for your music- 
 hall, armies for your chorus, and artillery for 
 your kettle-drums." 
 
 Now you will observe it is a mark of 
 real power and of very elevated capacity for 
 a composer to produce what is great and at the 
 same time simple. In a musician thoroughly 
 versed in the mysteries of his science, there 
 
 * It is proposed to have a performance this year, 1862-, 
 even on a stUl grander scale, and with increased effect 
 
The Genius of Handel. 53 
 
 is a great temptation to bring forward at 
 all times the deep resources of his art, and to 
 employ striking discords and intricate harmonies 
 to express his ideas. But he should know, if he 
 be really great, when to trust to nature and to 
 leave his science. Handel was, at the same time, 
 most profound and most simple. He knew 
 well how to employ great science, and there are 
 pieces in which science has its full exercise — no 
 intricacy of fugue or harmony perplexed him ; 
 but there are passages which he feels cannot 
 derive their force except from sounds which are 
 in accordance with the simple grandeur of the 
 sentiments they express. Then he descends 
 from his scholarship and trusts to nature. No 
 other composer unites so much simplicity with 
 such profound learning ; he is always intelli- 
 gible. Now, to illustrate this difference, take 
 his management of two choruses, for example, 
 from Israel in Egypt. One is to the words 
 " They loathed to drink of the river." In it 
 strange chromatic intervals of a masterly and 
 original fugue, treated with elaborate harmonies, 
 are made use of to give a poetical and striking 
 expression of the utter disgust with which the 
 
54 ^he Genius of Handel. 
 
 Egyptians rejected the water miraculously turn- 
 ed into blood. Then again, take another case, 
 when he comes to describe the awful power 
 and grandeur of the destructive storm, with 
 what marvellous power Handel expresses it in 
 the chorus, " He gave them hailstones for rain." 
 And yet nothing can be simpler than the 
 counterpoint and modulations of the hailstone 
 chorus. It is in perfect contrast with the pro- 
 found harmonies of the former chorus, " They 
 loathed to drink." And so it seems to me the two 
 pieces I have named, and the contrast in their con- 
 struction and effect, illustrate the peculiar power 
 of Handel's great efforts in producing sublime 
 effects. Herein he differs from others. Beeth- 
 oven or Mendelssohn could have composed such 
 a chorus as the Egyptians loathing to drink. 
 The hailstone chorus they could not have 
 composed. I do not propose to perform this 
 chorus " They loathed to drink." It is exces- 
 sively difficult and requires long familiarity to 
 understand it. But now I propose that the 
 hailstone chorus shall be performed as an 
 example of a chorus remarkable for the simple 
 grandeur of its construction ; but I wish you to 
 
The Genius of Handel. 55 
 
 hear it in connection with another chorus from 
 the Israel in Egypt, which is as much In direct 
 contrast with it as to the mode of producing the 
 eifects as the chorus I have just mentioned. I 
 would place the hailstone in contrast with the 
 short chorus descriptive of the plague of dark- 
 ness. The words are '' He sent a thick darkness 
 over all the land, even darkness which might 
 be felt." Here we have all the combination 
 of sounds which express mystery, uncertainty, 
 gloom, and obscurity. The chords go deeper and 
 deeper into the impenetrable cloud that hangs 
 over the people. Men seem to be groping with 
 their arms, and as if feeling about for a way they 
 cannot see with their eyes. The harmonies 
 thicken into the very blackness of night. 
 When he comes to the words ''over all the 
 land," the chords grow more intelligible and 
 determined, and the chorus ends with the bass 
 voices in unison, " Even darkness which might 
 be felt." The choir will now execute the chorus. 
 But there is a peculiarity in the concluding passage 
 " Even darkness which might be felt," which I 
 wish you to notice. The choir will repeat it. 
 You will observe it is a recitative^ executed by 
 
56 T^he Genius of Handel. 
 
 many voices in unison. Recitatives were always 
 executed by a single voice. This is the only 
 passage where Handel has made use of this 
 mode of musical expression. But it has been 
 adopted by other musical composers since 
 Handel's time. It is now termed choral reci- 
 tative. Haydn adopted it in the passage of his 
 Oratorio of" Creation" for expressing the words, 
 " Let there be light, and there was light." 
 Mendelssohn, both in his Oratorio of "St. Paul" 
 and of " Elijah," has made frequent use of it, 
 and it is capable of producing the most striking 
 effects. Its first introduction, however, in this 
 chorus, from "Israel in Egypt," is due to the 
 inventive genius of Handel. 
 
 In contrast, then, with this learned and 
 masterly application of the resources of a recon- 
 dite harmony, we shall next hear the grand 
 chorus expressing the plague of hail upon the 
 crops and herbage of the Egyptians. As I have 
 said, in composition nothing can be simpler. 
 No intricate modulations or far-fetched counter- 
 point. Cast your eye over the music, and you 
 discern scarcely an accidental sharp or flat 
 throughout ; and yet what power, what a sus- 
 
The Genius of Handel. 57 
 
 tained representation of the elemental waf, and 
 the combination of hail and fire desolating the 
 earth ! It commences with single rain-drops as 
 if the storm was beginning. Then the hail- 
 stones thicken in their descent. The two 
 choruses, for it is strictly a double chorus, open 
 with the Scripture passage in plain terms — " He 
 gave them hailstones for rain, and fire mingled 
 with the hail." Then after this has been an- 
 nounced, first one chorus sends forth the shout. 
 Fire ! Then the other answers. Fire ! Again 
 the cry of Fire, and we hear the notes both of 
 driving hail-drops and of consuming flames. 
 From the beginning to the end, we hear the 
 lashing of the pitiless storm coming down and 
 destroying all vegetation on the face of the 
 earth, and when the music describes the fire 
 mingling with the rain and running along the 
 ground, the eiFect is positively all but miracu- 
 lous. 
 
 After this picturesque chorus, of character so 
 animating and so active, we will direct your at- 
 tention to one of the most sublime, and the most 
 truly magnificent character. In the Oratorio of 
 Samson, after an angry contest between Sam- 
 
58 T:' he Genius of Handel. 
 
 son the champion of Israel, and Harapha the 
 giant of Gath, champion of the Philistines, and 
 in which each asserts the supremacy of his 
 acknowledged deity — Samson as the servant of 
 Jehovah, and Harapha as zealous for Dagon, 
 Micah, the friend of Samson, proposes that 
 appeal should be made to the power of each, to 
 Jehovah and to Dagon, and to await the result, 
 as in after times Elijah proposed a similar appeal 
 to Jehovah and to Baal, The second part of 
 the oratorio therefore concludes with a double 
 chorus, a chorus of Israelites and of Philistines, 
 which commences with one of the grandest pas- 
 sages in Handel's works '' Fixed in his ever- 
 lasting seat," the Israelites sing, " Jehovah rules 
 the world in state ; " the Philistines, " Great Da- 
 gon rules the world in state ; " and those passages 
 are reiterated as in competition. All then join in 
 a sublime passage set to the words, " His thun- 
 der roars, heaven shakes and earth's aghast ; 
 the stars in deep amaze remain in steadfast 
 gaze." The two choruses then divide again, 
 and whilst the Israelites were singing Jehovah is 
 of Gods the first and last, the Philistines sing 
 Great Dagon is of Gods the first and last. But 
 
The Genius of Handel. 59 
 
 the Israelites gain the ascendency, and with one 
 more attempt on the part of the Phihstines the 
 praise of Jehovah concludes the noble chorus. 
 
 This feature of the chorus is referred to with 
 great feeling and beauty in a sermon by Bishop 
 Home, published in his works — a sermon on 
 sacred music, preached at the opening of the 
 new organ in the Cathedral of Canterbury, of 
 which Dr. Home was the Dean. 
 
 The last piece which we propose bringing 
 before you is the chorus which forms the con^ 
 elusion of the second part of the sacred Oratorio 
 of the Messiah, that glorious anthem of praise 
 familiar to all under the name of The Hallelujah , 
 chorus. None of Handel's compositions are 
 perhaps so well known; and yet such are its 
 transcendent qualities that it seems to rise in 
 majesty and grandeur with every repetition. It 
 has been by many considered the master-piece 
 of Handel, the master-piece of musical skill 2X\A 
 science. It is essentially a hymn of praise, a 
 song of highest adoration. The words are from 
 the Book of Revelations, and are as follows : — 
 " Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent 
 reigneth. The kingdom of this world is be- 
 
6o The Genius of Handel. 
 
 come the kingdom of our Lord and of his 
 Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever, 
 King of kings, and Lord of lords. Hallelujah!" 
 Now, I would first remark upon these sub- 
 lime words as set to Handel's sublime music, 
 that the chorus is essentially a Hallelujah chorus. 
 That one great object of the composer through- 
 out, is to express and to repeat that sacred ex- 
 clamation, the meaning of which, in the Hebrew, 
 is literally, " Praise the Lord," or " Praise to 
 the Lord." Accordingly, there are, as it were, 
 two parties in the chorus, we might perhaps say 
 two choirs, — the one pouring out the words of 
 adoring praise, the other keeping up, as it were, 
 the burthen of the sacred song, " Hallelujah ! 
 Hallelujah! for ever and for ever;" both, how- 
 ever, at times uniting their voices in expressing 
 the highest act of adoration, and forming a con- 
 joint expression of grateful praise. I am so 
 strongly impressed with this idea of the con- 
 struction of the chorus, that I have often won- 
 dered Handel had not adopted here the regular 
 double chorus, as he has so often done in 
 "Saul," "Israel in Egypt," and other oratorios ; 
 but, for some reason or another, few of the 
 
'The Genius of Handel. 6 1 
 
 choruses in the "Messiah" are double. Now, 
 we should bear these remarks in mind, as 
 we listen to the chorus, and trace its pro- 
 gress from the majestic opening to the grand 
 close. Before the choir proceed to execute the 
 music let me premise one or two remarks which 
 you may bear in mind. It commences with a 
 few notes of simple and solemn import as a 
 preliminary symphony to prepare the celebrants 
 for their sacred work ; what Milton has described 
 as taking place before the angels burst forth in 
 their song of praise in heaven — 
 
 " With preamble sweet, 
 Of charmiDg symphony, they introduce 
 Their sacred song, and waken raptures high." 
 
 It is of three bars, and leads on to a burst of the 
 whole choir into "Hallelujah ! " repeated ten times 
 in the simple phrase which occurred to the great 
 composer for expressing the sacred utterance. 
 Then a unison passage of great solemnity " For 
 the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." Again, 
 the burden of the song, " Hallelujah," answers 
 this declaration. Again the unison, " For the 
 Lord God omnipotent reigneth." Then the 
 
62 The Genius of Handel. 
 
 answer, " Hallelujah," and after this strophe and 
 antistrophe the two choruses become blended, 
 and are for a time interwoven in a passage of 
 skilful and effective counterpoint. The mind of 
 the hearer then reposes on a lovely soft passage 
 set to a flowing and beautiful strain of utmost 
 beauty, forming as it were an interlude to the 
 great subject. The words of this part are : — 
 " The kingdom of this world is become the 
 kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. " Again 
 the louder and fuller voice of choral praise is 
 heard, " And he shall reign for ever and ever." 
 Then commences the peculiar feature of the 
 composition, the one portion of the chorus sus- 
 taining in prolonged unison the notes " King of 
 kings;" the other gloriously responding and 
 blending " For ever and ever. Hallelujah." 
 Again, the prolonged note upon the fifth to the 
 key " King of kings ; " the answer again kept 
 up "For ever and ever." And here a wonderful 
 effect is produced in regular orchestras by the 
 trumpet running down the scale and bringing the 
 singers to the key-note on which is prolonged 
 "King of kings," answered again "For ever and 
 ever." Then the "King of kings" is prolonged 
 
The Genius of Handel. 63 
 
 upon the note above. The answer as before. 
 Then upon the note above that, i.e., the third to 
 the key, again the answer, till, as a culminating 
 point, the sustained words " Lord of lords " 
 are on the note still above, i.e., on the fourth to 
 the key, and the whole voices are combined to 
 tell that he shall "Reign for ever and ever." 
 This point brings us to the grand climax, the 
 object towards which the whole chorus has been 
 advancing, viz., the joint ascription of omnipo- 
 tence to the great being as " King of kings, 
 AND Lord of lords." And how has the com- 
 poser expressed this portion of his mighty theme ? 
 It is one of the marvels of this marvellous pro- 
 duction. Handel rejects all science, all refined 
 chords and discords, all elaborate harmony. 
 The great idea, that " He is King of kings and 
 Lord of lords," is expressed by a full develop- 
 ment of the common chord. The effect is mag- 
 nificent, worthy of the subject, and a lasting proof 
 of the sublime genius of the author, who closes 
 the whole by reiterating the " Hallelujah " with 
 which he commences his noble song. 
 
 Such, ladies and gentlemen, is this great 
 choral composition, called by Dr. Calcot the 
 
64 1'he Genius of Handel. 
 
 " Triumph of Handel — the triumph of Musical 
 Art." Think of that chorus executed by four 
 thousand voices and instruments — all well 
 trained to their parts — all moving like one in- 
 strument under the skilful hand of Costa their 
 conductor. One feels a curiosity to know how 
 the composer felt himself affected on producing 
 such an effect. When questioned as to his ideas 
 and feelings during the composing the Halle- 
 lujah chorus, he replied in his imperfect Eng- 
 lish, " I did think I did see all heaven before 
 me, and the great God himself." The notes 
 which he has selected for expressing the great 
 theme of his divine song, the Hallelujahs, which 
 are, as we may say, the key-note to the whole 
 strain, are so simple, and yet so appropriate, 
 that they cannot be superseded by others, and 
 all rivalry must be hopeless, all attempts to set 
 the same words again hardly possible. We 
 might almost venture to say there never will be 
 another Hallelujah Chorus. 
 
LECTURE II. 
 
 N the last lecture, ladies and gentle- 
 men, we considered some points con- 
 nected with the personal character and 
 professional history of the greatest of musical 
 composers, in order that we might trace the cir- 
 cumstances which led him to apply his talents 
 more exclusively to sacred music ; and we made 
 some attempts to illustrate the peculiarities which 
 mark his genius and distinguish his greatest 
 works from those of other eminent musicians. 
 
 Before, however, proceeding with some fur- 
 ther illustrations of remarkable peculiarities in 
 Handel's compositions, a subject is forced upon 
 our notice, which is connected with a quite diffe- 
 rent view of the question. That subject, I am 
 aware, involves considerations of a personal and 
 of a somewhat delicate nature, inasmuch as I 
 
 F 
 
66 The Genius of Handel. 
 
 shall have to take up ground which may involve 
 a difference of opinion from views which have 
 been maintained by some good and pious people. 
 But I do not see how I can avoid it or pass it 
 by as if it were unknown amongst us, or had no 
 place in the minds of those whom I address. 
 
 I allude now to objections which it is well 
 known have been made to the performance of 
 oratorios, and the attendance on such perform- 
 ances. Indeed, they have been considered as in 
 some sort profane or sacrilegious ; and well 
 meaning, conscientious persons have felt it their 
 
 ■ duty to protest against oratorios, forbidding 
 their families to attend on such performances as 
 they would forbid their attendance on scenes of 
 mere earthly gaiety, on the opera, and on thea- 
 trical entertainments. Ladies and gentlemen, 
 fellow countrymen and countrywomen, if this be 
 
 • a correct view of the subject, I am now placed 
 altogether in a false position. If this view be 
 correct, I feel that, as a clergyman, and a clergy- 
 man advanced in life, it would be highly im- 
 proper for me to lecture on the genius of a man 
 who Was born only to advance what is an evil 
 practice, or that I should dwell upon the beauties 
 
The Genius of Handel. 67 
 
 and the merits of musical compositions so as to 
 excite in my hearers an admiration for those 
 productions which ought to be silenced for ever, 
 and which no right-minded Christian believer 
 ought to listen to. Really, ladies and gentle- 
 men, the simple statement of the case seems to 
 me so monstrous, the theory of objecting so 
 unreasonable, that I have some difficulty in per- 
 suading myself that the opponents are sincere in 
 such opinions, and that their unbiassed judgment 
 would really go with what they assert. One 
 almost doubts whether the common objections 
 to oratorios be genuine bona fide scruples, or 
 whether they are not inconsiderate repetition 
 of unadvised and party traditionary assertions. 
 But let us examine more particularly the nature 
 of the objections. I suppose that these objec- 
 tions are stated as strongly by John Newton as 
 they are by any one. We will consider his ob- 
 jection first. 
 
 In the year 1784, when the first commemo- 
 ration of Handel took place in Westminster 
 Abbey, which was attended by King George 
 III. and the royal family, by peers, bishops, and 
 the elite of English society, — the Rev. John 
 
68 'The Genius of Handel. 
 
 Newton, whose extraordinary conversion and 
 early history are known to every one, was rector 
 of St. Mary's, Walworth, in London. He was 
 in the full possession of his faculties, which were 
 of no mean order, and in the enjoyment of great 
 popularity, which was well deserved. He stated 
 his objection to the performance. He did what, 
 independent of his objections, would have been 
 an admirable and suitable work for any popular 
 clergyman of the time. He preached and pub- 
 lished a series of excellent sermons on the several 
 texts which compose the Oratorio of the " Mes- 
 siah," beginning with, " Comfort ye my people," 
 and ending with, "Worthy is the lamb that 
 was slain." 
 
 At first he does not seem to have had strong 
 impressions of any impropriety in the perfor- 
 mance. On the contrary, in his opening of 
 the first sermon on the text from xl. Isaiah, — 
 " Comfort ye my people," he says, " If it could 
 be reasonably hoped that the performers and 
 the company assembled to hear the music, or 
 the greater part, or even a considerable part of 
 them were capable of entering into the spirit 
 of the subject, I will readily allow that the 
 
The Genius of Handel. 69 
 
 'Messiah,' executed in so masterly a manner, 
 by persons whose hearts, as well as their voices 
 and instruments, were tuned to the Redeemer's 
 praise, accompanied with the grateful emotions 
 ^of an audience duly affected with a sense of their 
 obligations to his love, might afford one of the 
 highest and noblest gratifications of which we 
 are capable in the present life." This is an im- 
 mense concession, fully admitting the sacred and 
 elevating feelings which the performance of the 
 oratorio is capable of inspiring, and the possible 
 benefits to serious performers or serious hearers, 
 if any such were present. But in the fourth 
 sermon he seems to have looked at the case 
 with a more severe aspect, and he brings for- 
 ward his well-known objection, and which has 
 furnished the materials for all objectors ever 
 since. He supposes the case of a number of 
 persons involved in a common charge of high 
 treason, making the solemnities of their impend- 
 ing trial and their awful sentence the groundwork 
 of a musical entertainment ; and when the king 
 sends them the offer of a free and full pardon, 
 instead of taking a single step towards a com- 
 pliance with his goodness, they set his message 
 
70 The Genius of Handel. 
 
 to music, and perform it with all kinds of musi- 
 cal instruments. Now, so far as setting the 
 great truths of our religion to music and singing 
 them, it is what is done by every congregation 
 in the kingdom. What is the singing such 
 hymns as that by Watts, " When I survey the 
 wondrous cross," but setting to music the great 
 truths of our most holy faith ? According to 
 Newton's supposition, they set these things to 
 music instead of considering them in their heart. 
 But who knows the heart so as to be enabled to 
 say this ? At any rate, there is no intention of 
 making the music put away the ideas ; on the 
 contrary, they are set to music because the ideas 
 are admitted to be solemn, grand, and important. 
 Congregations sing religious statements in order 
 to impress them more forcibly on the minds of 
 the worshippers. And would it not be hard 
 that religious people should be debarred from 
 the same plea, when made in regard to attending 
 Handel's oratorios ? Bu^, on general grounds, 
 we might fairly put the question in this form : — 
 Taking the careless and the unimpressed by 
 religious truth generally, we may ask whether 
 their danger and the mercy of their pardon 
 
The Genius of Handel. 7 1 
 
 are most likely to be forgotten by their never 
 thinking about either one or the other, or 
 by having music composed for them, and by 
 hearing it performed. The inquiry now re- 
 gards not so much the question of the benefit 
 as the question of a positive injury alleged to 
 be done by hearing such performance. Surely 
 it is better that the attention be attracted than 
 that there should be no attention paid at all. 
 Of course it is better for people to receive ideas 
 in their hearts by faith than merely to set them 
 to music. We cannot see the force of Newton's 
 objection in regard to passages of Holy Scripture 
 or religious sentiments being set to music, sup- 
 posing that it is done by those who do not lay 
 them to heart. Increased familiarity brought on 
 by uniting music with the questions cannot be 
 injurious, because the great defect is want of 
 knowledge and consideration. But what is most 
 strange is, that in strengthening his argument 
 against the performances, Newton seems to me 
 to provide a strong argument in their favour. 
 
 Newton goes on to say — " The same great 
 truths divested of the music, when delivered 
 from the pulpit, are heard by many admirers of 
 
7 2 T^he Genius of Handel. 
 
 the oratorio with indiiFerence." Now, this very- 
 remark might be turned against him, and we 
 might say — Why, by an attendance on orato- 
 rios, these very persons who will not hear the 
 great truths of Scripture elsewhere will at least 
 hear them now ; and who shall say what may be 
 the effects of Scripture passages upon any mind ? 
 That the eiFect of Handel's music is oftentimes 
 of a salutary nature it is impossible to question; 
 that it is capable of elevating the thoughts he 
 admits, and every man must admit ; that it adds 
 a charm and interest to the sublime passages of 
 Scripture we can vouch on our own experience. 
 I have felt it deeply; many have felt it; I al- 
 ways, when reading or hearing some of the 
 Scripture passages, for instance, " Unto us a 
 child is born ; " " All we like sheep ; " " Lift up 
 your heads;" "He hath triumphed gloriously;" 
 which occur in the " Messiah," and " Israel in 
 Egypt"— I always associate them in my mind 
 with Handel's music ; they seem indissolu- 
 ble, and I suppose I should so connect them 
 were I hearing them on the bed of death. It is 
 said by an eloquent writer in the Quarterly Re- 
 view, on music : " We feel, on returning from 
 
The Genius of Handel. 73 
 
 hearing the Messiah, as if we had shaken ofF 
 some of our dirt and dross, as if the world were 
 not so much with us ; our hearts are elevated, 
 and yet subdued, as if the glow of some action, 
 or the grace of some noble principle, had passed 
 over them. We are conscious of having in- 
 dulged in an enthusiasm which cannot lead us 
 astray, of having tasted a pleasure which is not 
 of the forbidden tree, for it is the only one 
 which is distinctly promised to be translated 
 with us from earth to heaven." If such feel- 
 ings are at all common, they constitute, in so 
 far as they have produced the eiFects of a lofty 
 adoration, a strong argument in favour of mu- 
 sical sacred performances. Robert Hall, the 
 celebrated and eloquent English nonconformist, 
 does not appear to have felt such repugnance 
 to performance of oratorios as Newton, nor 
 does the objection, as stated by Newton, seem 
 to have occurred to his mind ; on the contrary, 
 he was deeply impressed with the grandeur and 
 the solemnity of the scene. His biographer. 
 Dr. Gregory, has thus recorded the circum- 
 stances : " Mr. Hall was present in Westmin- 
 ster Abbey at Handel's commemoration. The 
 
74 The Genius of Handel. 
 
 King, George III., and his family were in at- 
 tendance. At one part of the performance of 
 the Messiah (the Hallelujah chorus), the King 
 stood up, a signal for the whole audience to 
 rise ; he was shedding tears. Nothing, said 
 Robert Hall, had ever affected him more 
 strongly ; it seemed like a great act of na- 
 tional assent to the fundamental truths of 
 religion." I recollect, at Cambridge, Charles 
 Simeon attending oratorios, and a more holy 
 man, or a more evangelical minister, England 
 never possessed. 
 
 But it is said that many persons have no 
 such feelings excited by attendance at the orato- 
 rio; that they go merely as to a place of public 
 amusement, and for the beauty of 'the perform- 
 ance ; that the sensations are merely connected 
 with the taste, and have no affinity with religious 
 feelings at all. Now, there may be some want 
 of charity in such general assertions ; there may 
 be far more of real devotional feeling excited in 
 the hearts of the listeners than casual observers 
 are aware of. Did the objectors never hear 
 of those who come to scoff remaining to pray ? 
 May not those who come to hear music receive 
 
The Genius of Handel. 75 
 
 a deeper impression than a mere musical taste ? 
 But letting that pass, we would ask whether a 
 performance is in zVj^^ objectionable, simply be- 
 cause some persons are found to flock to it 
 under mixed motives, or from mere selfish mo- 
 tives ? God help us all if it were sin unpardon- 
 able to attend church with any under current of 
 reasons besides the purest and the holiest. How 
 many have flocked to hear the preaching of a 
 Chalmers, a Melville, or a Guthrie, where 
 curiosity or the love of eloquence quite equalled 
 the desire to be instructed? and yet no one 
 would be disposed to put down such preaching 
 as something in itself equivocal. The parallel 
 between the attraction of sacred eloquence and 
 the charm of sacred music holds so closely 
 as to shew that the objection applies to at- 
 tendance on one as on the other. Both good 
 in themselves, both liable to the same abuse. 
 Again, it is objected that frequently the character 
 and feelings of great public performers, by 
 whom the music is executed, do not correspond 
 to the nature of the performance, and that it is 
 done as a mere matter of professional skill, and 
 with no religious intentions. If so, we must 
 
76 The Genius of Handel. 
 
 greatly regret it, and more especially as we know 
 how deeply composers have themselves felt their 
 sacred compositions. It is well known how 
 much Handel himself entered into the spirit 
 and the meaning of the passages he set from 
 Scripture, and surely we may encourage a hope 
 that performers may also feel the power of the 
 music which they execute. A great portion of 
 the magnificent orchestras which perform cho- 
 ruses in London and the large towns in England, 
 are amateurs, forming choral societies — per- 
 sons enthusiastically devoted to the cultiva- 
 tion of sacred music. We have no right to say 
 that performers are not feeling the spirit of the 
 music ; or that they may not at some time 
 feel them. When Madame Goldsmidt (Jenny 
 Lind) performed the chief songs of the "Mes- 
 siah," or " Creation," they were sung by one of 
 whom all who knew her well in private life bear 
 ready witness that she is distinguished for excel- 
 lence of moral and religious character. No doubt 
 we must lament where this is not always the 
 state of things in regard to oratorio performances. 
 But can we carry the principle out, and abandon 
 the performance itself because liable to this ob- 
 
The Genius of Handel. 77 
 
 jection ? We cannot do so In the ordinary ser- 
 vices of the church. No one in the Church 
 of England would refuse to join the devotional 
 psalmody of Divine service until he had a certi- 
 ficate that the organist had signed the thirty- 
 nine Articles. I apprehend no intelligent Pres- 
 byterian would hesitate to join with all his heart 
 and voice to swell that noble chorus of a Scottish 
 congregation singing to the " Martyrdom " the 
 glorious paraphrase "Oh God of Bethel," be- 
 cause he knew the precentor had been too late 
 at the public-house the night before, or because 
 he doubted his sound belief in the " Confession 
 of Faith." No ! We must take mankind as 
 they are, and in most cases we must act accord- 
 ing to circumstances, and choose our path not 
 where there are no objections at all, but where 
 arguments in favour balance the arguments 
 against. Such is the case before us. Shall we 
 abandon the performance of high sacred music 
 because it cannot always be performed entirely 
 as we may deem it to be most desirable ? In this 
 case we should say that the objections against 
 performances of Handel's oratorios are inci- 
 dental and circumstantial, the arguments in fa- 
 
78 'The Genius of Handel. 
 
 vour are deeply laid in the feelings of human 
 nature, essentially connected with the highest 
 interests and sacred obligations of mankind. 
 For, observe what it is that we would uphold 
 and put in its due place of honour and sacred- 
 ness — not the beautiful arts of painting and 
 sculpture, to which there may or may not be 
 something analagous in the dwellings of the 
 Blessed hereafter. But we speak of music, that 
 most perfect of the sciences, and so constituted 
 by God himself; a science which has been hal- 
 lowed in all ages by its being employed in the 
 service of the sanctuary on earth, which was 
 commanded under the law, sanctioned by our 
 Lord himself, who, with his disciples, sang an 
 hymn the night he was betrayed, and which is 
 recommended to the joyful in heart by an in- 
 spired Apostle as a suitable exponent of their 
 joy. Music, no doubt, belongs to a spiritual 
 and immortal condition of mankind. There is 
 music in Heaven, and it is an essential character 
 of Heaven's music that it shall be choral — the 
 result of united voices. The beloved disciple 
 heard the Redeemed sing before the throne a 
 new song, and it was sung by the multitude 
 
The Genius of Handel. 79 
 
 round the throne ; for St. John heard It as the 
 voice of many waters, and as the voice of a 
 great thunder. Can it be supposed possible that 
 God would confer upon any of his creatures 
 powers capable of such magnificent and subhme 
 effects, and that these powers, when exercised 
 upon his own word, are to be put down as in- 
 jurious, nay, as profane ? Are the sublime and 
 elevating effects of sacred music necessarily con- 
 fined to times and places of public worship ; or, 
 again, is music only to be associated with re- 
 ligion so long as it is homely, or of the simplest 
 construction? Is it to be put down when it 
 soars into the region of the true sublime, and 
 draws its inspiration from the very sublimity of 
 Holy Scripture ? I must believe that the emotions 
 raised by sublime sacred music here below will 
 have affinity with the emotions which belong to the 
 praises of the up-per sanctuary. It is not something 
 merely of the earth, earthy, that we speak of. 
 It is not a mere question of taste, or of the grati- 
 fication of taste. Music is of something which 
 belongs to heaven, and is associated by inspired 
 writers with heavenly things. I cannot see the 
 force of the objections to performance of ora- 
 
8o ^he Genius of Handel. 
 
 torlos. I cannot see why some persons attend- 
 ing oratorios merely for gratification of musical 
 taste should prevent all others attending them who 
 do so upon higher motives. I cannot see how 
 defects in the workmen are to affect the work 
 done. Is the art itself to be condemned because 
 you disapprove the artist? Strange thing is 
 human nature! never more strange, I humbly 
 think, than when it conscientiously abjures one 
 of the few pleasures with which the hands of 
 virtue are strengthened here below. Music is 
 a glorious gift, of which the world too often 
 shews itself to be not worthy, and which the 
 world too often associates with what is frivolous 
 and sensual. That may be an argument for 
 endeavouring to separate the grand music of 
 such composers as Handel from music that is 
 unworthy, but surely not an argument for its 
 abolition. 
 
 Dr. Chalmers, in his seventh and last sermon 
 of the series called Astronomical Sermons, has 
 treated of the influence of mere taste and sensi- 
 bility in matters of religion, and remarks justly 
 how persons may be delighted and awed, and 
 worked up to the highest emotion of sacred 
 
the Genius of Handel. 8 1 
 
 feeling, as they sit in crowded assemblage 
 around the deep and solemn oratorio, and yet 
 not be permanently and practically affected by 
 religion. But throughout all his reasonings, he 
 again and again admits the power of high music 
 to produce high emotion. He says — 
 
 " A man will tell, and with complacency too, how 
 powerfiilly his devotion was awakened by an act of attendance 
 on the oratorio — how his heart, melted and subdued by the 
 influence of harmony, did homage to all the religion of which 
 it was the vehicle — how he was so moved and overborne, as 
 to shed the tears of contrition, and to be agitated by the ter- 
 rors of judgment, and to receive an awe upon his spirit of the 
 greatness and the majesty of God — and that, wrought up to 
 the lofty pitch of eternity, he could look down upon the 
 world, and by the glance of one commanding survey, pro- 
 nounce upon the littleness and the vanity of all its concerns!" 
 
 Then, again, he describes the emotions ex- 
 cited by music. 
 
 « Music may lift the inspiring note of patriotism ; and the 
 inspiration may be felt; and it may thrill over the recesses of 
 the soul, to the mustering up of all its energies; and it may 
 sustain, to the last cadence of the song, the firm nerve and 
 purpose of intrepidity; and all this may be realized upon him, 
 who, in the day of battle, and upon actual collision with the 
 
 G 
 
82 'The Genius of Handel. 
 
 dangers of it, turns out to be a coward. And music may lull 
 the feelings into unison with piety; and stir up the inner man 
 to lofty determinations; and so engage for a time his affec- 
 tions, that, as if weaned from the dust, they promise an im- 
 mediate entrance on some great and elevated career, which 
 may carry him through his pilgrimage superior to all the sordid 
 and grovelling enticements that abound in it." 
 
 Now, I am quite willing to accept these 
 beautiful passages from Dr. Chalmers as a fair 
 estimate of the lofty and holy feelings which 
 music is capable of inspiring, the high and 
 sacred emotions which music can raise in the 
 heart of man. His words are descriptive of a 
 great and noble gift of God, a gift with which 
 he has enriched the human soul, and by which 
 he has endowed it with feelings and faculties 
 how like an angel ! And are we to make no re- 
 turn to God of this that He has given us ? Is 
 this acknowledged gift of God to be excluded 
 from all offerings we make when we address 
 these solemn words, " All things come of Thee, 
 and of Thine own have we given Thee ?"* Or, 
 if we are to give Him anything of this gift back 
 again in our worship and service, is it to be only 
 ■•• 2 Chron. xxix. 14. 
 
The Genius of Handel. 83 
 
 what is poor and rude, and uncultivated ? does 
 music cease to be an offering when it is of the 
 highest quality ? But, in regard to this gift of 
 God, Dr. Chalmers gives the wise caution that 
 we should not substitute the religion of taste for 
 the religion of conscience. He reminded his 
 hearers that a " man may be so overpowered by 
 the charm of music, that he may be made to feel 
 with such an emotion, and to weep with such a 
 tenderness, and to kindle with such a transport, 
 and to glow with such an elevation," as may lead 
 him to suppose that these feelings constitute vital 
 godliness, and that they make him a truly religious 
 character, and most justly he cautions his hearers 
 against being deceived by such a delusion. In 
 other words, that he must not substitute these 
 fine emotions for vital, practical godliness. But 
 then he does the same in regard to other pure 
 and exalted sensibilities of our nature. He names 
 the sensibility of a mother under the sympathy 
 and prayer of a minister, when mourning the 
 death of her child. He names the solemn 
 feelings that arise at a funeral, and its solemn 
 service. He names the case of one who feels the 
 holiness of the Sabbath, and its observances. 
 
84 '^he Genius of Handel. 
 
 with which from earliest days it has been asso- 
 ciated in his mind. He names the influence of 
 poetical recitation, and of the eloquence of dis- 
 courses and demonstrations from the pulpit, 
 with which, he avers, a man may be as much ex- 
 cited as by what he hears from the boards of the 
 theatre; and he again cautions men against being 
 deceived, and against resting on all such emo- 
 tions, as if they constituted the religion of the 
 heart and conduct. But he no more declares 
 that the oratorio is wrong in itself than he con- 
 demns the tender emotions of the mother at the 
 grave of her child, or the solemn feelings excited 
 by attendance at the funeral of a friend, or the 
 observance of forms connected with the sacred- 
 ness of the Sabbath; or attendance upon a 
 preacher who shall powerfully excite the feelings 
 by eloquence and by appeals to the imagina- 
 tion. What applies to one emotion applies to all. 
 Chalmers knew that all religious feeling may be- 
 come mere emotion, and that nothing permanent 
 or practical may be left upon the religious charac- 
 ter. There can be no question upon the point. 
 But what does it prove? not the want of power 
 in the music, but want of stability and consist- 
 
The Genius of Handel. 85 
 
 ency in the human heart. It is no argument 
 against the use of music ; but it is an argument 
 against trusting to the emotion which music can 
 excite. The influence of Christian motives to 
 action must be brought to bear upon all religious 
 emotions. High music is not piety, but may be 
 made an assistant and aid to piety. High music 
 is not devotion, but may be made an incentive to 
 devotion. There is no doubt that instrumental 
 music was so made use of in the Jewish Church, 
 and that, under God's own appointment, bands 
 of singers and skilled musicians were regularly 
 organised for divine worship. Such services of 
 God's temple are frequently referred to in the 
 sacred writings. Thus, in the 1 50th Psalm, the 
 Psalmist calls upon men to 
 
 " Praise Him with the sound of the trampet ; praise Him 
 with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and 
 dance ; praise him with stringed instruments and organs. 
 Praise Him upon the loud cymbals ; praise Him upon the 
 high-sounding cymbals." 
 
 And if passages from the Psalms, which enforce 
 generally the sacredness of the Sabbath — the 
 honour due to God's house and its holy ser- 
 
86 The Genius of Handel. 
 
 vices— are often quoted and enforced in illustra- 
 tion of these points of religious duty, we do not 
 see why due weight should not be given to this 
 and other passages in vindication of employing 
 instrumental music in God's service. But it is 
 said that such passages prove too much, that 
 they would sanction also the use of dancing in the 
 services of God's house, and would, therefore, 
 seem to commend a practice which no persons 
 would be disposed to adopt now. The remark is 
 quite irrelevant. Dancing is not referred to 
 either in the 1 50th or 149th Psalm. The correct 
 reading is not " dancing," but the correct read- 
 ing is the marginal one, " pipe." We have the 
 authority of Adam Clarke, one of the first 
 oriental scholars of his day, for saying " that in 
 no place in the Bible does ^ino (machol) and 
 n^HD (machalath) mean dance of any kind ; they 
 constantly mean some kind of pipe."* Such 
 was the sanction given by Divine authority for 
 instrumental music in God's service under the 
 Jewish economy. In the Christian Church dur- 
 
 * Clarke's Commentary on 1 49th Psalm. See also Poll 
 Synopsis, in locis, who shews that the whole description refers 
 only to musical instruments. 
 
"The Genius of Handel. 87 
 
 ing the apostolic times, the music of the church, 
 like the rest of the service, was necessarily of 
 the simplest form. During the times of her 
 obscurity and persecution we could not expect 
 to read much of music in the church when the 
 struggle was for life. But it is quite evident 
 that the apostles themselves attended the temple 
 services to the last, and in very early times, be- 
 fore the Christian services were corrupted and 
 debased by superstition, music and instrumental 
 music was carefully cultivated by the church. 
 If we pass onwards to the revelation made to 
 us of the services of the Church triumphant, 
 we find that the worship of Heaven, as it is 
 described by St. John in the Apocalypse, 
 was accompanied by instruments (Rev. xiv. 1 ; 
 Rev. V. 8). " And I heard a voice from heaven, 
 as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of 
 a great thunder, and I heard the voice of harpers 
 harping with their harps." " And when he had 
 taken the book, the four beasts and four and 
 twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having 
 every one of them harps." 
 
 It is impossible to believe that, with such 
 analogies as those which are supplied by the 
 
8 8 'The Genius of Handel. 
 
 Jewish Church, and by the Church triumphant in 
 Heaven, the members of the Christian Church on 
 earth were to be deprived of the use of music 
 in their sacred services, and that the music should 
 not be the highest and the best. So far as I can 
 form a judgment, such appears to be the con- 
 clusion we are to draw from the Word of God. 
 The power of music in divine service is now 
 fully acknowledged. Accordingly, great eiForts 
 have been made to improve and elevate music 
 as an handmaid of devotion, and they have won- 
 derfully improved it. Why not look forward 
 to a higher? why not to the highest state of im- 
 provement? and then how grand to imagine 
 such music as Handel's the ordinary music of 
 the sanctuary, to hear a whole congregation join 
 in the Hallelujah Chorus just as they now join 
 in the Hundredth Psalm. With the greatest 
 respect for the scruples of conscientious persons, 
 I still venture to doubt their conclusions on this 
 point. I trust I have expressed myself without 
 offence, and with no feelings of intolerance or dis- 
 respect. I cannot give up the music of Handel 
 to those scruples. Indeed, I can hardly believe 
 that those good persons who object to attendance 
 
the Genius of Handet, 89 
 
 upon the performance of oratorios are in raality 
 quite sincere, or that they have deeply and seri- 
 ously considered the subject in all its bearings 
 upon the religious sensibilities of our nature. 
 The appreciation of the great works of Handel, 
 and other great masters, is spreading throughout 
 the land, and now extends from the highest to 
 the lowest in the social scale. The Handel 
 commemorations have become identified with 
 national feelings. Surely it were better to direct 
 such a movement, and give it the full religious 
 character of which it is capable, than make the 
 vain attempt of putting it down as evil. I am 
 anxious that the powers of Handel should be 
 more and more appreciated In Scotland, and his 
 works better known amongst us. Handel visited 
 Ireland, and spent six months there with great 
 success. He never visited Scotland, which, I 
 fear, in the composer's own day, could hardly 
 have estimated his music. I confess that It was 
 towards promoting that object that I ventured 
 upon undertaking these Lectures. If a Scottish 
 performance of Handel's great works were ever 
 attempted on a scale worthy of the music, I am 
 assured we should have every assistance from 
 
90 'The Genius of Handel. 
 
 the London Sacred Harmonic Society. Many- 
 difficulties are to be overcome, many prejudices 
 to be combatted. The last few years have, how- 
 ever, made a great change, and if we could pro- 
 cure a fitting hall for the performance, I would 
 not despair of having a Handel commemoration 
 worthy of the piety, the intelligence, and the 
 musical feelings of Scotland. 
 
 We will now resume our illustrations of the 
 peculiar qualities by which we have said the 
 compositions of Handel are distinguished. We 
 have already remarked upon that quality, which 
 he possesses to a degree unattained by any 
 other writer of great choruses — the quality of 
 majestic grandeur combined with a simplicity 
 which renders his greatest compositions accept- 
 able to all. Our first lecture contained various 
 illustrations of this quality, and was concluded 
 by that magnificent specimen of sublime choral 
 writing — the Hallelujah chorus from the Mes- 
 siah. We shall again revert to this subject ; 
 but let me now refer to another power I men- 
 tioned, as being possessed by Handel in a re- 
 markable degree, and that is his pathos. In 
 some of his songs especially, it is most touch- 
 
'The Genius of Handel. 9 1 
 
 ingj and the music represents the deepest melan- 
 choly-j the most affecting expression of grief 
 and sorrow. For example — " Angels ever 
 bright and fair," in Theodora — this may be 
 truly termed a seraphic melody ; " Farewell ye 
 limpid streams," in Jephtha — the words fare- 
 well I are the utterance of a broken heart and a 
 wounded spirit ; " He was despised," in the 
 Messiah, which, it is recorded, he was found 
 composing with the tears running down his 
 cheeks ; " Return, O God of Hosts," from 
 Samson ; " Total eclipse," also of the same 
 oratorio, expressive of Samson's bewailing his 
 blindness; " Tears such as tender fathers shed," 
 and " Shall I in Mamre's fertile plain," in 
 Joshua. Of the pathetic choral writing, what a 
 beautiful example we have in " Behold the 
 lamb of God," in the Messiah ; and that won- 
 derful chorus at the opening of Judas Mac- 
 cabasus — 
 
 " Mourn, ye afflicted children, the remains 
 Of captive Judah, mourn in solemn strains ; 
 Your sanguine hopes of liberty give o'er, 
 Your hero friend and father is no more ;" 
 
92 The Genius of Handel. 
 
 which expresses the grief of Israel for the death 
 of her hero. But of all elegiac or pathetic 
 musical composition, the first is the lament over 
 the deaths of Saul and Jonathan after the battle 
 of Gilboa, in the oratorio of Saul. The chorus 
 take up the lament, 
 
 " O fatal day, O fatal day, how low the mighty lie." 
 
 Then a solo voice gives out, 
 
 " O Jonathan, how nobly didst thou die, 
 For thy king and country slain." 
 
 The chorus repeat the same words. Then the 
 voice of David — 
 
 " For thee, my brother Jonathan, how great is my distress. 
 What language can my grief express ? 
 Great was the pleasure I enjoyed in thee. 
 And more than woman's love thy wondrous love to me.'' 
 
 These last words are expressed in a musical 
 strain unrivalled for its pathos and tenderness. 
 The scene closes with the chorus — 
 
 " O fatal day, how low the mighty lie; 
 Where, Israel, is thy glory fled?" 
 
The Genius of Handel, 93 
 
 Another extremely beautiful and touching 
 specimen of pathetic music I referred to before, 
 and that is the funeral anthem composed for the 
 burial of Caroline, Queen of George II., from 
 the words of Job, "When the ear heard him then 
 it blessed him," performed with much propriety 
 and great solemnity at the funeral so lately at- 
 tended with the sorrows and tears of a mourn- 
 ing nation. 
 
 We have now to consider a peculiarity 
 of Handel's music, which I have named, its 
 appropriateness or fitness for the ideas with 
 which it is joined. In other words, his power 
 of expressing in musical language the leading 
 idea of the passage he sets to music. This is a 
 very important part of a musician's work, and 
 in the case of Handel does, I think, contribute 
 a large portion of his popularity. We seem to 
 attach, inseparably, his finest passages to the 
 words as if they belonged to them exclusively, 
 and could not be used for any other words. 
 Handel seizes the author's meaning in his 
 words, and expresses it by his notes. I wish 
 you to understand the quality I now speak of 
 It is not imitative music, nor even, properly 
 
54 The Genius of Handel. 
 
 speaking, descriptive music I refer to. It is 
 that the hearer shall feel persuaded the com- 
 poser has adapted or suited his music to the 
 words or the occasion, and that they would not 
 be so suitable to any other words or other occa- 
 sion. I don't believe in pure imitation by the 
 musician. I think the cases are generally fail- 
 ures, although considerable effects may be pro- 
 duced in some instances of examples from Handel 
 of what I consider direct imitative music, that is, 
 cases where the sounds endeavour actually to pre- 
 sent or palpably shew forth the idea in the words. 
 The first may be taken from Israel in Egypt, 
 where the plague oi frogs is described. The 
 accompaniment directly imitates the manner in 
 which that lively creature moves about, and 
 by which he may be supposed to have skipped 
 or hopped through the dwellings of the Egypt- 
 ians, and the palace of Pharoah. The following 
 notes shew how the composer has managed it : — 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 
The Genius of Handel. 
 
 95 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 pEEt ^rrT=s ^ 
 
 'M 
 
 ^Egi 
 
 S£ 
 
 F 
 
 =i= 
 
 ^^ 
 
 1 
 
 fezzAM^ 
 
 fr^F=f 
 
 E^ 
 
 gfe=3:|^: 
 
 :3^-0: 
 
 j^ 
 
 i^ 
 
 ^^?^ 
 
 te 
 
 a 
 
 ^^ 
 
 -F-F- 
 
 f 
 
 Again the plague of flies leads the composer 
 to imitate the sound of their flight. The music 
 aims at shewing the buzzing rustling noise of 
 insects through the air. 
 
 Double Chojus. 
 
 a4=aBs 
 
 
 SEE 
 
 He spake the word, and there came all manner of 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^---^: 
 
 ^^^^m 
 
 ftr 
 
g6 The Genius of Handel. 
 
 ^fefE£^£ 
 
 
 flies. 
 
 
 ^^^^^p^ 
 
 I doubt the suitableness of such imitations. 
 But then, in a beautiful song from his " L' Alle- 
 gro and Penseroso," where he sets Milton's 
 beautiful words — 
 
 " Oft on a plat of rising ground, 
 I hear the curfew's solemn sound," 
 
 the double basses are made to imitate, with 
 their deep notes, the booming of the curfew, 
 by the performer not striking the string with 
 the bow, but at intervals pulling it up and let- 
 ting it vibrate, in the manner termed by musicians 
 pizzicato. And the effect is very solemn, like 
 a deep-tolling bell from a distant church tower. 
 
The Genius of Handel. 97 
 
 The effect of this imitation is, I think, natu- 
 ral and beautiful. There is a very curious 
 attempt at imitative music in " Joshua," where 
 the passage occurs — 
 
 " O thou bright orb, great ruler of the day, 
 Stop thy swift course and over Gideon stay ; 
 And O thou milder lamp of night, the moon. 
 Stand sdU, prolong thy beams in Ajalon." 
 
 The composer holds on one note during the 
 whole time that the words are enunciated ; the 
 prolonging of the note indicating the continuance 
 of the luminaries in the heavens. 
 
 I will give you now a specimen of the ap- 
 propriateness of his music to express or to paint 
 ideas. I take the anthem which was com- 
 posed for the coronation of George II., and 
 which has been since used for the coronations of 
 George III., George IV., William IV., and 
 Queen Victoria. It commences with a slow, 
 majestic, and dignified symphony. Now, with- 
 out considering the object of that symphony, 
 it may seem very rich and very fine, but you 
 do not feel how appropriate it is till you note 
 
 H 
 
98 'The Genius of Handel. 
 
 the purpose it has, which is to express the cir- 
 cumstances connected with a royal coronation. 
 It is usually termed 
 
 The Processional Symphony, 
 
 the idea of which is to represent the whole train 
 of official persons marching up the long drawn 
 aisle of the abbey in slow and solemn procession. 
 You have therefore to shut your eyes, and to 
 fancy there is passing before you the great 
 coronation cavalcade. The grand chamber- 
 lain carrying the sword of State, the pursuivants 
 with banners, and garter king of arms and his 
 attendants with tabbards, and with all their 
 heraldic pomp. The crown carried on a velvet 
 cushion ; the chancellor with the purse and great 
 seal ; the bishops in their lawn ; peers in their 
 robes, and coronets in their hands ; the judges 
 in their ermine ; the Queen, with her train borne 
 by peeresses of the land, and accompanied by 
 her ladies and chief Ministers of State, all mar- 
 shalled to the altar where the coronation takes 
 place — all represented by the performance of the 
 Processional Symphony, which gradually intro- 
 
The Genius of Handel. 99 
 
 duces and merges into the solemn strain that re- 
 cords how Zadock the priest and Nathan the 
 prophet anointed Solomon king, and how all the 
 people rejoiced, and said, "God save the king;" 
 " long live the king." 
 
 But, in further Illustration of all this, I will 
 read to you a passage from the works of De 
 Quincey, in which he Is describing his own 
 musings and Imaginative thoughts. You will 
 observe he refers to this very passage in 
 Handel's anthem as being highly expressive of 
 his feelings. De Quincey Is a splendid writer 
 of English, and he thus. In very striking terms, 
 refers to Its solemn effects and associations In 
 his mind : — 
 
 "Then suddenly would come a dream of far different 
 character, a tumultuous dream, commencing with a music such 
 as now I often heard in sleep — music of preparation and 
 awakening suspense. The undulations of fast gathering tumults 
 were like the opening of the Coronation Anthem, and, like 
 that, gave the feeling of a multitudinous movement of infinite 
 cavalcades filing off, and the tread of innumerable armies." 
 
 The following are the opening notes of this 
 stately symphony, a strain of music which De 
 
I oo 'the Genius of Handel. 
 
 Quincey reverted to as expressing the feelings 
 with which he was occupied in his sublime and 
 mysterious dreams — feelings which realized to 
 his mind the orderly movement of vast caval- 
 cades, and the footsteps of men moving in 
 military array : — 
 
 There is a chorus in the " Messiah " which 
 illustrates in a very striking manner and degree 
 the appropriateness of which I speak. The 
 music seems absolutely made to speak as well as 
 to sing the words. The words are from the 2 2d 
 Psalm, " He trusted in God that He would de- 
 liver him ; let Him deliver him if He will have 
 
The Genius of Handel. loi 
 
 him," and the music tells the bold and taunting 
 spirit of his enemies in which the words were 
 uttered. 
 
 ae 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 i^ 
 
 He trust - ed in God that he would de - liv - er him, 
 
 a^ 
 
 ^^^^ 
 
 -m 
 
 ^3^ 
 
 ^E 
 
 let him de - liv - er him if he de - light in him. 
 
 I would illustrate the appropriateness of 
 music, too, in a bold, triumphant chorus in 
 " Judas Maccabeus." The words are — 
 
 " Disdainful of clanger we'll rush on the foe, 
 That thy name, O Jehovah, the nations may know." 
 
 The point to which I would direct your atten- 
 tion is to the change in the style from the words 
 " Disdainful of danger we'll rush on the foe," to 
 the more solemn reference made to the praise 
 and glory of God in the words, " That thy name, 
 O Jehovah, the nations may know." 
 
 There is no passage in the works of Handel 
 which more clearly illustrates the quality of 
 which I speak than a chorus from "Israel in 
 Egypt," which we now propose to execute. 
 
I02 The Genius of Handel. 
 
 The chorus expresses the triumphant departure 
 of the people of Israel from their land of bond- 
 age. A former chorus had celebrated in bold 
 and contemptuous strains how the Lord ''smote 
 all the first-born of Egypt, the chief of all their 
 strength," which is immediately followed by the 
 chorus " But as for his people." Then observe 
 how beautiful, how pastoral, how flowing the music 
 to express the words which follow, "He led them 
 forth like sheep ; " the change is quite exquisite. It 
 is a picture of the Lord as the shepherd of His 
 people, guiding and guarding His flock with a 
 shepherd's tenderness and care. All this the 
 music brings before us under the direction of a 
 great master. Then mark the exultant jubilant 
 tone of the music which tells " He brought them 
 forth with silver and gold. There was not one 
 feeble person in all their tribes." It is quite in- 
 imitable ! 
 
 We now propose to present you with a 
 very picturesque scene from the Oratorio of 
 " Saul." After David has slain Goliah, and been 
 betrothed to Merab, Saul's eldest daughter, Saul 
 and David are supposed to approach an Israelit- 
 ish city, and are met by Michael, Saul's younger 
 
The Genius of Handel. 103 
 
 daughter, whom he afterwards married, and she 
 accosts them in these words : — 
 
 " Already see the daughters of the land 
 With joyftJ dance, and instruments of music, 
 Come to congratulate your victory." 
 
 Then follows a chorus of maidens, which caused 
 the enmity of Saul on account of the invidious 
 comparison which they made between him and 
 David in their songs of welcome — ■ 
 
 « Welcome, welcome, mighty king, 
 Welcome all who conquest bring. 
 Welcome David, warlike boy, 
 Author of our present joy. 
 Saul who hast thy thousands slain. 
 Welcome to thy friends again, 
 David his ten thousand slew, 
 Ten thousand praises are his due." 
 
 There is something extremely joyous, graphic, 
 and picturesque, in the whole scene, and, to add 
 to the effect, Handel introduced what he calls 
 Carilons, in other words a peal of bells is sup- 
 posed to ring out their joyful tones, and add their 
 notes to the festivity of the reception. I was very 
 
1 04 ne Genius of Handel. 
 
 anxious to introduce this scene into the lectures 
 on account of its originality, and because I feel 
 sure it was never performed in Scotland. I had 
 the difficulty to encounter of getting a set of bells 
 suitable for the occasion. I wrote to Mr. Mears, 
 the eminent bell-founder of Whitechapel, who 
 supplied exactly what we wanted. In the ora- 
 torio, the choir of maidens take up the strain 
 "Welcome, mighty king" after the words "Al- 
 ready see the daughters of the land." When 
 the damsels have sung their parts, Saul recites 
 the words, " What do I hear ? Am I then sunk 
 so low to have this upstart boy preferred before 
 me ? " The scene closes by the full chorus tak- 
 ing up the words of the Israelitish maids, 
 " David his ten thousand slew, etc." The fol- 
 lowing is the burden of the rejoicing peal of 
 bells heard at intervals throughout the scene: — 
 
 C anion. 
 
 I^^^S^^SS 
 
The Genius of Handel. 
 
 105 
 
 The latter portion of the twenty -fourth 
 psalm, most suitably introduced by Handel 
 into the Messiah, and which forms the chorus 
 " Lift up your heads," shews by his treatment of 
 the subject how fully he entered into the spirit 
 of the passage. The psalm is, by commenta- 
 tors, supposed to have been composed by David 
 on the occasion of bringing the ark from the 
 house of Obed-Edom to Mount Zion ; and the 
 latter verses selected by Handel for his chorus, 
 as typical of Messiah's return to heaven in great 
 glory, refer to the opening of the city gates ; 
 observe, then, how beautifully the music repre- 
 sents the circumstances depicted in the psalm. 
 The call is made by those who precede the ark, 
 and poetically addressed to the gates themselves 
 instead of the keepers of the gates. " Lift up 
 your heads, O, etc." The keepers inside feply, 
 " Who is the king of glory ? " The voices of 
 
io6 The Genius of Handel. 
 
 those with the ark respond, " The Lord, strong 
 and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle." The 
 question is put, first time, by the high or 
 shrill voices, and answered by the low or grave 
 voices. But observe the exquisite tact and 
 power of keeping alive the interest with which 
 the composer alternates this arrangement by 
 next making the grave voices from without de- 
 mand admission; and the high voices from 
 within ask, " Who is the king of glory ? " to 
 which the others now reply; and then both 
 unite in the grand chorus, " The Lord of 
 Hosts, He is the king of glory." 
 
 Nothing can be more grave, appropriate, 
 and dignified, than the chorus by which he 
 concludes his immortal work, the Messiah. 
 In a strain of solemn and majestic harmony, he 
 commences the sacred words, " Worthy is the 
 Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us 
 to God by his blood, to receive power, and 
 riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, 
 and glory, and blessing." Then the accelerated 
 movement, which is in fact a very learned 
 fugue, but a subject perfectly natural and easily 
 understood. " Blessing, and honour, and glory. 
 
The Genius of Handel. 107 
 
 and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the 
 throne, and unto the Lamb for ever." 
 
 In all these choral productions you will 
 notice, along with appropriateness, that promi- 
 nent feature of the genius of Handel which I 
 have before alluded to — I mean its grandeur or 
 sublimity ; but I would again revert to that sub- 
 ject, in order that I may point out what I consider 
 an essential element of that sublimity, which is 
 its simplicity. He knew where to be simple and 
 where to be elaborate. He knew when to de- 
 pend on nature, when to bring forth the re- 
 sources of science. It is this constant use of 
 the most simple musical phraseology, that gives 
 him so much of his power over the hearts and 
 memories of his hearers. It was well said in a 
 very able article in the Edinburgh Review, vol. 
 215, upon Schoelcher's life of Handel, that 
 "Handel wrought with the primary colours." In 
 other words, like a sublime and original painter 
 producing his great effects by using simply the 
 primitive colours, whilst inferior artists are 
 labouring to make points by various combina- 
 tions and intricate mixture of tints. This, as it 
 seems to me, gives Handel so much the cha- 
 
io8 " The Genius of Handel. 
 
 racter of an original mind, and makes him seem 
 a first occupant of the field of musical effect. 
 Homer, from his antiquity, held this place as a 
 poet, and therefore we find him appropriating, 
 as it were, simple imagery and obvious analo- 
 gies from nature, which future poets can there- 
 fore only use at second hand. Johnson, for 
 this reason, said of Milton, " that he was not the 
 greatest of poets, only because he was not the 
 first." What he meant was. Homer was greater 
 because he was first. He took the best from 
 nature as we may say. Thus Homer draws his 
 similes from the sun, the moon, the stars, 
 woods, mountains, and forests — great features 
 of nature ; and in like manner, Handel draws 
 his phrases from the most obvious and simple 
 notes. He has appropriated them and made 
 them his own ; and by the skill and daring of his 
 use of them has given them their power. He 
 could use what other composers could not use 
 to a like effect. It would lead you into a far 
 too protracted discussion, were I to follow out 
 these remarks ; but I will give one instance of 
 his selection of musical phrase on this principle. 
 There is a very telling and simple passage 
 
The Genius of Handel. 109 
 
 which he has adopted at least thrice to the 
 opening of choruses. Thus he commencesj 
 with the same simple and familiar notation, 
 these three pieces — 
 
 I . Glory to God, from the " Messiah." 
 1. Lift up your heads, from the " Messiah." 
 3. God save the king. Coronation Anthem. 
 
 Notice the same passage as it occurs in each. 
 
 ^^^^^* 
 
 f= 
 
 Lift up your heads. 
 
 Glor 
 
 to God. 
 
 ^ 
 
 Si 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^^^m 
 
 r- 
 
 -^T 
 
 1 
 
 ' Ji- 
 
 m 
 
 God save the Kmg. 
 
 It is from 
 these and simi- 
 lar causes that 
 Handel, al- 
 though one of 
 the most learn- 
 ed and profound of musical composers, is at the 
 same time one of the most intelligible. His 
 music is understood. It lives in the memory, and. 
 
 ^m. 
 
no The Genius of Handel. 
 
 as we may say, it is followed without difficulty. 
 There are great and magnificent musical com- 
 positions which it is hardly possible to get per- 
 formers to execute; and when executed, it is 
 only the few who can understand them. I be- 
 lieve all musicians are agreed that the most 
 able compositions for the organ ever produced, 
 are Sebastian Bach's organ fugues. They are 
 the favourite study of all students of that noble 
 instrument. The organ concertos of Handel, 
 even great as they are, have been considered of 
 a lower school in regard to intricate contre- 
 point ; but then few can master Bach's fugues, 
 and I fear very few indeed are capable of 
 thoroughly understanding their merits, and fol- 
 lowing their parts so as to perceive the full 
 drift of their harmonies. Such music can- 
 not be popular. Handel's music is always 
 popular without ever being trite or common- 
 place. 
 
 I would now introduce to you one of Han- 
 del's grandest productions, a chorus of profound 
 skill and deep science, in which at the same time 
 there are combined, in a remarkable degree, the 
 two qualities of which I have so often spoken. 
 
the Genius of Handel. 1 1 1 
 
 the qualities of simplicity and majesty. 1 
 allude to the conclusion of his colossal work, 
 his oratorio of " Israel in Egypt." Having in 
 recitative expressed the words of the song of 
 Moses, descriptive of the destruction of Pha- 
 raoh and his host, responded to by the grave 
 and solemn short choruses, " The Lord shall 
 reign for ever and ever," then Miriam, the 
 prophetess, the sister of Aaron, answers the 
 women, who went out with timbrels and with 
 dances ; and how does the great musician make 
 her answer them ? Her voice alone, without 
 accompaniments, vocal or instrumental, tells 
 the story of the people's deliverance — 
 
 i 
 
 Solo, (ad I 
 
 ft — p- 
 
 S 
 
 Sing ye 
 
 to 
 
 the 
 
 Lord, 
 
 for he 
 
 i 
 
 TSZ 
 
 =P2= 
 
 :t 
 
 hath tri - umph - ed glo rious - ly. 
 
 And this is answered by the short and solemn 
 chorus, "The Lord shall reign for ever and 
 ever." Miriam again takes up the strain and 
 sings alone — 
 
112 ne Genius of Handel. 
 
 Solo. 
 
 I^fegfegfg^^ ^fete^fe^ 
 
 The horse and his ri-der hath he thrown in -to the sea, 
 
 answered again by the short choral response, 
 "The Lord shall reign for ever and ever." 
 This is immediately followed by a magnificent 
 strain which concludes the oratorio, " For he 
 hath triumphed gloriously, the horse and his 
 rider hath he cast into the sea." 
 
 It is a grand specimen of a fine subject skil- 
 fully and effectively worked out in a double 
 chorus, directed by the resources of the most 
 scientific counterpoint. Handel evidently gave 
 full scope to his musical resources in this great 
 composition. As Milton has described the skill 
 of Jubal — 
 
 " His volant touch 
 Instant through all proportions, low and high, 
 Fled and pursu'd transverse the resonant fiigue." 
 
 I have often thought that Handel exhibits 
 his severe majesty in the very mode of his con- 
 ducting his subjects, and which distinguishes his 
 compositions from those of Haydn, Beethoven, 
 Mendelsshon, and other masters. We might 
 
The Genius of Handel. 113 
 
 almost call this quality a logical precision. We 
 never find him wandering from his ' subject. 
 Less powerful musicians produce in succession 
 a variety of passages not strictly connected with 
 each other. In Handel there is no want of in- 
 ventioHj but it consists in the endless r eproduc- 
 tion of the same original theme in all varieties 
 of adaptation. 
 
 You will have observed that our specimens 
 selected for illustration have all been taken 
 from the author's choral compositions. Several 
 reasons may be assigned for this selection. His 
 choruses are his most characteristic compositions, 
 and it is difficult to get solo singers to execute 
 his songs. Some of his songs, however, are most 
 original, and most beautiful. Under this head 
 I would include all the songs of Acis and 
 Galatasa, most of those in L' Allegro and Pen- 
 soroso, many in the "Messiah," and in other 
 oratorios. So far as my knowledge extends, I 
 cannot conceive any human composition to sur- 
 pass the song from the oratorio of "Judas 
 Maccabasus," on the words 
 
 " From mighty kings he took the spoil." 
 Some of his sacred songs are supposed to have a 
 
114 "The Genius of Handel. 
 
 resemblance to our Scottish plaintive airs, if so, 
 it must be the mere natural coincidence which 
 may be expected from all who follow the dictates 
 of natural taste. Handel never was in Scotland, 
 and, so far as we know, had no acquaintance 
 with Scottish music. I will now put an air of 
 Handel's and a Scottish air in juxtaposition, in 
 which some persons have traced a resemblance. 
 Take, for example, the melody of the song from 
 the Messiah, "He shall feed his flock," after 
 which the melody of the "Flowers of the 
 Forest," and judge for yourselves. 
 
 He shall feed His Flock. 
 
 gi^gfegW^g pggg^ 
 
 i^ ^^3^^sp#jsj 
 
 Scottish Melody. 
 
 ^^^^ii^^^ 
 
 sfel!=S 
 
 m 
 
 :^=i^E 
 
 ^ 
 
 -»-r- 
 
 "^•" 
 
 3t=fc^?=fct 
 
 ^^ 
 
 If there is not a direct resemblance, there is 
 certainly a similarity of the expression and general 
 
The Genius of Handel. 115 
 
 character in the airs. But I have introduced 
 mention of his songs chiefly to mark one cir- 
 cumstance which we must always bear in mind 
 in forming a judgment regarding the vocal works 
 of Handel. Many of his compositions — and 
 of these some of the choicest specimens — have 
 come down to us in a comparatively very un- 
 finished condition. I allude more particularly to 
 his songs, and to the thin and meagre way in which 
 many of them seem to have been committed to 
 paper by their great author. The choruses of 
 his oratorios are carefully elaborated, and the 
 orchestral parts are as full and complete, as he 
 wished them to be ; for it was a striking 
 feature of Handel's wisdom and tact, not to 
 overlay his choruses with instrumental accom- 
 paniments as some authors have done since. 
 But for his songs, the accompaniments are 
 meagre to the last degree, frequently nothing 
 but the violin parts necessary for sustaining the 
 inger in the melody, and a part for violoncellos. 
 The truth is, Handel filled up the score by his 
 own matchless taste and skill with the organ. 
 He always presided himself, and supphed what 
 was wanting in the skeleton music before him. 
 
1 1 6 "The Genius of Handel. 
 
 You will recollect how different was the wind 
 instrument department of orchestras in his time, 
 from what it is in our own day, both as regards 
 instruments and performers. Handel had little 
 beyond violins, violas, violoncellos, and double 
 basses, which he could use freely. His wind 
 instrument performers were very imperfect, and 
 not to be depended on for obligati passages. 
 Composers, since his time, have adopted a freer 
 use of wind instruments. They produce the 
 most beautiful and varied results in their ac- 
 companiments for their songs by calling forth 
 the flutes, clarionets, horns, bassons, trombons, 
 and making them contribute essentially to the 
 effect. But Handel had to supply all this by 
 his own organ accompaniment, and according to 
 the report of cotemporaries, most beautifully it 
 was done. Indeed the organ accompaniment 
 was much thought of by his audience, and 
 seems to have been an anxiously expected ele- 
 ment of the evening's enjoyment. Handel re- 
 fers to this as a most important part of the 
 performance in a letter from Dublin to his 
 friend Mr. Jenens who had selected for him 
 the texts which compose the oratorio of the 
 
The Genius of Handel. 1 1 7 
 
 Messiah. In that letter he describes the suc- 
 cess of his greatest work which he had taken to 
 Dublin in MS., and performed there six times, 
 and refers to his own part of the performance — 
 " I am in such spirits," he writes, " that I exert 
 myself on my organ with more than usual suc- 
 cess." These beautiful accompaniments have 
 passed away — not a note is recorded. They 
 were only intended to grace the performance for 
 the occasion, and we have no benefit from them 
 whatever. They must have been very skilful, and 
 were always much admired by his audience. But 
 still we cannot think that Handel's songs could 
 have been so effective and complete even with 
 his own organ accompaniments as they would 
 have been had he possessed the orchestral re- 
 sources of the great composers who have suc- 
 ceeded him. That which the skill and taste of 
 the composer, however, supplied extempore for 
 his own time, a great musician endeavoured to 
 supply permanently for the " Messiah" which is 
 now always performed with Mozart's additional 
 instrumental accompaniments. Mendelsshon, in 
 the edition of " Israel in ' Egypt" which he ar- 
 ranged for the Handel society, added an organ 
 
1 1 8 "The Genius of Handel. 
 
 part, which supplies the lack of wind instruments 
 in the original score, and is considered by com- 
 petent judges to be of a masterly character. 
 Costa has performed the same service for Judas 
 Macabasus. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 And now, although in abler hands this subject 
 might be only considered as begun, considering 
 the immense extent of the field to which I have 
 introduced you in the sacred oratorios of Handel, 
 I must take my leave. I have endeavoured to 
 place before you some of the leading and charac- 
 teristic peculiarities of the greatest musician who 
 ever lived. I mean the greatest in what I con- 
 sider the highest walk of his art — the greatest 
 composer of sacred choral music-^ — the most 
 touching composer of the pathetic and the 
 tender. I consider Handel to have been one 
 of the great men of his species, because I con- 
 sider that he must be great who excels so highly 
 in one of the most exalted departments of human 
 attainments. If music be amongst the most 
 perfect of the sciences — if music be capable of 
 
T!he Genius of Handel. 1 1 9 
 
 producing the most sublime and holy emotions 
 of which our nature is capable — if music be an 
 essential portion of the services of God in the 
 church below — if associated in Holy Scripture 
 with the adorations of the blessed in the church 
 above — if music be, as Luther declared, a science 
 second only to theology, then I conceive the 
 greatest of musicians must be a great man. And 
 we the more admire and love his greatness, from 
 his genius having supplied us with so much that 
 is beautiful, and with what is sublime and elevat- 
 ing. In looking out for a parallel with the great 
 composer, I think Handel may very fitly be com- 
 pared with a great name of which every country- 
 man is proud. I mean the name of Milton, for 
 Handel, I conceive, stands upon the same ele- 
 vated platform as Milton. Like Milton, his 
 highest powers are called forth in sacred song — 
 like Milton, he rises to the highest point of sub- 
 limity when he is engaged with expressing the 
 worship of the redeemed above. Grandeur, 
 majesty, and elevation of thought are the dis- 
 tinguishing marks of both, and such is the cha- 
 racter impressed on the productions of both — 
 the music of Handel, the poetry of Milton. 
 
1 20 the Genius of Handel. 
 
 For although both can descend from their high 
 moral elevation, and can occupy their talents on 
 the beautiful, the tender, and elegant — although 
 Milton fascinates us in his lighter works as 
 "L'Allegro," "Penseroso," and "Comus" — al- 
 though Handel is charming and even playful in 
 his music of Milton's words in the two first of 
 these pieces, and also in his setting of Gay's 
 <' Serenata of Acis and Galatasa," still we feel 
 in both Milton and Handel that it is the great 
 man condescending to be like other men. In 
 all the emanations of their genius there is a 
 dignity which reminds us of the power that 
 is behind. They cannot altogether forget the 
 high calling of their immortal song. They 
 never indulge in a measure, however graceful, 
 that would be unbecoming in one accustomed 
 to take a leading part in describing angelic cho- 
 ruses near the throne of the Eternal. In one 
 point I think the comparison between Handel 
 the musician and Milton the poet is a very 
 striking one. From the works of each might 
 be selected passages which in sublimity exceed all 
 that have ever been produced; whilst in other 
 departments of style they have been equalled or 
 
The Genius of Handel. 121 
 
 surpassed. Various authors have written his- 
 torical and descriptive scenes superior to Milton. 
 They have been superior to Milton in delinea- 
 tions of violent passions, in tragic representa- 
 tions of revenge, of grief, and of despair; but 
 where his theme is connected with the presence 
 and the praise of God, there are bursts and aspi- 
 rations of the true sublime in Milton which 
 have surpassed every writer, ancient and modern ; 
 and this is what we say of Handel. I am un- 
 willing to neutralise or to injure the effect of 
 that merit which I attribute to Handel by as- 
 serting what is exaggerated or untrue. I do 
 not mean to say that Handel has excelled all 
 other musical composers in every department 
 of music. I am aware that Mozart, Haydn, 
 Beethoven, Mendelsshon, and others have often 
 equalled and perhaps at times surpassed his 
 ordinary songs, recitatives, duets, and trios ; 
 that they have produced orchestral effects, have 
 composed symphonies and concertos which Han- 
 del, with his resources, could not possibly have 
 produced. But I do say that in sacred com- 
 position for a multitude of voices he stands pre- 
 eminent. There are choruses from his oratorios 
 
122 The Genius of Handel. 
 
 such as — " The glory of the Lord shall be 
 revealed;" "Unto us a son is born;" "The 
 Hallelujah;" "Worthy is the Lamb;" "Let 
 their celestial concerts all unite;" "Fixed in 
 His everlasting seat;" "The Hailstone;" "The 
 Horse and his Rider," and various others which 
 seem to me a class of compositions to which 
 no other composer has even made an approach. 
 Like Milton, he is always greatest on the greatest 
 occasions. His genius rises with the loftiness of 
 his theme, and if we would form a true estimate 
 of the great power of Handel as a musical com- 
 poser, if we would know the height of perfection 
 which music itself can attain to, we must study 
 his sublime choral compositions. He has power 
 to touch the heart and has left many strains of 
 melting tenderness and of deep pathos ; but 
 his triumph is in the sublime, in the anthems 
 of seraphic praise, and of lofty adoration. There 
 he never fails, and in these marvellous composi- 
 tions we shall ever find new and increasing 
 causes for admiration and delight. Indeed, we 
 may speak of these productions of Handel's 
 genius in the majestic language of a passage of 
 Milton's own, which occurs in his prose works. 
 
The Genius of Handel. 123 
 
 He there describes a grand burst of praise as 
 being a "seven-fold chorus of hallelujahs and 
 harping symphonies." We have often regretted 
 that Handel's immortal music was not oftener 
 wedded to Milton's immortal verse. The in- 
 spiration of the poet would have called forth the 
 highest powers of the musician. The oratorio 
 of " Samson " is taken occasionally from the 
 words of Milton's " Samson Agonistes." It is^ 
 however, a very partial adoption ; but in the 
 song immediately preceding the last chorus, he 
 has taken one of Milton's most sublime passages, 
 and certainly the words have stimulated the 
 composer to one of his grandest effects. He 
 has set for a finale, with trumpet accompaniment, 
 the splendid burst of Milton's song — 
 
 Let the bright seraphim in burning row, 
 Their loud uplifted angel-trumpets blow; 
 Let the cherubic host in thousand choirs, 
 Touch their immortal harps with golden wires. 
 
 To all who have heard this song performed, as 
 I am old enough to have done, by Catalini, and 
 Mrs. Salmon, with the elder Harper's trumpet 
 accompaniment, I might safely appeal on the 
 
1 24 the Genius of Handel. 
 
 question of the magnificence of the combination 
 of such a composer, such a singer, such words, 
 and such an instrument. 
 
 But I must have done, although I seem yet 
 to linger over my theme. I may appear to have 
 been somewhat enthusiastic in my admiration 
 as bestowed upon the subject of these lectures, 
 and I may have seemed to express myself in 
 exaggerated terms. But I have simply given 
 utterance to the genuine feelings of my heart. 
 From the works of George Frederick Handel I 
 have received some of the highest enjoyments of 
 my life. In many of his immortal compositions 
 I have felt an influence which tended to raise 
 my thoughts above feelings of the earth ; and 
 if I shall in any degree have fostered a like 
 spirit in any of my hearers — if I shall have 
 directed any of my countrymen to a higher ap- 
 preciation and a nobler, estimate of the ^'■mighty 
 master" I shall not altogether in vain have 
 made this attempt to describe his high powers, 
 and to illustrate his lofty genius.