0:00:08 > 0:00:13# Hallelujah, hallelujah
0:00:13 > 0:00:15# Hallelujah, hallelujah... #
0:00:15 > 0:00:20The Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah, a piece which is woven into the fabric of our national life.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23- "Ha"!- # Hallelujah. #
0:00:23 > 0:00:29But it was written by a German, George Frideric Handel, a brilliant yet volatile composer,
0:00:29 > 0:00:35who came to Britain to make his fortune, and wound up enriching and redefining our musical life.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38# Hallelujah, hallelujah
0:00:38 > 0:00:40# Hallelujah, hallelujah... #
0:00:40 > 0:00:42Here he is, cemented into the wall
0:00:42 > 0:00:46in Westminster Abbey as a national icon, carved from the life
0:00:46 > 0:00:51and holding the manuscript of his most famous work, Messiah.
0:00:51 > 0:00:53# Hallelujah, hallelujah... #
0:00:53 > 0:00:58But how did a foreign composer become such a celebrity here,
0:00:58 > 0:01:04and what is it about his music that still captivates and fascinates us today?
0:01:04 > 0:01:08Handel's capacity to write a melody which reflects emotion is brilliant.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12He really gets people going, you know. He can come and move you
0:01:12 > 0:01:16and get right into the depth of your soul and then yank you back out.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19Hallelujah, hallelujah! You've got to attack it.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23# Hallelujah! #
0:01:24 > 0:01:28My journey will take me back 250 years, to some of the places
0:01:28 > 0:01:33Handel lived and worked, in order to discover the man behind the music.
0:01:33 > 0:01:38He was almost like, in the cultural sphere, the equivalent of the King.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41The King was German, top cultural figure was German.
0:01:41 > 0:01:43# Hallelujah, hallelujah... #
0:01:43 > 0:01:49Handel wrote some of the greatest music of his, or I think, any age.
0:01:49 > 0:01:53He took Britain as his home, and the British took him to their hearts.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56He is our greatest adopted musical genius,
0:01:56 > 0:02:00and we're proud to continue performing his music.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20Handel seems to bestride the centuries as a musical conquering hero.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24MUSIC: "Zadok The Priest"
0:02:28 > 0:02:32His coronation anthem, Zadok The Priest, gives us some clues
0:02:32 > 0:02:35about the unique and enduring qualities of Handel's genius.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42Its extraordinary slow, burning crescendo builds up
0:02:42 > 0:02:47to an awe-inspiring climax evoking all the pomp and majesty of the occasion.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51It was written 300 years ago for the coronation of King George II,
0:02:51 > 0:02:54and has been used at every coronation since then.
0:03:00 > 0:03:06# Zadok the priest
0:03:06 > 0:03:11# And Nathan, the Prophet... #
0:03:11 > 0:03:14Millions of people across the world heard the music of Handel
0:03:14 > 0:03:19when Elizabeth II was crowned Queen at Westminster Abbey in 1953.
0:03:22 > 0:03:28But Handel's fame and popularity are not just a modern phenomenon.
0:03:28 > 0:03:33Few, if any, composers have been as celebrated during their lifetime as George Frideric Handel.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35At the start of the 18th century,
0:03:35 > 0:03:41London was the fastest-growing and wealthiest city in Europe.
0:03:41 > 0:03:48When the ambitious young keyboard virtuoso and composer arrived here in 1711, he had a master plan.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08He was 27 years old and in love with Italian opera, and his plan
0:04:08 > 0:04:14was to establish this sophisticated European art form in the United Kingdom.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23He announced his arrival on the London scene with Rinaldo,
0:04:23 > 0:04:29the first Italian opera to be composed specifically for the British stage.
0:04:30 > 0:04:37The rich and the fashionable flocked to the opera, drawn to its story of love in a time of war,
0:04:37 > 0:04:44complete with a beautiful princess, a spiteful enchantress and a host of chivalrous knights and crusaders.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47But it wasn't just the lavish orchestration
0:04:47 > 0:04:49or the spectacular scenic effects,
0:04:49 > 0:04:52which included the release into the theatre
0:04:52 > 0:04:55of a flock of starlings, or even his own keyboard fireworks
0:04:55 > 0:04:59that made this young, cosmopolitan composer the talk of the town -
0:04:59 > 0:05:00it was his singers.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07London had never seen or heard anything before like these singers,
0:05:07 > 0:05:10brought over from Italy at huge expense.
0:05:10 > 0:05:12They were simply the best in the world,
0:05:12 > 0:05:16their exotic personalities offstage attracting almost as much attention
0:05:16 > 0:05:18as the music they sang.
0:05:22 > 0:05:26Handel was, in pop culture terms, at the top of his game.
0:05:26 > 0:05:30His arias read the way people listen to popular songs today,
0:05:30 > 0:05:33and they were as popular in his time as they are now.
0:05:35 > 0:05:42# Lascia ch'io pianga
0:05:42 > 0:05:48# Mia cruda sorte... #
0:05:48 > 0:05:52Lascia Ch'io Pianga's a very dramatic piece.
0:05:52 > 0:05:56There is a dichotomy between the dignity of the music
0:05:56 > 0:06:00and the sort of wallowing sadness of the young girl.
0:06:00 > 0:06:06You've got this beautiful simple melody, it couldn't be more simple.
0:06:17 > 0:06:22She sings about weeping for her fate and she says it over and over again.
0:06:22 > 0:06:27It does sound like somebody who can't get the words out, and Handel writes it beautifully.
0:06:27 > 0:06:31He actually literally cuts the phrase in two, "mia cru...da sorte",
0:06:31 > 0:06:36just like someone who would be crying and is whimpering and can't get it out.
0:06:36 > 0:06:44# Mia cruda sorte
0:06:44 > 0:06:52# E che sospiri
0:06:52 > 0:07:00# La liberta... #
0:07:14 > 0:07:20Handel's operatic genius was to be able to reach out beyond the conventions of the high baroque
0:07:20 > 0:07:27to present his audience with characters who, through music, expressed vivid human emotions.
0:07:27 > 0:07:33These are people that, in different circumstances, could almost be you or me.
0:07:39 > 0:07:44Vo' Far Guerra is sung by Armida, who's the sorceress in Rinaldo.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47It's an aria about revenge,
0:07:47 > 0:07:53it's an aria about vendetta, it's an aria about rejection, even,
0:07:53 > 0:07:57because she discovers that her consort has been unfaithful to her
0:07:57 > 0:08:00and is not in love with her but in love with the princess.
0:08:02 > 0:08:07She has everything. She has power, she's magnetic, she's strong,
0:08:07 > 0:08:13but she doesn't have love, and that is quite a telling thing, actually,
0:08:13 > 0:08:17that propels her to revenge and to hurt.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27# Vo' far guerra, e vincer voglio
0:08:27 > 0:08:29# E vincer voglio
0:08:29 > 0:08:32# Collo sdegno chi m'offende
0:08:32 > 0:08:34# Vendicar i torti miei
0:08:34 > 0:08:40# Per abbatter quel orgoglio... #
0:08:40 > 0:08:45Handel uses triplets to keep banging in this idea of vendetta,
0:08:45 > 0:08:49this sort of gnawing, gnawing jealousy that she has.
0:08:49 > 0:08:57# Vendicar... #
0:08:57 > 0:09:01It's used in a sort of knife wound.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05You know, I'm going to keep pushing the dagger in deeper and deeper.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09# ..ah-ah-ah-ah
0:09:11 > 0:09:16# Collo sdegno chi m'offende
0:09:16 > 0:09:19# Vendicar i torti miei
0:09:19 > 0:09:24# Vendicar i torti miei. #
0:09:27 > 0:09:33Rinaldo was a massive public success, with an unprecedented three-month run.
0:09:33 > 0:09:38But for the ambitious young composer, it was also a personal success.
0:09:38 > 0:09:43He'd found the audience he needed and he was determined to give them what they needed -
0:09:43 > 0:09:46sophisticated Italian opera, Handel-style.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55But where did all this burning ambition come from?
0:09:55 > 0:10:00I've travelled to Handel's birthplace, the town of Halle, in Eastern Germany.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04At the end of the 17th century, a certain George Handel,
0:10:04 > 0:10:07together with his second wife, Dorothea, lived here at the house
0:10:07 > 0:10:11of the sign of the yellow stag, earning a comfortable living
0:10:11 > 0:10:15as a barber's surgeon with a sideline in selling wine.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23They're currently stripping the house back to its original 17th century core
0:10:23 > 0:10:26giving us a tantalising glimpse into the fashionable
0:10:26 > 0:10:31middle-class affluence the Handel family must have aspired to.
0:10:33 > 0:10:40This is supposed to be the room where, on 23rd February 1685, George Frideric Handel was born.
0:10:43 > 0:10:48Every biography has two or three charming anecdotes about his childhood,
0:10:48 > 0:10:51but in reality, we know virtually nothing about Handel's early years
0:10:51 > 0:10:55apart from the fact that he had a huge propensity for music,
0:10:55 > 0:10:58something which apparently alarmed George senior.
0:10:59 > 0:11:04His ambition was for his son to enter a respectable profession and become a lawyer.
0:11:04 > 0:11:08Musical instruments were banned from the house and the father
0:11:08 > 0:11:10did everything he could to discourage his son.
0:11:10 > 0:11:15But when the boy was 12, George senior died.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20With his father gone, nothing could stand in the way of the young George Frideric.
0:11:20 > 0:11:26And the Church offered multiple opportunities for music-making and access to instruments.
0:11:32 > 0:11:37So, here at the Market Church in Halle, the teenage Handel, already a devout Protestant,
0:11:37 > 0:11:42would come to worship, but also to improve his skills on the organ.
0:11:46 > 0:11:54And here it is, built in 1664, just 30 years before Handel would have sat right down here and played it.
0:12:12 > 0:12:17Still sounding as sweet as ever the best part of 350 years later.
0:12:17 > 0:12:24Driven by his huge talent and ambition, Handel left provincial Halle at 17.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27He spent his early 20s travelling across Europe, developing a passion
0:12:27 > 0:12:31for Italian opera and extending his skills in Church music.
0:12:32 > 0:12:34# Dixit dixit Dominus Domino meo
0:12:34 > 0:12:39# Dixit dixit Dominus Domino meo
0:12:39 > 0:12:40# Dixit dixit
0:12:40 > 0:12:42# Dixit dixit
0:12:42 > 0:12:46# Dominus meo Domino meo
0:12:46 > 0:12:49# Dixit dixit Domino meo
0:12:49 > 0:12:52# Dixit dixit Domino meo
0:12:52 > 0:12:53# Dominus meo
0:12:53 > 0:12:56# Dixit dixit
0:12:56 > 0:12:57# Domino meo
0:12:57 > 0:13:00# Dixit Dominuo meo
0:13:00 > 0:13:01# Dixit dixit... #
0:13:05 > 0:13:11He composed Dixit Dominus in his early 20s, during a lengthy stay in Rome, a Latin psalm
0:13:11 > 0:13:16set in the most fashionable rich Roman Catholic style by a Lutheran Protestant.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24By the time he arrived in London, the talented boy from the provinces
0:13:24 > 0:13:28had become a sophisticated, cosmopolitan composer.
0:13:28 > 0:13:33He was the right man, in the right place, at exactly the right time.
0:13:43 > 0:13:48On the 20th October 1714, British politics changed forever
0:13:48 > 0:13:54when Prince George Ludwig of Hanover was crowned George I, King of Great Britain and Ireland.
0:13:54 > 0:13:58The United Kingdom had a German monarch.
0:14:01 > 0:14:06With his reputation for musical brilliance, Handel, London's most fashionable German,
0:14:06 > 0:14:12was the natural choice when George I decided he needed some special propaganda music.
0:14:29 > 0:14:34The idea was to make the new foreign King literally visible to his subjects.
0:14:34 > 0:14:36He and his entourage would glide down the Thames
0:14:36 > 0:14:41in a flotilla of barges to the sound of Handel's music.
0:14:44 > 0:14:48Cleverly, Handel introduced hunting horns into his floating orchestra,
0:14:48 > 0:14:53exploiting their ability to sound bright and pure across vast distances.
0:15:01 > 0:15:08The Water Music was a triumph. The King was delighted and Handel became a Royal favourite.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16He's a much grander, more politically connected figure
0:15:16 > 0:15:19as a musician than anyone else I can think of.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23His main feature, in a way, apart from his brilliance as a composer,
0:15:23 > 0:15:28is this incredible chameleon-like capacity to take on styles and forms
0:15:28 > 0:15:32and to fit in wherever he wanted to fit in.
0:15:32 > 0:15:39Handel's enormous natural talent as a musician made him both prolific and versatile.
0:15:39 > 0:15:45But I think his restlessness and ambition drove him to experiment,
0:15:45 > 0:15:50constantly seeking out opportunities to explore new sounds and styles.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58Which is why, in the early years of George I's reign,
0:15:58 > 0:16:02he moved just outside London to what is now the residential suburb of Canons Park.
0:16:05 > 0:16:11For the next two years, he lived here as house guest and resident composer to James Bridges,
0:16:11 > 0:16:16Duke of Chandos, and master of a huge country estate called Canons.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24From suburbia to parkland. You can still see the drive.
0:16:32 > 0:16:37Handel used his stay here as an opportunity to play with all sorts of new ideas
0:16:37 > 0:16:41including his first English language opera, Acis And Galatea,
0:16:41 > 0:16:47set to words by another of Bridges' house guests, a young poet called John Gay.
0:16:50 > 0:16:52# Harmless, merry, free and gay
0:16:52 > 0:16:53# Free and gay
0:16:53 > 0:16:55# Free and gay... #
0:16:55 > 0:17:02The palatial mansion is long gone, but a fragment of the property survives as the local parish church.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08Oh, wow! What a place!
0:17:08 > 0:17:12This is the only continental baroque parish church in the country.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14The Duke of Chandos, James Bridges,
0:17:14 > 0:17:19who rebuilt this church in 1715,
0:17:19 > 0:17:25he was very much a person who wanted to be extravagant and wanted people to see how much money he had
0:17:25 > 0:17:28even though it was really bad money,
0:17:28 > 0:17:31money which he'd made as Paymaster General to the Duke of Marlborough,
0:17:31 > 0:17:35working on the basis that you employ mercenaries, you invest the money,
0:17:35 > 0:17:39you don't pay them till they get back, and when they get back
0:17:39 > 0:17:44obviously there's been natural wastage, so you can cream off the rest of the money for yourself.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48And we wanted to let people see him sitting in the Duke's pew, there,
0:17:48 > 0:17:52on a Sunday morning, enjoying fashionable music of the day.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01He's putting on a big show, a massive display of ostentation.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05- He's setting himself up almost like the King.- Very much so.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09I mean, basically, all he was interested in was listening to Handel.
0:18:09 > 0:18:14In fact, that's why he built this place very much as an opera house.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17If you look, you've got the proscenium arch,
0:18:17 > 0:18:21you've got the stage itself where the altar is now.
0:18:21 > 0:18:26- The badinage would have been situated on the stage.- Church band, with the organ as centrepiece.
0:18:26 > 0:18:31It's quite unusual you see the organ directly behind the altar, it's like music is also sacred here.
0:18:34 > 0:18:40Gay and Handel's opera conjured up an innocent pastoral idyll of nymphs and shepherds,
0:18:40 > 0:18:45exactly the kind of enchanted world that James Bridges wanted Canons to be.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47# The flocks shall leave the mountains
0:18:47 > 0:18:50# The woods the turtle dove
0:18:50 > 0:18:58# The nymphs forsake the fountains ere I forsake my love
0:18:58 > 0:19:00# The flocks shall leave the mountains
0:19:00 > 0:19:03# The woods the turtle dove... #
0:19:03 > 0:19:08The music takes its cue from the sweet, simple style of the poetry,
0:19:08 > 0:19:13floating the words on clouds of florid baroque phrases.
0:19:13 > 0:19:19But when a jealous mythological giant enters the story, Handel is able to capture
0:19:19 > 0:19:24all the harsh directness of the English language without breaking the spell.
0:19:24 > 0:19:25# Torture
0:19:25 > 0:19:29# Fury
0:19:29 > 0:19:32# Rage
0:19:32 > 0:19:38# Despair I cannot, cannot bear I cannot, cannot bear
0:19:38 > 0:19:40# I cannot, cannot bear
0:19:40 > 0:19:42# The flocks shall leave the mountains
0:19:42 > 0:19:43# Torture, fury
0:19:43 > 0:19:45# I cannot, cannot bear
0:19:45 > 0:19:46# I cannot, cannot bear
0:19:46 > 0:19:50# Torture and despair
0:19:50 > 0:19:52# I cannot, cannot bear
0:19:52 > 0:19:54# I cannot, cannot bear
0:19:54 > 0:19:57# I cannot, cannot bear I cannot bear
0:19:57 > 0:20:02# No, no I cannot, cannot, cannot bear... #
0:20:02 > 0:20:05As exciting and sexy as it formal and elegant,
0:20:05 > 0:20:09Acis And Galatea seems to me to be the German-speaking composer
0:20:09 > 0:20:14tackling the English language head on and emerging joyously triumphant,
0:20:14 > 0:20:17much to the evident delight of his patron, James Bridges.
0:20:17 > 0:20:23All this opulence, this kitsch, you have to admire the man, he had balls. You'd have thought,
0:20:23 > 0:20:27who's this nouveau riche guy, he wants to make himself just like the aristocracy, but no,
0:20:27 > 0:20:31he's more than that, he wants to actually better them.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33He wants to, but equally, it's also very much skin deep.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36The outside of the church is very, very plain.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39The brickwork outside is quite shoddy.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43I mean, this is very much scenery. This church is all about music,
0:20:43 > 0:20:46and he wanted to show off by employing Handel.
0:20:53 > 0:20:58# Galatea, dry thy tears
0:20:58 > 0:21:03# Acis now a god appears... #
0:21:03 > 0:21:11Handel's relationship with his patrons demonstrates his extraordinary astuteness
0:21:11 > 0:21:15for dealing with people who have financial control and potentially
0:21:15 > 0:21:19artistic control over him, but dealing with them on his own terms.
0:21:19 > 0:21:24Acis And Galatea allowed Handel to explore his dramatic talents
0:21:24 > 0:21:31at a time when it wasn't possible to perform English language opera in the London theatres.
0:21:32 > 0:21:38# Shepherds' pleasure Muses' theme... #
0:21:39 > 0:21:44It was typical of Handel - he'd achieved his goal and it was time to move on.
0:21:45 > 0:21:49He remained autonomous, even perhaps aloof.
0:21:49 > 0:21:54His brilliant talent put him in a class all of his own and he knew it.
0:21:56 > 0:22:00His first love was still Italian opera, and returning to London,
0:22:00 > 0:22:05he set out to prove that fashionable society simply couldn't exist without it.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09London was an incredibly vigorous town, obsessed by fashion,
0:22:09 > 0:22:13what they called The Taste Of The Town, and it kept changing,
0:22:13 > 0:22:16and it was because it was free and open and there was a lot of money.
0:22:16 > 0:22:22From now on, Handel would compose and stage a big new Italian opera every year -
0:22:22 > 0:22:27fearsomely expensive productions with star salaries for the singers,
0:22:27 > 0:22:32big orchestras and elaborate stage effects, and to meet the enormous cost of the enterprise,
0:22:32 > 0:22:36he did what any enterprising 18th century businessmen did.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39He formed a limited company and sold shares,
0:22:39 > 0:22:44shares in an opulent dream world of the imagination.
0:22:47 > 0:22:53# Piangero
0:22:53 > 0:22:58# Piangero
0:22:58 > 0:23:03# La sorte mia
0:23:08 > 0:23:19# Si crudele e tanto ria
0:23:19 > 0:23:32# Finche vita in petto avro... #
0:23:32 > 0:23:34Handel's ability to create epic tales
0:23:34 > 0:23:37peopled with recognisable human characters,
0:23:37 > 0:23:40like Cleopatra in Julius Caesar, meant that again and again,
0:23:40 > 0:23:44his operas hit the bull's-eye as popular successes,
0:23:44 > 0:23:48and his artistic and commercial master plan brought him real rewards.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54Handel moved into the fashionable new Mayfair district -
0:23:54 > 0:23:57just the sort of area where his rich and cultured opera audience lived.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00And he rented this modern house, because as a foreigner,
0:24:00 > 0:24:04he wasn't actually allowed to own property.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22- Hello.- Hello. Welcome to Handel House.- Good to be here.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24So, we're one floor up.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26- That's correct.- Downstairs was...
0:24:26 > 0:24:28The reception is on the ground floor.
0:24:28 > 0:24:29This is the first floor.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33We know from records that Handel rehearsed in this space.
0:24:33 > 0:24:37- We have records of there being up to 20 people in this room at one time...- No way!
0:24:37 > 0:24:41..which, when you consider the size of the clothing they wore,
0:24:41 > 0:24:42is quite a feat, I think.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45These details at the end of the stairs
0:24:45 > 0:24:49are one of the few original features from the house when Handel moved in.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52How much of what we can see today is exactly what was here then?
0:24:52 > 0:24:55The majority of it is a very faithful representation
0:24:55 > 0:24:57of what the house looked like.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01So, this is Handel's bedroom -
0:25:01 > 0:25:05the only private space of a very public man.
0:25:05 > 0:25:06And colour scheme-wise,
0:25:06 > 0:25:09have you tried to reproduce what you perceive him to have had?
0:25:09 > 0:25:10Absolutely.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13The colour from the walls, this grey colour,
0:25:13 > 0:25:16is copied from a piece of the original panelling that was upstairs,
0:25:16 > 0:25:20where we stripped back something like 28 different coats of paint,
0:25:20 > 0:25:22which gave a history of the colour of the house,
0:25:22 > 0:25:25and the very last colour - the first one applied - was this colour.
0:25:25 > 0:25:29- Wow! So it was a real forensic job you had to do.- Absolutely.
0:25:29 > 0:25:31How fashionable was Mayfair at the time?
0:25:31 > 0:25:32It was just at the point
0:25:32 > 0:25:36where Mayfair was beginning to become very fashionable indeed.
0:25:36 > 0:25:40It was at this point that Handel seems to have decided
0:25:40 > 0:25:44to take the ultimate step and become a British citizen.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51In 1727, George I dies while visiting Germany,
0:25:51 > 0:25:55and the throne is taken by his son, George II.
0:25:57 > 0:25:59One of the last acts of George I
0:25:59 > 0:26:03had been the naturalisation of Handel.
0:26:03 > 0:26:05It was partly a practical move,
0:26:05 > 0:26:07because it gave him a greater sense of security
0:26:07 > 0:26:10but allowed him opportunities as a composer
0:26:10 > 0:26:13that he wouldn't have had otherwise -
0:26:13 > 0:26:17one such opportunity being to compose the music
0:26:17 > 0:26:18for George II's coronation.
0:26:29 > 0:26:35# Zadok the priest
0:26:35 > 0:26:43# And Nathan, the Prophet
0:26:43 > 0:26:55# Anointed Solomon King... #
0:27:03 > 0:27:07Handel was now entering middle age and beginning to put on weight.
0:27:07 > 0:27:12He composed with a seemingly inexhaustible energy,
0:27:12 > 0:27:15and his work would have undoubtedly made him rich
0:27:15 > 0:27:18if he hadn't continuously put all the cash into the opera company.
0:27:18 > 0:27:20He was, by then, a Londoner.
0:27:20 > 0:27:25He was a person that people recognised
0:27:25 > 0:27:28and was a visible public figure.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31There's a sort of parody of Handel with a heavy German accent.
0:27:31 > 0:27:33Now, I don't quite believe that.
0:27:33 > 0:27:35I think he had a forceful way,
0:27:35 > 0:27:38a rather heavy way of speaking English.
0:27:38 > 0:27:42It was said he could swear in four or five tongues -
0:27:42 > 0:27:46he could manage Latin and English and German and French,
0:27:46 > 0:27:48as well as Italian.
0:27:50 > 0:27:54His public profile made him the butt of numerous jokes.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57Cartoonists depicted him as a greedy, selfish brute -
0:27:57 > 0:27:59literally a pig in a wig.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06But it wasn't just the man himself.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09It was his entire artistic project that was fair game.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15And the greatest satirist of them all, William Hogarth,
0:28:15 > 0:28:19launched his career with an etching lampooning his Italian opera.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23This is the print I want to show you to start with.
0:28:23 > 0:28:24This is the one
0:28:24 > 0:28:27that Hogarth referred to as The Bad Taste Of The Town.
0:28:27 > 0:28:29On the left here, we have the building
0:28:29 > 0:28:33in which Handel's Italian operas were put on,
0:28:33 > 0:28:35and this show cloth here
0:28:35 > 0:28:38shows a scene from an Italian opera,
0:28:38 > 0:28:40and we have here the central figure,
0:28:40 > 0:28:43the leading Italian diva of the day, Madam Cuzzoni.
0:28:43 > 0:28:47She's got two Roman guards either side of her.
0:28:47 > 0:28:48It's probably Giulio Cesare.
0:28:48 > 0:28:50We can see this nobleman here,
0:28:50 > 0:28:54he's got this little bubble which says, "Pray accept £8,000,"
0:28:54 > 0:28:56that's about a million in today's money,
0:28:56 > 0:29:01and he's pouring out a sack of gold coins in front of her,
0:29:01 > 0:29:05and we can see that Madame Cuzzoni is holding a rake,
0:29:05 > 0:29:07so she is, literally, raking it in.
0:29:11 > 0:29:13The worst was to come.
0:29:13 > 0:29:15A new musical sensation
0:29:15 > 0:29:20was about to deliver a fatal blow to Handel's master plan.
0:29:20 > 0:29:24The Beggar's Opera was something totally new -
0:29:24 > 0:29:26a caustic musical satire
0:29:26 > 0:29:29that ripped into the corruption at the heart of 18th century society.
0:29:29 > 0:29:34It was constructed out of 70 already well-known songs -
0:29:34 > 0:29:37street music, folk tunes and works by Purcell and Handel,
0:29:37 > 0:29:42all given savage and witty new lyrics by Handel's former collaborator from Canons,
0:29:42 > 0:29:44John Gay.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49Instead of employing professional singers,
0:29:49 > 0:29:52Gay assembled a cast of energetic young actors
0:29:52 > 0:29:54who sang like the man in the street.
0:29:54 > 0:29:57To London audiences, The Beggar's Opera
0:29:57 > 0:30:00must have sounded like something totally radical and modern.
0:30:02 > 0:30:06By taking a contemporary approach to the music,
0:30:06 > 0:30:10I hope to capture some of the impact the work must originally have had,
0:30:10 > 0:30:13when it really was the shock of the new.
0:30:21 > 0:30:24# The modes of the court
0:30:24 > 0:30:26# So common have grown
0:30:26 > 0:30:28# That a true friend
0:30:28 > 0:30:31# Can hardly be met
0:30:31 > 0:30:34# Friendship for interest
0:30:34 > 0:30:36- # Is but a loan- Ooooh
0:30:36 > 0:30:38- # Which they let out- Ooooh
0:30:38 > 0:30:40- # For what they can get- Ooooh
0:30:40 > 0:30:42# 'Tis true, you find
0:30:42 > 0:30:45# Some friends so kind
0:30:45 > 0:30:48# Who will give you good counsel
0:30:48 > 0:30:50# Themselves to defend
0:30:50 > 0:30:52# In sorrowful ditty
0:30:52 > 0:30:54# They promise, they pity
0:30:54 > 0:30:57# But shift you, for money
0:30:57 > 0:30:59# From friend to friend. #
0:30:59 > 0:31:03John Gay's English lyrics spoke directly to the audience
0:31:03 > 0:31:06in a way that Handel's Italian operas never could.
0:31:06 > 0:31:10He peopled the stage not with kings and queens and gods and goddesses
0:31:10 > 0:31:12but with real London lowlife -
0:31:12 > 0:31:17the highwayman Macheath and assorted pickpockets and prostitutes.
0:31:17 > 0:31:21Gay's subject was the theft of innocence in a corrupt world.
0:31:21 > 0:31:24ORGAN PLAYS
0:31:24 > 0:31:28# Virgins are like
0:31:28 > 0:31:34# The fair flower in its lustre
0:31:34 > 0:31:38# Which in the garden
0:31:38 > 0:31:41# Enamels the ground... #
0:31:41 > 0:31:45'Virgins are like the fair flowers.
0:31:45 > 0:31:47'It starts off with him talking about'
0:31:47 > 0:31:50they're fair flowers and how wonderful it is,
0:31:50 > 0:31:52but how, as soon as they're plucked,
0:31:52 > 0:31:53their worth is completely lost
0:31:53 > 0:31:56and they end up on the scrapheap, basically,
0:31:56 > 0:31:58which kind of in those days, that's how it was -
0:31:58 > 0:32:00'that was the harsh reality of it.'
0:32:00 > 0:32:04# ..But when once pluck'd
0:32:05 > 0:32:14# 'Tis no longer alluring. #
0:32:16 > 0:32:19This song seethes with all of Gay's moral outrage
0:32:19 > 0:32:22at the exploitation of the weak by the rich and powerful.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25He hammers it home
0:32:25 > 0:32:27when the villainous Macheath
0:32:27 > 0:32:30is reprieved from execution at the last moment
0:32:30 > 0:32:36in a ludicrous send-up of the conventional happy ending of an Italian opera.
0:32:36 > 0:32:37To the tune of Greensleeves,
0:32:37 > 0:32:40Macheath claims that thanks to their money,
0:32:40 > 0:32:43the upper classes always get away with their crimes.
0:32:45 > 0:32:49# Since laws were made
0:32:49 > 0:32:54# From ev'ry degree
0:32:54 > 0:32:57# To curb vice in others
0:32:57 > 0:33:01# As well as me
0:33:01 > 0:33:07# I wonder we hadn't better company
0:33:07 > 0:33:16# Upon Tyburn Tree. #
0:33:20 > 0:33:23The popular success of The Beggar's Opera
0:33:23 > 0:33:25was simply staggering.
0:33:25 > 0:33:31It was performed in London every season for the next 100 years.
0:33:31 > 0:33:33It was genuinely something new.
0:33:33 > 0:33:35I call it the first British musical.
0:33:35 > 0:33:40And it was a success that hit Handel where it hurt him most -
0:33:40 > 0:33:41at the box office.
0:33:41 > 0:33:44In the 1730s, there were problems.
0:33:44 > 0:33:46People said,
0:33:46 > 0:33:49"The theatre's going to be a bit empty tonight," and Handel went,
0:33:49 > 0:33:54"The music'll sound better with fewer people in the audience."
0:33:56 > 0:33:59It was obviously a very personal matter.
0:33:59 > 0:34:03He actually signs a letter which is published in the papers,
0:34:03 > 0:34:05saying, "I have done my best for the London audience
0:34:05 > 0:34:07"but find they're not turning up."
0:34:10 > 0:34:13Finally, the spiralling financial difficulties
0:34:13 > 0:34:15bankrupted his opera company,
0:34:15 > 0:34:17and after 25 years in Britain,
0:34:17 > 0:34:22Handel's cherished dream was coming to an end.
0:34:22 > 0:34:24In 1741, Handel is finally forced to give up on opera
0:34:24 > 0:34:27when his new work, Deidamia, is an ignominious failure
0:34:27 > 0:34:30and is taken off after just three performances.
0:34:30 > 0:34:33Typically, Handel got over his disappointment
0:34:33 > 0:34:35in crafting a new masterpiece -
0:34:35 > 0:34:37Messiah.
0:34:38 > 0:34:41# Hallelujah
0:34:41 > 0:34:43# Hallelujah
0:34:43 > 0:34:45# Hallelujah, hallelujah
0:34:45 > 0:34:48# Hallelujah
0:34:48 > 0:34:49# Hallelujah... #
0:34:49 > 0:34:51For Handel, devout Protestant
0:34:51 > 0:34:55and regular worshipper at St George's, Hanover Square,
0:34:55 > 0:34:58Messiah was a personal expression of faith.
0:34:58 > 0:35:07# ..For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth
0:35:07 > 0:35:09# Hallelujah, hallelujah
0:35:09 > 0:35:12# Hallelujah, hallelujah... #
0:35:12 > 0:35:14Composed in just 24 days,
0:35:14 > 0:35:19it combined his love of church music with his passion for opera,
0:35:19 > 0:35:22celebrating Jesus' significance for all humanity
0:35:22 > 0:35:24with a text drawn from the Bible
0:35:24 > 0:35:26and, crucially, in English.
0:35:28 > 0:35:30And this was the turning point.
0:35:30 > 0:35:32This was when, for me,
0:35:32 > 0:35:35Handel ceased to be an illustrious composer from abroad
0:35:35 > 0:35:37but became one of us.
0:35:37 > 0:35:40# ..Hallelujah
0:35:40 > 0:35:42# Hallelujah, hallelujah
0:35:42 > 0:35:43# Hallelujah
0:35:43 > 0:35:50# For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth
0:35:50 > 0:35:53# Hallelujah, hallelujah
0:35:56 > 0:36:03# The kingdom of this world
0:36:03 > 0:36:07# Is become
0:36:07 > 0:36:11# The kingdom of our Lord
0:36:11 > 0:36:14# And of his Christ
0:36:14 > 0:36:16# And of his Christ... #
0:36:16 > 0:36:21He'd discovered the ideal vehicle for his musical ambitions.
0:36:21 > 0:36:23Messiah is an oratorio -
0:36:23 > 0:36:27a kind of narrative concert previously unknown in the UK.
0:36:27 > 0:36:31Dramatic texts could be played out in non-theatrical space
0:36:31 > 0:36:34with no expensive scenery or costumes,
0:36:34 > 0:36:36all bound together by thrilling choruses
0:36:36 > 0:36:39that could be sung by pretty much everyman.
0:36:39 > 0:36:42# ..And he shall reign forever and ever
0:36:42 > 0:36:46# King of Kings... #
0:36:46 > 0:36:48Through these collective experiences,
0:36:48 > 0:36:51Handel started a very British choral revolution.
0:36:51 > 0:36:53It's thanks to him that even today,
0:36:53 > 0:36:57there are probably more choral societies per square inch in our country
0:36:57 > 0:36:58than in most others.
0:36:58 > 0:37:00We British love to sing.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03Handel saw it and harnessed it.
0:37:03 > 0:37:05# ..Hallelujah, hallelujah... #
0:37:05 > 0:37:09The Hallelujah Chorus is the centrepiece of the oratorio.
0:37:09 > 0:37:12When George II first heard it, he spontaneously got to his feet.
0:37:12 > 0:37:14Because the King had stood up,
0:37:14 > 0:37:16everyone else had to stand -
0:37:16 > 0:37:18audience AND musicians.
0:37:18 > 0:37:20# ..Hallelujah, hallelujah
0:37:20 > 0:37:24# And Lord of Lords
0:37:24 > 0:37:26# King of Kings
0:37:26 > 0:37:28# And Lord of Lords
0:37:28 > 0:37:32# And he shall reign And he shall reign... #
0:37:32 > 0:37:35Messiah is, without doubt, Handel's masterpiece,
0:37:35 > 0:37:38a massive artistic success,
0:37:38 > 0:37:42but also just the popular success his career needed,
0:37:42 > 0:37:46and it was the Hallelujah Chorus that really seized the public imagination.
0:37:49 > 0:37:53With a little bit of rehearsal, anybody can be a part of it,
0:37:53 > 0:37:55and here in a school in Somerset,
0:37:55 > 0:37:59I've brought the pupils together with singers from half a dozen local choral societies
0:37:59 > 0:38:03for a Hallelujah Chorus crash course.
0:38:03 > 0:38:04OK...
0:38:04 > 0:38:08We're gonna start off, then we're gonna do a slow, fantastic build
0:38:08 > 0:38:09for eight hallelujahs.
0:38:09 > 0:38:12Here's a chord... Big, big breath, like you're gonna yawn.
0:38:12 > 0:38:14Three, four...
0:38:14 > 0:38:19# Hallelujah, hallelujah
0:38:19 > 0:38:20# Hallelujah, hallelujah
0:38:20 > 0:38:23# Hallelujah, hallelujah
0:38:23 > 0:38:25- # Hallelujah... #- Good.
0:38:25 > 0:38:29I wanna feel real power on "ha". Ready...go!
0:38:29 > 0:38:31Ha! Ha!
0:38:31 > 0:38:32Ha!
0:38:32 > 0:38:33- Ha!- Good.
0:38:33 > 0:38:38That is the power that we need every time you sing the word "hallelujah".
0:38:38 > 0:38:39Ha!
0:38:39 > 0:38:44# Hallelujah, hallelujah... #
0:38:44 > 0:38:47'The secret of the Hallelujah Chorus's success
0:38:47 > 0:38:49'is its blood-pulsing rhythm.
0:38:49 > 0:38:54'In three and a half minutes, there are over 70 hallelujahs -
0:38:54 > 0:38:57'an unstoppable, jubilant repetition.'
0:38:57 > 0:38:59# ..Hallelujah... #
0:38:59 > 0:39:00Hallelujah.
0:39:00 > 0:39:02You've got to attack it.
0:39:02 > 0:39:04Two, three, go!
0:39:04 > 0:39:07'Like King George, you have to respond...' Again!
0:39:07 > 0:39:09'..and respond to it physically.'
0:39:09 > 0:39:12Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
0:39:12 > 0:39:14# ..Hallelujah... #
0:39:14 > 0:39:15This is getting very good.
0:39:15 > 0:39:20You may think I'm trying to get you to sing in the equivalent of death metal...
0:39:20 > 0:39:23- RIPPLE OF LAUGHTER - ..and you wouldn't be far wrong.
0:39:23 > 0:39:27'I believe that the act of singing, no matter what it is,
0:39:27 > 0:39:29'is good for you.
0:39:29 > 0:39:34'But Handel intended that singing hallelujah would be good for your body and for your soul.
0:39:34 > 0:39:38'Soon after Messiah's first performance,
0:39:38 > 0:39:40'a friend congratulated Handel
0:39:40 > 0:39:42'on the success of his "noble entertainment".
0:39:42 > 0:39:44'His reply was that he'd be sorry
0:39:44 > 0:39:46'if he'd only entertained his audience.
0:39:46 > 0:39:51'"I wished," he declared, "to make them better."'
0:39:51 > 0:39:52I'd buy that... I'd buy that.
0:39:52 > 0:39:55We have power!
0:39:55 > 0:39:57We have pizzazz.
0:39:57 > 0:39:59One, two, three, four!
0:39:59 > 0:40:03'After less than an hour, there's an audible improvement.
0:40:03 > 0:40:09'It's almost impossible to sing this piece of music with a reserved and reverent attitude.
0:40:09 > 0:40:13'It's as if Handel wrote a sense of instant community into his score.'
0:40:13 > 0:40:15'It sounded so great.'
0:40:15 > 0:40:17They just all started singing.
0:40:17 > 0:40:20It was such a big kind of volume. It was amazing.
0:40:20 > 0:40:23Really passionate and it just felt really good to be part of it.
0:40:23 > 0:40:26The energy builds and you feed on each other's energy,
0:40:26 > 0:40:28and it gives you a bit of extra lift.
0:40:28 > 0:40:30# ..Hallelujah, hallelujah... #
0:40:30 > 0:40:34It was quite cool to be a part of it and it was good to sing as well.
0:40:34 > 0:40:36The young trebles today are 11,
0:40:36 > 0:40:37the same age as I was
0:40:37 > 0:40:41when I first sang the Christmas music from Messiah,
0:40:41 > 0:40:45which was in 19...44.
0:40:45 > 0:40:48It sounded awesome. I loved the sound of it.
0:40:48 > 0:40:55# ..For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth
0:40:55 > 0:40:59# Hallelujah. #
0:40:59 > 0:41:01Very good!
0:41:01 > 0:41:03Give yourselves a round of applause.
0:41:03 > 0:41:06CHEERING
0:41:28 > 0:41:31Not long before his 50th birthday,
0:41:31 > 0:41:34Handel was invited here to Oxford University
0:41:34 > 0:41:38to become the first ever recipient of an honorary degree in music,
0:41:38 > 0:41:42and this exceptional gesture from the heart of the British Establishment
0:41:42 > 0:41:44was testimony not just to his status as a composer
0:41:44 > 0:41:49but to his huge impact on the musical and cultural life of the nation.
0:41:49 > 0:41:50To mark the occasion,
0:41:50 > 0:41:54he organised a series of concerts here at the Sheldonian Theatre.
0:41:54 > 0:41:57But what did this academic distinction really mean to Handel?
0:42:08 > 0:42:10In fact,
0:42:10 > 0:42:13he seems to have been SO busy organising, performing
0:42:13 > 0:42:16and collecting his substantial box office receipts
0:42:16 > 0:42:19that he never got around to picking up his degree.
0:42:29 > 0:42:33The oratorio form gave Handel the freedom to organise his concerts
0:42:33 > 0:42:37with supreme flexibility and flair.
0:42:37 > 0:42:41Even a three-movement harp concerto could be inserted comfortably
0:42:41 > 0:42:46into the texture of arias and choruses.
0:42:46 > 0:42:48All of Handel's problems were solved.
0:42:48 > 0:42:50Oratorio concerts were cheap to stage,
0:42:50 > 0:42:53audiences found them both respectable and uplifting,
0:42:53 > 0:42:55and he could experiment freely.
0:42:56 > 0:43:00However, when he presented as an oratorio
0:43:00 > 0:43:03the secular, even saucy, story of Semele,
0:43:03 > 0:43:09he was to discover that perhaps the form did have its limitations.
0:43:09 > 0:43:11It's about telling a story,
0:43:11 > 0:43:14and Handel does that through his music,
0:43:14 > 0:43:17but we as performers, we have to take this music
0:43:17 > 0:43:18and do it through our bodies.
0:43:18 > 0:43:21He wrote so well in the English language.
0:43:21 > 0:43:24You can sing it in a very upright and in a very sort of pristine way,
0:43:24 > 0:43:28and you can sing it in a very sensual way.
0:43:31 > 0:43:33# Endless pleasure
0:43:34 > 0:43:37# Endless pleasure, endless love
0:43:37 > 0:43:40# Semele enjoys above... #
0:43:40 > 0:43:44'It's a gavotte, so it's always moving over to the down beat.'
0:43:44 > 0:43:48So this, "Endless pleasure, endless LOVE Semele enjoys a-BOVE."
0:43:48 > 0:43:52You know, the music just is a continual joy.
0:43:52 > 0:43:59# ..Pleasure, endless love
0:43:59 > 0:44:08# Semele enjoys above
0:44:08 > 0:44:13# Semele enjoys above. #
0:44:18 > 0:44:22Handel's audience was confused.
0:44:22 > 0:44:26The stories in oratorios were meant to be upright - at least biblical.
0:44:26 > 0:44:31And yet Semele is drawn from the classical and slightly erotic Ovid's Metamorphoses.
0:44:31 > 0:44:36Semele was, they suspected, something slightly louche.
0:44:36 > 0:44:38An opera in disguise?
0:44:38 > 0:44:42Overall, it was a failure and, I think, for Handel a hurtful failure.
0:44:42 > 0:44:47But it did yield one rich tenor aria which was, and continues to be, hugely popular.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53# Where'er you walk
0:44:55 > 0:44:59# Cool gales shall fan the glade
0:45:01 > 0:45:06# Trees where you sit
0:45:06 > 0:45:10# Shall crowd into a shade
0:45:11 > 0:45:22# Trees where you sit Shall crowd into a shade
0:45:28 > 0:45:32# Where'er you walk
0:45:32 > 0:45:39# Cool gales shall fan the glade
0:45:39 > 0:45:43# Trees where you sit
0:45:43 > 0:45:56# Shall crowd into a shade
0:45:56 > 0:46:01# Trees where you sit
0:46:02 > 0:46:13# Shall crowd into a shade. #
0:46:17 > 0:46:20It's an interesting example of the fact that Handel so often
0:46:20 > 0:46:24tried and didn't always necessarily succeed. This was a bit of a flop,
0:46:24 > 0:46:28- when it opened.- Yeah, but I think it's gone on from strength to strength
0:46:28 > 0:46:34and some of the things we love most of Handel's are from this, so in the long run, he won out.
0:46:34 > 0:46:37You do feel that he did end up British. The way he sets the English language
0:46:37 > 0:46:39is so extraordinarily good.
0:46:39 > 0:46:43Yes. I mean, I think he always spoke with a German accent,
0:46:43 > 0:46:47but he'd adopted Englishness in the most extraordinary way,
0:46:47 > 0:46:50and he became this amazing symbol of Britishness.
0:46:50 > 0:46:53He was almost like, in the cultural sphere,
0:46:53 > 0:46:55the equivalent of the King.
0:46:55 > 0:46:58I mean, the King was German, the top cultural figure was German.
0:47:01 > 0:47:06# ..Trees where you sit
0:47:07 > 0:47:18# Shall crowd into a shade. #
0:47:18 > 0:47:22Handel's best tunes always reach out to the widest possible audience.
0:47:22 > 0:47:25Spring Gardens, on the south bank of the Thames,
0:47:25 > 0:47:28was once part of Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens,
0:47:28 > 0:47:32a vast and hugely popular 18th century entertainment complex
0:47:32 > 0:47:38dominated by a statue of the hero of British culture - George Frideric Handel.
0:47:38 > 0:47:41The people themselves were part of the entertainment.
0:47:41 > 0:47:43They saw themselves as part
0:47:43 > 0:47:45of this unfolding, constantly moving spectacle.
0:47:45 > 0:47:49Some were not pleased with the way
0:47:49 > 0:47:53in which aristocratic and poor would mingle together.
0:47:53 > 0:47:57They said that they were "jumbled together as in a common grave",
0:47:57 > 0:48:00which is a rather dismal view of the gardens,
0:48:00 > 0:48:03but I think most people who came here would come
0:48:03 > 0:48:06to look at the statues, to enjoy walking in the trees -
0:48:06 > 0:48:10this sort of ambience of nature in what was becoming
0:48:10 > 0:48:13increasingly built-up, urbanised London.
0:48:13 > 0:48:17They would sit and have dinner and listen to music by Handel
0:48:17 > 0:48:20performed in front of the dinner boxes.
0:48:20 > 0:48:24MUSIC: "La Rejouissance" from Music For The Royal Fireworks
0:48:24 > 0:48:28Handel was a master of the grand musical statement.
0:48:28 > 0:48:34Audiences are still captivated by his bold, large-scale pieces, like the Music For The Royal Fireworks,
0:48:34 > 0:48:39which was first heard at a legendary public rehearsal in Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens.
0:49:09 > 0:49:13The public rehearsal of Handel's Firework music
0:49:13 > 0:49:17made an enormous impact - there were huge numbers.
0:49:17 > 0:49:22London Bridge was the only route across the river, and so it was jam-packed with coaches
0:49:22 > 0:49:28and apparently, a group of footmen had a public brawl and some nobleman got injured.
0:49:28 > 0:49:30How many people do you think crammed in here
0:49:30 > 0:49:34- to witness this spectacle? - About 12,000.
0:49:34 > 0:49:39I think he always had his eye on popular success of a kind,
0:49:39 > 0:49:45where he could do it without compromising his musical or artistic integrity.
0:49:45 > 0:49:49MUSIC: Foundling Hospital Anthem
0:49:51 > 0:49:54Handel was nearly 65 and still composing prolifically.
0:49:54 > 0:50:00But now he began to use his status as the country's leading composer to support charitable causes.
0:50:03 > 0:50:10The Foundling Hospital was Britain's first home for abandoned and illegitimate babies.
0:50:10 > 0:50:13William Hogarth was already a major benefactor,
0:50:13 > 0:50:15and Handel now decided to join him.
0:50:15 > 0:50:18Looking at that, as with all Hogarth, you just sense
0:50:18 > 0:50:20just how seething and, basically,
0:50:20 > 0:50:24most people's experience of life was so unpleasant.
0:50:24 > 0:50:27You see all sides of 18th-century life - The March Of The Guards.
0:50:27 > 0:50:30He raffled it to raise money for the hospital
0:50:30 > 0:50:33and he gave the spare, unsold tickets to the hospital.
0:50:33 > 0:50:36One of those happened, perhaps not by chance,
0:50:36 > 0:50:40to be the winning ticket, so the hospital got the painting as well as the proceeds of the raffle.
0:50:40 > 0:50:43- How did Handel come to be involved? - He first turned up
0:50:43 > 0:50:48in the council committee minutes offering to do a benefit concert in 1749.
0:50:48 > 0:50:50The concert was arranged within about three weeks
0:50:50 > 0:50:54and he wrote some new music for it - the Foundling Hospital Anthem -
0:50:54 > 0:50:59and put it together with the other new music he'd written that year to make a popular, sold-out concert.
0:50:59 > 0:51:04This is clearly a way he could make a difference. Hogarth could auction paintings. Handel had to do gigs.
0:51:04 > 0:51:09Yes. Very much in the Live Aid theme of today, he did the benefit concerts of the 18th century.
0:51:09 > 0:51:14# Blessed, blessed, blessed are they
0:51:14 > 0:51:16# Blessed
0:51:16 > 0:51:20# Blessed are they that considereth
0:51:20 > 0:51:23# The poor and the needy
0:51:23 > 0:51:27# The Lord will deliver them in time of trouble... #
0:51:27 > 0:51:33The anthem that Handel composed specially to be performed at his Foundling Hospital benefit concerts
0:51:33 > 0:51:36brilliantly demonstrates his ability to combine
0:51:36 > 0:51:39sincere spirituality with rigorous practicality.
0:51:39 > 0:51:47# ..The Lord preserve them and comfort them... #
0:51:47 > 0:51:52'It's basically a recruiting song for the charity. But it works
0:51:52 > 0:51:57'by inviting the listener into a sort of feel-good experience about charitable giving.'
0:51:57 > 0:52:02This is Handel's last will and testament. Um...
0:52:02 > 0:52:07He wrote a will in 1750 and he leaves a bequest of the score and parts of Messiah
0:52:07 > 0:52:13to the Foundling Hospital, which enabled them to carry on their charity concerts after his death.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16'Seeing Handel's will really fascinated me.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19'His handwriting was as bold, clear and forceful
0:52:19 > 0:52:22'as I imagine the man himself was.'
0:52:22 > 0:52:25HARPSICHORD PLAYS: Suite No. 8 in F minor, 2nd movement
0:52:25 > 0:52:30I was keen to see more, particularly some of his music manuscripts, and in the British Library,
0:52:30 > 0:52:36they've conserved one of the most poignant - the manuscript for Jephtha, his last great oratorio.
0:52:39 > 0:52:44What happens is that in 1751-2, his eyesight starts to fail.
0:52:44 > 0:52:48This is Handel's, as it were, typical handwriting.
0:52:48 > 0:52:50Very few changes, and those that are made
0:52:50 > 0:52:53are made very, very clearly.
0:52:53 > 0:52:58He may leave some details of the orchestra to fill in later, but pretty well,
0:52:58 > 0:53:00by the time we're through, there's a draft
0:53:00 > 0:53:02of something for every movement.
0:53:02 > 0:53:05And when he gets to the bottom of this page,
0:53:05 > 0:53:10you see 13th February 1751 - his annotation there is
0:53:10 > 0:53:12he couldn't go on,
0:53:12 > 0:53:17because of the trouble with his eyesight, and he couldn't do any more.
0:53:17 > 0:53:20# How dark
0:53:20 > 0:53:27# How dark, how dark
0:53:27 > 0:53:34# How dark, how dark
0:53:34 > 0:53:38# O Lord... #
0:53:38 > 0:53:44Now, this was doubly troublesome, because not merely had he not finished the score,
0:53:44 > 0:53:47but the first night was only ten days away,
0:53:47 > 0:53:50so he has to get something ready for there,
0:53:50 > 0:53:52and actually, what we then find,
0:53:52 > 0:53:53down at the bottom of the next page,
0:53:53 > 0:53:58he says ten days later, his eye is somewhat recovered
0:53:58 > 0:54:00and he can go back to work.
0:54:00 > 0:54:04The really curious thing is that the trouble with his eyesight happens
0:54:04 > 0:54:07on the chorus How Dark, O Lord, Are Thy Decrees.
0:54:07 > 0:54:14# ..How dark
0:54:14 > 0:54:20# O Lord
0:54:20 > 0:54:27# Are thy decrees... #
0:54:27 > 0:54:31The thing about it is that 23rd February actually was his birthday.
0:54:31 > 0:54:36- It's suddenly become painfully autobiographical.- Certainly so.
0:54:36 > 0:54:38There's a sense of faith about this.
0:54:38 > 0:54:42# ..From mortal sight
0:54:45 > 0:54:55# All hid from mortal sight... #
0:54:55 > 0:54:59His creative life was over. It wasn't long
0:54:59 > 0:55:02before he'd lost the sight in both eyes.
0:55:02 > 0:55:06For the next few years he struggled on, helped by assistants,
0:55:06 > 0:55:11revising old works and tirelessly promoting the performance of his music.
0:55:11 > 0:55:17# ..All hid from mortal sight... #
0:55:17 > 0:55:22Every time you get to know the music of a great composer,
0:55:22 > 0:55:28your exploration throws up lots of questions about who that person might be or might have been,
0:55:28 > 0:55:31because somehow, the music will always feel autobiographical.
0:55:31 > 0:55:36Handel came to Britain and, as people so often claim, ended up
0:55:36 > 0:55:39becoming more British than the British.
0:55:39 > 0:55:43But for him personally, it must have always felt unusual
0:55:43 > 0:55:48to have made his whole world in a country where he would only ever be perceived as a foreigner.
0:55:48 > 0:55:51So he must have been a pretty strong individual,
0:55:51 > 0:55:53able to take the knocks,
0:55:53 > 0:55:56that he could more or less completely reinvent himself.
0:55:56 > 0:56:00He knew what he wanted and he was damned sure he was going to get it.
0:56:00 > 0:56:04All great people who've achieved anything in any walk of life
0:56:04 > 0:56:06have had to be quite ruthless.
0:56:06 > 0:56:08But I find that a conundrum,
0:56:08 > 0:56:10because his music is so deeply human,
0:56:10 > 0:56:14and so potent, and so theatrical, so come-hither,
0:56:14 > 0:56:16so un-put-downable.
0:56:16 > 0:56:18And yet it seems to me the man behind the music
0:56:18 > 0:56:23must have been incredibly tough, which probably didn't make him very likeable,
0:56:23 > 0:56:28but...goodness me... the legacy is worth volumes.
0:56:37 > 0:56:48# I know that my Redeemer liveth
0:56:56 > 0:57:04# And that he shall stand
0:57:04 > 0:57:14# At the latter day
0:57:14 > 0:57:21# Upon the earth... #
0:57:24 > 0:57:29One night, on returning from a performance of Messiah at Covent Garden,
0:57:29 > 0:57:35Handel was seized with a sudden weakness, and he retired to his bed, never to rise again.
0:57:35 > 0:57:40On 14th April 1759, he passed away peacefully at the age of 74.
0:57:40 > 0:57:46Over 3,000 mourners attended his funeral, which was given full state honours.
0:57:46 > 0:57:49After his death, his reputation would continue to grow,
0:57:49 > 0:57:52and the engine was Messiah.
0:57:52 > 0:57:58# And he shall reign forever and ever
0:57:58 > 0:58:01# King of Kings
0:58:01 > 0:58:03# Forever and ever... #
0:58:03 > 0:58:08In the years following Handel's death, Great Britain grew increasingly rich and powerful,
0:58:08 > 0:58:13and Handel's music became part of the very fabric of our national life.
0:58:13 > 0:58:18# ..And ever King of Kings... #
0:58:18 > 0:58:22In the next episode of The Birth Of British Music, I'll discover how,
0:58:22 > 0:58:25at the end of the 18th century, another foreigner -
0:58:25 > 0:58:29the Austrian Joseph Haydn - became our musical national hero.
0:58:29 > 0:58:33# ..He shall reign forever and ever
0:58:33 > 0:58:36# King of Kings Forever and ever
0:58:36 > 0:58:38# And Lord of Lords Forever and ever
0:58:38 > 0:58:41# Hallelujah, hallelujah
0:58:41 > 0:58:43# Hallelujah, hallelujah
0:58:45 > 0:58:52# Hallelujah! #