4 - ‘The Musick of my Admiration Handel’

Summary

FOLLOWING the first known Three Choirs performance in 1736(G) of one of his Te Deums, the music of Handel rapidly rose into a position of absolute command at the Music Meetings. Alexander's Feast was repeated, and L'Allegro, Il Penseroso introduced at Gloucester in 1751. In the following year the Worcester Journal gave a detailed programme for the 1752(W) Meeting:

On Wednesday will be perform'd, at the Cathedral, in the Morning, Purcel's [sic] Te Deum and Jubilate, an Anthem by Dr. Boyce, and Mr. Handel's celebrated Coronation Anthem; and at the Town-Hall in the Evening, a concert of Vocal and Instrumental Musick. On Thursday will be perform'd, at the Cathedral, in the Morning, Mr. Handel's Te Deum and Jubilate, A New Anthem by Dr. Boyce, and the same Coronation Anthem; and at the Town Hall, in the Evening, the Oratorio of Samson.

J. Arnold, Steward

The Te Deum and Jubilate of Purcell would be that in D, which he wrote for St Cecilia's Day 1694, the year before his death. Handel wrote a set of four anthems for the coronation of George II in 1727, but the ‘celebrated’ one is most likely to have been either of the two most popular: ‘The King shall rejoice’ or ‘Zadok the Priest’. Handel's Te Deum and Jubilate could have been either that written in 1713 for the Treaty of Utrecht or, more likely, that written in 1743 for the victory of Dettingen which, according to Lysons, was introduced to the Music Meetings at Gloucester in 1748. But, as Watkins Shaw has pointed out:

one notices that whereas in 1752, for example, we hear of a Te Deum by Handel, in 1755 and 1756 the announcement speaks of the ‘New Te Deum’ by Handel. (Those dates, however, refer to Worcester and Hereford Meetings.) After 1755 there is no doubt that the ‘Dettingen’ setting was in regular use.

The anthem by Boyce would have been either Lord, thou has been our refuge or Blessed is he that considereth the poor. But it was the performance of Samson which incurred the greatest expense.