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115-601: In November 1863 the president of the United States Sanitary Commission , Dr. Henry Whitney Bellows , wrote on a paper called "Rough Hints" the main principles that needed to be applied to hold a fair in New York . It stated: To be Metropolitan, the Fair must be: To accomplish this, it must be diversified, various, many-sided: everybody must can do and buy something. It is important to gratify

230-579: A Georgian house at 25 Brook Street , which he rented for the rest of his life. This house, where he rehearsed, copied music, and sold tickets, is now the Handel House Museum . During twelve months between 1724 and 1725, Handel wrote three successful operas, Giulio Cesare , Tamerlano and Rodelinda . Handel's operas are filled with da capo arias , such as Svegliatevi nel core . After composing Silete venti , he concentrated on opera and stopped writing cantatas. Scipio , from which

345-621: A musical clock with a pipe organ built by Charles Clay; it was bought by Gerrit Braamcamp and was in 2016 acquired by the Museum Speelklok in Utrecht. Deidamia , his last opera, a co-production with the Earl of Holderness , was performed three times in 1741. Handel gave up the opera business, while he enjoyed more success with his English oratorios. Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno , an allegory , Handel's first oratorio

460-525: A "respect for the dignity and freedom of man's mind and the solemn majesty of the law", principles that would have drawn him to and kept him in England for half a century. Handel also there encountered theologian and professor of Oriental languages August Hermann Francke , who was particularly solicitous of children, especially orphans. The orphanage he founded became a model for Germany, and undoubtedly influenced Handel's own charitable impulse when he assigned

575-649: A carillon and extra-large military kettledrums (from the Tower of London ), to be sure "...it will be most excessive noisy". Saul and Israel in Egypt , both from 1739, head the list of great, mature oratorios, in which the da capo aria became the exception and not the rule. Israel in Egypt consists of little else but choruses, borrowing from the Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline . In his next works, Handel changed his course. In these works he laid greater stress on

690-539: A church organist and cantor was a highly prestigious office. From it, he received 5 thalers a year and lodgings in the run-down castle of Moritzburg. Around this same time, Handel made the acquaintance of Telemann . Four years Handel's senior, Telemann was studying law at Leipzig and was assisting cantor Johann Kuhnau ( Bach 's predecessor at the Thomaskirche there). Telemann recalled forty years later in an autobiography for Mattheson's Grundlage : "The writing of

805-646: A court servant; and so, given the embarrassed financial condition of his mother, Handel set off for Hamburg to obtain experience while supporting himself. In 1703, he accepted a position as violinist and harpsichordist in the orchestra of the Hamburg Oper am Gänsemarkt . There he met the composers Johann Mattheson , Christoph Graupner and Reinhard Keiser . Handel's first two operas, Almira and Nero , were produced in 1705. He produced two other operas, Daphne and Florindo , performed in 1708. According to Mainwaring, in 1706 Handel travelled to Italy at

920-462: A front of more than two hundred feet, and not only extending through from Fourteenth to Fifteenth streets, but including the north sidewalk on the lower street, and on the upper leaving room for the passage of only a single carriage. At fourteenth Street there were the main buildings of the Fair - with a dome , forming a large bazaar , with adjacent sections used for exhibition of paintings and similar adoptions. Previously described main buildings were

1035-708: A handwritten date of a copy (1700) and stylistic considerations. Lang writes that the works "show thorough acquaintance with the distilled sonata style of the Corelli school " and are notable for "the formal security and the cleanness of the texture." Hogwood considers all of the oboe trio sonatas spurious and even suggests that some parts cannot be performed on oboe. That authentic manuscript sources do not exist and that Handel never recycled any material from these works makes their authenticity doubtful. Other early chamber works were printed in Amsterdam in 1724 as opus 1, but it

1150-532: A journey back from Germany to London, Handel was seriously injured in a carriage accident between The Hague and Haarlem in the Netherlands. In 1751, one eye started to fail. The cause was a cataract which was operated on by the great charlatan Chevalier Taylor . This did not improve his eyesight and possibly made it worse. He was completely blind by 1752. He died in 1759 at home in Brook Street, at

1265-495: A larger public. Next came Deborah , strongly coloured by the coronation anthems and Athaliah , his third English Oratorio. In these three oratorios Handel laid the foundation for the traditional use of the chorus which marks his later oratorios. Handel became sure of himself, broader in his presentation, and more diverse in his composition. It is evident how much he learned from Arcangelo Corelli about writing for instruments, and from Alessandro Scarlatti about writing for

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1380-479: A limited diet. She worked in hospitals after the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. She was a successful administrator, especially at the hospital for black soldiers at City Point, Virginia. The middle-class women who volunteered provided vitally needed nursing services and were rewarded with a sense of patriotism and civic duty in addition to the opportunity to demonstrate their skills and gain new ones, while receiving wages and sharing

1495-718: A little over two weeks. The financial statement of the Metropolitan Fair reported that the whole amount received by the Treasury of the Fair up to 1 August 1864, date of the report of the treasurer , was One Million Three Hundred and Forty Thousand Fifty Dollars and Thirty Seven Cents ($ 1,340,050.37). Moreover, the Financial Statement reports that the amount paid out for expenses was One Hundred Sixty Three Thousands Three Hundred and Seventy Eight Dollars and Forty Seven Cents ($ 163,378.47), leaving as

1610-638: A private setting for Ruspoli and Ottoboni in 1709 and 1710, respectively. Rodrigo , his first all-Italian opera, was produced in the Cocomero theatre in Florence in 1707. Agrippina was first produced in 1709 at Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo in Venice, owned by the Grimanis . The opera, with a libretto by Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani , ran for 27 nights successively. The audience, thunderstruck with

1725-405: A profess'd friend of Mr. Handel (who was here also) was admitted; I never was so well entertained at an opera! Mr. Handel was in the best humour in the world, and played lessons and accompanied Strada and all the ladies that sang from seven o'clock till eleven. I gave them tea and coffee, and about half an hour after nine had a salver brought in of chocolate, mulled white wine, and biscuits. Everybody

1840-691: A recovery, he had a relapse in May, with an accompanying deterioration in his mental capacities. He had strong competition from John Frederick Lampe ; The Dragon of Wantley was first performed at the Little Theatre in the Haymarket in London on 16 May 1737. It was a parody of the Italian opera seria . In Autumn 1737 the fatigued Handel reluctantly followed the advice of his physicians and went to take

1955-412: A room at the top of the house. To this room he constantly stole when the family was asleep". Although both John Hawkins and Charles Burney credited this tale, Schoelcher found it nearly "incredible" and a feat of "poetic imagination" and Lang considers it one of the unproven "romantic stories" that surrounded Handel's childhood. But Handel had to have had some experience with the keyboard to have made

2070-674: A second sanitary fair in 1865. The U.S. Sanitary Commission is memorialized by a group of re-enactors who portray the Boston branch of the commission at various civic events, educational programs, and Civil War re-enactments. The group is based out of the Greater Boston area of Massachusetts . Handel George Frideric (or Frederick ) Handel ( / ˈ h æ n d əl / HAN -dəl ; baptised Georg Fried [ e ] rich Händel , German: [ˈɡeːɔʁk ˈfʁiːdʁɪç ˈhɛndl̩] ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759)

2185-566: A year Georg married again, this time to the daughter of a Lutheran minister, Pastor Georg Taust of the Church of St. Bartholomew in Giebichenstein, who himself came from a long line of Lutheran pastors. George Frideric was the second child of this marriage; the first son was stillborn . Two younger sisters arrived afterwards: Dorthea Sophia, born on 6 October 1687, and Johanna Christiana, born on 10 January 1690. Early in his life Handel

2300-546: Is impossible to tell which are early works in their original form, rather than later re-workings by Handel, a frequent practice of his. Handel's probationary appointment to Domkirche expired in March 1703. By July Handel was in Hamburg. Since he left no explanation for the move biographers have offered their own speculation. Donald Burrows believes that the answer can be found by untangling Mainwaring's confused chronology of

2415-514: Is reported to have attended the Gymnasium in Halle, where the headmaster, Johann Praetorius  [ de ] , was reputed to be an ardent musician. Whether Handel remained there, and if he did for how long, is unknown, but many biographers suggest that he was withdrawn from school by his father, based on the characterization of him by Handel's first biographer, John Mainwaring . Mainwaring

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2530-584: Is said the compositions spurred reconciliation between Handel and the king, supposedly annoyed by the composer's abandonment of his Hanover post. In 1717, Handel became house composer at Cannons in Middlesex , where he laid the cornerstone for his future choral compositions in the Chandos Anthems . Romain Rolland wrote that these anthems (or Psalms) stood in relation to Handel's oratorios, much

2645-407: Is the source for almost all information (little as it is) of Handel's childhood, and much of that information came from J. C. Smith Jr., Handel's confidant and copyist. Whether it came from Smith or elsewhere, Mainwaring frequently relates misinformation. It is from Mainwaring that the portrait comes of Handel's father as implacably opposed to any musical education. Mainwaring writes that Georg Händel

2760-588: The First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861, the first orders and receipts submitted to the Central Office began to arrive from the military Union Army hospitals at Alexandria, Virginia , and Washington, D.C., requesting water-beds , small tables for writing in bed, iron wire cradles for protecting wounded limbs, dominoes, checkerboards, Delphinium and hospital gowns for the wounded. The demands of

2875-542: The King James Bible . In 1728, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera , which made fun of the type of Italian opera Handel had popularised in London, premiered at Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre and ran for 62 consecutive performances, the longest run in theatre history up to that time. After nine years the Royal Academy of Music ceased to function but Handel soon started a new company. The Queen's Theatre at

2990-663: The Pension Building in Washington, D.C. to handle all the staff to process the pension requests and administer them. Its successor, built as a permanent building in the 1880s, is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places . After the war, the USSC volunteers continued to work with Union Army veterans to secure their bounties, back pay, and apply for pensions. It supported the "health and hygiene" of

3105-593: The Union Square and on Broadway Avenue and Fourth Avenue thanks to the Building Committee and the faith and hard work of some Ladies. The Mayor of the city, Charles Godfrey Gunther , on April 2, in view of the important occasion arisen from the humanitarian labor of love of charity associations , had issued a proclamation recommending that the opening day of the Fair had to be considered as holiday . Major-General John Adams Dix had organized

3220-666: The United States Army (Federal / Northern / Union Army ) during the American Civil War . It operated across the North, raised an estimated $ 25 million in Civil War era revenue (assuming 1865 dollars, $ 497.61 million in 2024) and in-kind contributions to support the cause, and enlisted thousands of volunteers. The president was Henry Whitney Bellows , and Frederick Law Olmsted acted as executive secretary. It

3335-459: The net profit of the Fair the sum of One Million One Hundred and Seventy Six Thousands Six Hundred and Seventy One Dollars and Ninety Cents ($ 1,176,671.90). As economic contributions continued to be donated and as further goods deliveries were expected and as many items remained unsold, the accounts of the Treasurer couldn't be closed on that day (1 August 1864), and a final statement showed

3450-707: The slave-trading Royal African Company (RAC), following in the steps of his patron (the Duke of Chandos was one of the leading investors in the RAC). As noted by music historian David Hunter, 32 per cent of the subscribers and investors in the Royal Academy of Music, or their close family members, held investments in the RAC as well. In May 1719, The 1st Duke of Newcastle , the Lord Chamberlain , ordered Handel to look for new singers. Handel travelled to Dresden to attend

3565-666: The "magic" opera Orlando . After two commercially successful English oratorios Esther and Deborah , he was able to invest again in the South Sea Company . Handel reworked his Acis and Galatea which then became his most successful work ever. Handel failed to compete with the Opera of the Nobility , who engaged musicians such as Johann Adolph Hasse , Nicolo Porpora and the famous castrato Farinelli . The strong support by Frederick, Prince of Wales caused conflicts in

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3680-531: The English nobility with Italian opera. In 1737, he had a physical breakdown, changed direction creatively, addressed the middle class and made a transition to English choral works. After his success with Messiah (1742), he never composed an Italian opera again. His orchestral Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks remain steadfastly popular. One of his four coronation anthems , Zadok

3795-472: The Federal army with funds and supplies, and to raise funds for the work of the USSC. Women who were prominent in the organization, often traveling great distances, and working in harsh conditions, included Louisa May Alcott , Almira Fales , Eliza Emily Chappell Porter , Katherine Prescott Wormeley , and many others. Dorothea Dix , serving as the commission's superintendent, convinced the medical corps of

3910-431: The Haymarket (now His Majesty's Theatre), established in 1705 by architect and playwright John Vanbrugh , quickly became an opera house. Between 1711 and 1739, more than 25 of Handel's operas premièred there. In 1729, Handel became joint manager of the theatre with John James Heidegger . Handel travelled to Italy to engage new singers and also composed seven more operas, among them the comic masterpiece Partenope and

4025-464: The Italian Baroque. In turn, Handel's music forms one of the peaks of the "high baroque" style, bringing Italian opera to its highest development, creating the genres of English oratorio and organ concerto, and introducing a new style into English church music. He is consistently recognized as one of the greatest composers of his age. Handel started three commercial opera companies to supply

4140-428: The Italian poet Torquato Tasso , Handel enjoyed great success, although it was composed quickly, with many borrowings from his older Italian works. This work contains one of Handel's favourite arias, Cara sposa, amante cara , and the famous Lascia ch'io pianga . Handel went back to Halle twice, to attend the wedding of his sister and the baptism of her daughter, but decided to settle permanently in England in 1712. In

4255-596: The Metropolitan Fair was to hire the Academy of Music and Iring Hall but these buildings didn't have enough rooms. In a second moment, there was the idea of using the building then unfinished, bounded by Broadway , Sixth Avenue , and Thirty-Fifth and Thirty-Sixth Streets, in conjunction with the State Arsenal, Seventh Avenue and Thirty-Fifth Street, some vacant lots in Thirty-Fourth Street, and

4370-602: The Power of Music based on John Dryden's Alexander's Feast starred Anna Maria Strada del Pò and John Beard . Early 1737 he produced Arminio and Giustino , completed Berenice , revived Partenope , and continued with Il Parnasso in Festa , Alexander's Feast , and the revised The Triumph of Time and Truth which premiered on 23 March. In April Handel suffered a mild stroke, or rheumatic palsy , resulting in temporary paralysis in his right hand and arm. After brief signs of

4485-540: The President's signature. Hunt's mother, the widow of Vermont congressman Jonathan Hunt , planned to attach Lincoln's signature to copies of several casts of the President's hand, to be sold to raise funds for the war effort. Other fund raising events included the famous 50 pound sack of flour that was auctioned off by Reuel Colt Gridley . By auctioning off the same sack of flour, which was then re-donated to be sold again, Gridley eventually raised more than $ 250,000.00 for

4600-523: The Priest , has been performed at every British coronation since 1727. Almost blind, he died in 1759 a respected and rich man, and was given a state funeral at Westminster Abbey . Handel composed more than forty opere serie over a period of more than thirty years. Since the late 1960s, interest in Handel's music has grown. The musicologist Winton Dean wrote that "Handel was not only a great composer; he

4715-883: The Sanitary Commission. States could use their own tax money to supplement the Commission's work, as Ohio did. Under the energetic leadership of Governor David Tod , a War Democrat who won office on a coalition "Union Party" ticket with Republicans, Ohio acted vigorously. Following the unexpected carnage at the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862, it sent three steamboats to the scene as floating hospitals with doctors, nurses and medical supplies. The state fleet expanded to eleven hospital ships. The state also set up 12 local offices in main transportation nodes to help Ohio soldiers moving back and forth. The government constructed

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4830-606: The USSC Central Office and the U.S. War Department had received detailed studies and reports from the Sanitary Inspectors of more than four hundred regimental camp inspections. The rapidly crowded events of those first six months of the war displayed the sheer gravity of the situation in which the adjustment to the means and agencies were desperately needed to ensure a high health-rate in all those untrained Union Army regiments. Immediately following

4945-438: The USSC operated 30 soldiers' homes, lodges, or rest houses for traveling or disabled Union soldiers. Most of these closed shortly after the war. Also active in the association was Colonel Leavitt Hunt (1831–1907), a New York lawyer and pioneering photographer. In January 1864, he wrote to 16th President Abraham Lincoln 's secretary John George Nicolay asking that Nicolay forward him any documents he might have available with

5060-546: The age of 74. The last performance he attended was of Messiah . Handel was buried in Westminster Abbey . More than three thousand mourners attended his funeral, which was given full state honours. Handel never married and kept his personal life private. His initial will bequeathed the bulk of his estate to his niece Johanna, but four codicils distributed much of his estate to other relations, servants, friends and charities. Handel owned an art collection that

5175-537: The aria Hark! hark! He strikes the golden lyre , Handel wrote the accompaniment for mandolin , harp , violin, viola, and violoncello . Another of his English oratorios, Solomon , was first performed on 17 March 1749 at the Covent Garden Theatre. The text for Solomon is thought to have been penned by the English Jewish poet and playwright Moses Mendes , based on the biblical stories of

5290-595: The building housed the Department of Ordnance, referring to the public service and the Museum of Arms and Trophies. The street front of the Fair was extended by incorporating a building occupied by the livery stable, and a building of three divisions designated for the Fair Restaurant. The Department of Machinery, a house, a shop with three other full parts were placed at Fifteenth Street. Temporary buildings on

5405-662: The ceremonies were opened by a choir and a military band that played " Star Spangled Banner " and then the solemn Holmes' "Army Hymn" to express the spirit that carried out Americans during the war and gave a prompt to the organization of the Fair. After that General Dix spoke in behalf of the Gentlemen's Executive Committee and ended his speech by thanking the Ladies with the following words: "To your hands, ladies, we commit these contributions from both hemispheres, to be disposed of under your auspices. And you may rest assured that

5520-621: The chief composers represented in this exercise book were Johann Krieger , an "old master" in the fugue and prominent organ composer, Johann Caspar Kerll , a representative of the "southern style" after his teacher Girolamo Frescobaldi and imitated later by Handel, Johann Jakob Froberger , an "internationalist" also closely studied by Buxtehude and Bach , and Georg Muffat , whose amalgam of French and Italian styles and his synthesis of musical forms influenced Handel. Mainwaring writes that during this time Zachow had begun to have Handel assume some of his church duties. Zachow, Mainwaring asserts,

5635-644: The composer's important patrons and a primary subscriber to his new opera company, the Royal Academy of Music , though his patronage declined after Chandos lost large sums of money in the South Sea Bubble , which burst in 1720 in one of history's greatest financial cataclysms. Handel himself invested in the South Sea Company in 1716, when its share prices were low and sold them before the "bubble" burst in 1720. In 1720, Handel invested in

5750-568: The court of Saxe-Weissenfels and the Margraviate of Brandenburg . Halle was a relatively prosperous city, home of a salt-mining industry, a centre of trade, and a member of the Hanseatic League . The Margrave of Brandenburg became the administrator of the archepiscopal territories of Mainz , including Magdeburg when they converted, and by the early 17th century held his court in Halle, which attracted renowned musicians. Even

5865-684: The cure in the spa towns of Royal Tunbridge Wells , Aix-la-Chapelle ( Burtscheid ) in September. All the symptoms of his "disorder" vanished by November. On Christmas Eve Handel finished the score of Faramondo , but its composition was interrupted by that of the Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline . On Boxing Day he began the composition of Serse , the only comic opera that Handel ever wrote and worked with Elisabeth Duparc . A harp and organ concerto (HWV 294) and Alexander's Feast were published in 1738 by John Walsh . He composed music for

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5980-420: The dancing of Marie Sallé , for whom Handel composed Terpsicore . In 1735, he introduced organ concertos between the acts. For the first time, Handel allowed Gioacchino Conti , who had no time to learn his part, to substitute arias. Financially, Ariodante was a failure, although he introduced ballet suites at the end of each act. Alcina , his last opera with a magic content, and Alexander's Feast or

6095-433: The date of the trip or Mainwaring's statements about Handel's father must be in error. Early biographers solved the problem by making the year of the trip 1696, then noting that at the age of 11, Handel would need a guardian, so they have Handel's father or a friend of the family accompany him, all the while puzzling over why the elder Handel, who wanted Handel to become a lawyer, would spend the sum to lead his son further into

6210-495: The effects of orchestra and soloists; the chorus retired into the background. L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato has a rather diverting character; the work is light and fresh. During the summer of 1741, the 3rd Duke of Devonshire invited Handel to Dublin , capital of the Kingdom of Ireland , to give concerts for the benefit of local hospitals. Composed in London between 22 August and 14 September 1741, Handel's Messiah

6325-721: The excellent Johann Kuhnau served as a model for me in fugue and counterpoint; but in fashioning melodic movements and examining them Handel and I were constantly occupied, frequently visiting each other as well as writing letters." Although Mainwaring records that Handel wrote weekly when assistant to Zachow and as probationary organist at Domkirche part of his duty was to provide suitable music, no sacred compositions from his Halle period can now be identified. Mattheson, however, summarised his opinion of Handel's church cantatas written in Halle: "Handel in those days set very, very long arias and sheerly unending cantatas which, while not possessing

6440-707: The famed landscape architect who designed New York's Central Park ". George Templeton Strong (1820–1875), New York lawyer and diarist, helped found the commission and served as treasurer and member of the executive committee. In June 1861, the Sanitary Commission set up its central office inside the United States Treasury Building , just east of the Executive Mansion (now the White House), on Pennsylvania Avenue and 15th Street in central Washington, D.C. By late October 1861,

6555-407: The fourteenth and fifteenth street cost more than sixty thousand dollars, although it was needed more space. The Sanitary Commission , in line with the idea to allow children to have an active role in the fair, agreed to be responsible for the additional buildings, and the organizers gained permission to use part of Union Square . The building in Union Square , though divided into four departments,

6670-534: The grandeur and sublimity of his style, applauded for Il caro Sassone ("the dear Saxon" – referring to Handel's German origins). In June 1710, Handel became Kapellmeister to German prince George, the Elector of Hanover , but left at the end of the year. It is likely he was also invited by Charles Montagu the former ambassador in Venice to visit England. He visited Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici and her husband in Düsseldorf on his way to London. With his opera Rinaldo , based on La Gerusalemme Liberata by

6785-441: The great industrial establishments. These suggestions were accepted during a meeting between approximately fifty or sixty ladies, held at the Union League Club House, on November 21, 1863. They started to work on the project and elected an Executive Board consisting of twenty-five ladies, who acted in connection with an Advisory Committee of twenty-five gentlemen, appointed by the Sanitary Committee on December 11. A prospectus

6900-406: The hardships of the men. Mary Livermore , Mary Ann Bickerdyke , and Annie Wittenmeyer played leadership roles. After the war some nurses wrote memoirs of their experiences; examples include Dix, Livermore, Sarah Palmer Young , and Sarah Emma Edmonds . Bridget Diver also worked for the Commission. From the outset, many local groups sponsored fund-raising events to benefit the Commission. As

7015-482: The house at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Thirty-Fourth Street, last used by the Spingler Institute. The offer of the use of the Twenty Second Regiment Armory was accepted. On April 9, 1864, Harper's Weekly published views of buildings on 14th Street and at Union Square. They were built and adapted for use of the Metropolitan Fair. The Fourteenth Street building consisted of the brick Armory buildings near Sixth Avenue , with wooden structures added thereto, affording

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7130-494: The impression in Weissenfels that resulted in his receiving formal musical training. Sometime between the ages of seven and nine, Handel accompanied his father to Weissenfels , where he came under the notice of one whom Handel thereafter always regarded throughout life as his benefactor, Duke Johann Adolf I . Somehow Handel made his way to the court organ in the palace chapel of the Holy Trinity, where he surprised everyone with his playing. Overhearing this performance and noting

7245-420: The invitation of Ferdinando de' Medici . (Other sources say Handel was invited by Gian Gastone de' Medici , whom Handel had met in 1703–04 in Hamburg. ) Ferdinando, who had a keen interest in opera, was trying to make Florence Italy's musical capital by attracting the leading talents of his day. In Italy, Handel met librettist Antonio Salvi , with whom he later collaborated. Handel left for Rome and since opera

7360-399: The largest military display of New York, with all the regular troops of the city, under command of General Stannard, and the militia under General Sandford. Monday, April 4, 1864, the Metropolitan Fair was officially declared open. There were flags everywhere and the streets, starting from twelve o'clock, were filled by half million of gazing people. At three o'clock, one hour late than

7475-402: The last speech was given by Mr. Joseph Hodges Choate in behalf of the Ladies' Committee. Finally, after singing "Old Hundred" the crowd melted itself through the Picture Gallery, the Arms and Trophies Room, the Indian Department, the Curiosity Shop and the Restaurant. So that day the Fair was inaugurated and lasted eighteen days, until Saturday the 23rd of April. The first possible location for

7590-505: The liberal arts." At the time Handel was studying either at Halle's Lutheran Gymnasium or the Latin School. Mainwaring has Handel travelling to Berlin the next year, 1698. The problem with Mainwaring as an authority for this date, however, is that he tells of how Handel's father communicated with the "king" during Handel's stay, declining the Court's offer to send Handel to Italy on a stipend and that his father died "after his return from Berlin." But since Georg Händel died in 1697, either

7705-426: The main focus because of The Book Department inside. In front of the Armory, the building was raised above the pavement and extended to the street. It was occupied by the Indian Wigwam, which displayed Indian costumes and depicted Indian life. "Red People" performed some of their traditional dances inside. During the Fair, there were many similar performances that were supposed to make time pleasant. The lower part of

7820-440: The mansion of Lord Burlington, Handel wrote Amadigi di Gaula , a " magic " opera, about a damsel in distress , based on the tragedy by Antoine Houdar de la Motte . The conception of an opera as a coherent structure was slow to capture Handel's imagination and he composed no operas for five years. In July 1717, Handel's Water Music was performed more than three times on the River Thames for King George I and his guests. It

7935-405: The newly built opera. He saw Teofane by Antonio Lotti , and engaged members of the cast for the Royal Academy of Music, founded by a group of aristocrats to assure themselves a constant supply of baroque opera or opera seria . Handel may have invited John Smith, his fellow student in Halle, and his son Johann Christoph Schmidt , to become his secretary and amanuensis . By 1723 he had moved into

8050-535: The old school", revelling in fugues, canons, and counterpoint. But he was also familiar with developments in music across Europe and his own compositions "embraced the new concerted, dramatic style". When Zachow discovered the talent of Handel, he introduced him "to a vast collection of German and Italian music, which he possessed, sacred and profane, vocal and instrumental compositions of different schools, different styles, and of every master". Many traits considered "Handelian" can be traced back to Zachow's music. At

8165-416: The original plan, eight thousand men, accompanied by the melodies of bands , started to march from Fourteenth Street, passing down Second Avenue, through Stuyvesant Place and Astor Place, to Broadway. Then the two mile procession stopped at the City Hall and the ceremony went on with two interesting speeches . In the evening, in the gallery over the entrance of the Fair's building on Fourteenth street,

8280-414: The proper knack or correct taste, were perfect so far as harmony is concerned." Early chamber works do exist, but it is difficult to date any of them to Handel's time in Halle. Many historians until recently followed Chrysander and designated the six trio sonatas for two oboes and basso continuo as his first known composition, supposedly written in 1696 (when Handel was 11). Lang doubts the dating based on

8395-534: The regimental slow march of the British Grenadier Guards is derived, was performed as a stopgap, waiting for the arrival of Faustina Bordoni . In 1727, Handel was commissioned to write four anthems for the Coronation ceremony of King George II . One of these, Zadok the Priest , has been played at every British coronation ceremony since. The words to Zadok the Priest are taken from

8510-559: The remaining goods at the end of the Fair were either sold at auction , or sent as gifts to other fairs in St. Louis and Philadelphia . The list of used committees which were supposed to share every branch of agriculture , industry and art to collect products for exhibition and sale. United States Sanitary Commission The United States Sanitary Commission ( USSC ) was a private relief agency created by federal legislation on June 18, 1861, to support sick and wounded soldiers of

8625-547: The rights of Messiah to London's Foundling Hospital . Shortly after commencing his university education, Handel (though Lutheran ) on 13 March 1702 accepted the position of organist at the Calvinist Cathedral in Halle , the Domkirche, replacing J. C. Leporin, for whom he had acted as assistant. The position, which was a one-year probationary appointment, showed the foundation he had received from Zachow, for

8740-780: The royal family. In March 1734 Handel composed a wedding anthem This is the day which the Lord hath made , and a serenata Parnasso in Festa for Anne, Princess Royal . Despite the problems the Opera of the Nobility was causing him at the time, Handel's neighbour in Brook Street, Mary Delany , reported on a party she invited Handel to at her house on 12 April 1734 where he was in good spirits: I had Lady Rich and her daughter, Lady Cath. Hanmer and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Percival, Sir John Stanley and my brother, Mrs. Donellan, Strada [star soprano of Handel's operas] and Mr. Coot. Lord Shaftesbury begged of Mr. Percival to bring him, and being

8855-524: The same time Handel continued practice on the harpsichord , and learned violin and organ, but according to Burney his special affection was for the hautbois (oboe). Schoelcher speculates that his youthful devotion to the instrument explains the large number of pieces he composed for the oboe. With respect to instruction in composition, in addition to having Handel apply himself to traditional fugue and cantus firmus work, Zachow, recognising Handel's precocious talents, systematically introduced Handel to

8970-399: The same way that the Italian cantatas stood to his operas: "splendid sketches of the more monumental works." Another work, which he wrote for The 1st Duke of Chandos , the owner of Cannons, was Acis and Galatea : during Handel's lifetime, it was his most performed work. Winton Dean wrote that "the music catches breath and disturbs the memory". In 1719, the Duke of Chandos became one of

9085-480: The school, largely to provide a lecture forum for the jurist Christian Thomasius who had been expelled from Leipzig for his liberal views. Handel did not enrol in the faculty of law, although he almost certainly attended lectures. Thomasius was an intellectual and academic crusader, who was the first German academic to lecture in German and also denounced witch trials. Lang believes that Thomasius instilled in Handel

9200-479: The singers appeared in their own clothes. In 1736, Handel produced Alexander's Feast . John Beard appeared for the first time as one of Handel's principal singers and became Handel's permanent tenor soloist for the rest of Handel's life. The piece was a great success and it encouraged Handel to make the transition from writing Italian operas to English choral works. In Saul , Handel was collaborating with Charles Jennens and experimenting with three trombones,

9315-456: The smaller churches all had "able organists and fair choirs", and humanities and the letters thrived (Shakespeare was performed in the theatres early in the 17th century). The Thirty Years' War brought extensive destruction to Halle, and by the 1680s it was impoverished. However, since the middle of the war the city had been under the administration of the Duke of Saxony , and soon after the end of

9430-430: The sober and to please the gay, to meet the views and approbation of the serious and utilitarian, while catching the eyes, the tastes, and the proclivities of the young, the light-hearted, the thoughtless, and the frivolous. It must have the support of our good people, our rich people, our fashionable people, our politicians, our civic fathers, our clergy, Chamber of Commerce, police, fire department, trades-unions, and all

9545-407: The solo voice; but there is no single composer who taught him how to write for chorus. Handel tended more and more to replace Italian soloists with English ones. The most significant reason for this change was the dwindling financial returns from his operas. Thus a tradition was created for oratorios which was to govern their future performance. The performances were given without costumes and action;

9660-429: The sources of consolation and comfort which you are opening for others, will be poured out in kindred currents of gratitude to you, to bless you with the highest and purest of all gratifications, — that of alleviating the condition of those who are suffering for a cause involving in its issue every element of civilization and of social order." To this it followed a long applause and Handel 's "Hallelujah Chorus" and then

9775-654: The sum added to the sum they had already received. Of that sum, one million dollars was paid to the Treasurer of the United States Sanitary Commission , on the 17th May, 1864, by order of the Executive Committee. The role of chairman of the Financial Committee was superintended by John Hamilton Gourlie, whereas Hamilton Wills and George Tuthill held the role of assistants of the Chairman. All

9890-534: The summer of 1713, he lived at Mr. Mathew Andrews' estate in Barn Elms , Surrey. He received a yearly income of £200 from Queen Anne after composing for her the Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate , first performed in 1713. One of his most important patrons was the 3rd Earl of Burlington and 4th Earl of Cork , a young and extremely wealthy member of an Anglo-Irish aristocratic family. While living in

10005-561: The temptation of music as a career. Schoelcher for example has Handel travelling to Berlin at 11, meeting both Bononcini and Attilio Ariosti in Berlin and then returning at the direction of his father. But Ariosti was not in Berlin before the death of Handel's father, and Handel could not have met Bononcini in Berlin before 1702. Modern biographers either accept the year as 1698, since most reliable older authorities agree with it, and discount what Mainwaring says about what took place during

10120-560: The trip or assume that Mainwaring conflated two or more visits to Berlin, as he did with Handel's later trips to Venice. Perhaps to fulfil a promise to his father or simply because he saw himself as "dedicated to the liberal arts", on 10 February 1702 Handel matriculated at the University of Halle . That university had only recently been founded. In 1694, the Elector of Brandenburg Frederick III (later Prussian King Frederick I) created

10235-585: The trip to Berlin. Burrows dates this trip to 1702 or 1703 (after his father's death) and concludes that since Handel (through a "friend and relation" at the Berlin court) turned down Frederick's offer to subsidise his musical education in Italy (with the implicit understanding that he would become a court musician on his return), Handel was no longer able to expect preferment (whether as a musician, lawyer or otherwise) within Brandenburg-Prussia. Since he

10350-527: The value of women working in their hospitals. Over 15,000 women volunteered to work in hospitals, usually in nursing care. They assisted surgeons during procedures, gave medicines, supervised the feedings and cleaned the bedding and clothes. They gave good cheer, wrote letters the men dictated, and comforted the dying. A representative nurse was Helen L. Gilson (1835–68) of Chelsea, Massachusetts , who served in Sanitary Commission. She supervised supplies, dressed wounds, and cooked special foods for patients on

10465-451: The variety of styles and masterworks contained in his extensive library. He did this by requiring Handel to copy selected scores. "I used to write like the devil in those days", Handel recalled much later. Much of this copying was entered into a notebook that Handel maintained for the rest of his life. Although it has since disappeared, the notebook has been sufficiently described to understand what pieces Zachow wished Handel to study. Among

10580-920: The veterans. They had a Department of General Relief which accepted donations for veterans, too. The USSC organization was finally disbanded in May 1866. Arising from a meeting in New York City of the Women's Central Relief Association of New York, the organization was also inspired by the British Sanitary Commission of the Crimean War . The American volunteers raised money (estimated at $ 25 million), collected donations, made uniforms, worked as nurses , ran kitchens in army camps, and administered hospital ships , soldiers' homes , lodges, and rests for traveling or disabled soldiers. They organized Sanitary Fairs in numerous cities to support

10695-523: The war he would bring musicians trained in Dresden to his court in Weissenfels . The arts and music, however, flourished only among the higher strata (not only in Halle but throughout Germany), of which Handel's family was not a part. Georg Händel (senior) was born at the beginning of the war and was apprenticed to a barber in Halle at the age of 14 after his father died. When he was 20, he married

10810-509: The war progressed, these became larger and more elaborate Sanitary Fairs . One of the first events was in Lowell, Massachusetts, 1863. Groups in other cities soon adopted this plan. Organizing these Sanitary Fairs offered ways for local communities to be directly part of supporting the war effort of the nation. The largest Sanitary Fair during the war was held in Chicago in 1863. Chicago held

10925-610: The war soon required more frequent decision-making. This led to the creation of the Standing Committee, which met on a nearly daily basis in New York City where most of its members resided. The Standing Committee initially consisted of five commissioners who retained their position for the entire war: Henry W. Bellows, George Templeton Strong, William H. Van Buren, M.D., Cornelius R. Agnew, M.D., and Wolcott Gibbs, M.D. In addition to setting up and staffing hospitals,

11040-421: The widow of the official barber-surgeon of a suburb of Halle, inheriting his practice. With this, Georg determinedly began the process of becoming self-made; by dint of his "conservative, steady, thrifty, unadventurous" lifestyle, he guided the five children he had with Anna who reached adulthood into the medical profession (except his youngest daughter, who married a government official). Anna died in 1682. Within

11155-484: The wise king Solomon . Solomon contains a short and lively instrumental passage for two oboes and strings in act 3, known as "The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba". The use of English soloists reached its height at the first performance of Samson . The work is highly theatrical. The role of the chorus became increasingly important in his later oratorios. Jephtha was first performed on 26 February 1752; even though it

11270-401: The youth of the performer caused the Duke, whose suggestions were not to be disregarded, to recommend to Georg Händel that Handel be given musical instruction. Handel's father engaged the organist at the Halle parish church, the young Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow , to instruct Handel. Zachow would be the only teacher that Handel ever had. Because of his church employment, Zachow was an organist "of

11385-442: Was "alarmed" at Handel's very early propensity for music, "took every measure to oppose it", including forbidding any musical instrument in the house and preventing Handel from going to any house where they might be found. This did nothing to dampen young Handel's inclination; in fact, it did the reverse. Mainwaring tells the story of Handel's secret attic spinet : Handel "found means to get a little clavichord privately convey'd to

11500-544: Was "often" absent, "from his love of company, and a cheerful glass", and Handel, therefore, performed on organ frequently. What is more, according to Mainwaring, Handel began composing, at the age of nine, church services for voice and instruments "and from that time actually did compose a service every week for three years successively". Mainwaring ends this chapter of Handel's life by concluding that three or four years had been enough to allow Handel to surpass Zachow, and Handel had become "impatient for another situation"; "Berlin

11615-640: Was (temporarily) banned in the Papal States , composed sacred music for the Roman clergy. His famous Dixit Dominus (1707) is from this era. He also composed cantatas in pastoral style for musical gatherings in the palaces of duchess Aurora Sanseverino (whom Mainwaring called "Donna Laura") one of the most influential patrons from the Kingdom of Naples , and cardinals Pietro Ottoboni , Benedetto Pamphili and Carlo Colonna . Two oratorios , La resurrezione and Il trionfo del tempo , were produced in

11730-556: Was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas , oratorios , anthems , concerti grossi , and organ concertos . Handel received his training in Halle and worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London in 1712, where he spent the bulk of his career and became a naturalised British subject in 1727 . He was strongly influenced both by the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition and by composers of

11845-478: Was a dramatic genius of the first order." His music was admired by Classical-era composers, especially Mozart , Haydn and Beethoven . Handel was born in 1685 (the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach and Domenico Scarlatti ) in Halle , in the Duchy of Magdeburg , then part of Brandenburg-Prussia. His parents were Georg Händel , aged 63, and Dorothea Taust. His father was an eminent barber-surgeon who served

11960-530: Was attracted to secular, dramatic music (by meeting the Italians Bononcini and Attilio Ariosti and through the influence of Telemann), Hamburg, a free city with an established opera company, was the logical choice. The question remains, however, why Handel rejected the King's offer, given that Italy was the centre of opera. Lang suggests that influenced by the teachings of Thomasius, Handel's character

12075-451: Was composed in Italy in 1707, followed by La resurrezione in 1708 which uses material from the Bible. The circumstances of Esther and its first performance, possibly in 1718, are obscure. Another 12 years had passed when an act of piracy caused him to take up Esther once again. Three earlier performances aroused such interest that they naturally prompted the idea of introducing it to

12190-545: Was easy and seemed pleased. In 1733, the Earl of Essex received a letter with the following sentence: "Handel became so arbitrary a prince, that the Town murmurs." The board of chief investors expected Handel to retire when his contract ended, but Handel immediately looked for another theatre. In cooperation with John Rich he started his third company at Covent Garden Theatre . Rich was renowned for his spectacular productions. He suggested Handel use his small chorus and introduce

12305-553: Was first performed at the New Music Hall in Fishamble Street , Dublin on 13 April 1742, with 26 boys and five men from the combined choirs of St Patrick's and Christ Church cathedrals participating. Handel secured a balance between soloists and chorus which he never surpassed. In 1747, Handel wrote his oratorio Alexander Balus . This work was produced at Covent Garden Theatre in London, on 23 March 1748, and to

12420-526: Was his last oratorio, it was no less a masterpiece than his earlier works. In 1749, Handel composed Music for the Royal Fireworks ; 12,000 people attended the first performance. In 1750, he arranged a performance of Messiah to benefit the Foundling Hospital , a children's home in London. The performance was considered a great success and was followed by annual concerts that continued throughout his life. In recognition of his patronage, Handel

12535-675: Was made a governor of the Hospital the day after his initial concert. He bequeathed a copy of Messiah to the institution upon his death. His involvement with the Foundling Hospital is today commemorated with a permanent exhibition in London's Foundling Museum , which also holds the Gerald Coke Handel Collection . In addition to the Foundling Hospital, Handel also gave to a charity that assisted impoverished musicians and their families. In August 1750, on

12650-561: Was made and different committees were appointed to represent, to invite through advertisements and letters, and to collect contributions from trade and business interests in New York. The Twenty Second Regiment Armory, a square building of two hundred feet, was chosen to be the site of the Fair, but because of the great amplitude of the growing Fair, other buildings were put up in front of the Armory, on Fourteenth and Fifteenth Street , in

12765-566: Was modeled on the British Sanitary Commission, set up during the Crimean War (1853–1856), and from the British parliamentary report published after the Indian Rebellion of 1857 ("Sepoy Rebellion"). Henry Whitney Bellows (1814–1882), a Massachusetts clergyman, planned the USSC and served as its only president. According to The Wall Street Journal , "its first executive secretary was Frederick Law Olmsted , (1822–1903),

12880-440: Was such that he was unable to make himself subservient to anyone, even a king. Lang sees Handel as someone who could not accept class distinctions that required him to regard himself as a social inferior. "What Handel craved was personal freedom to raise himself out of his provincial milieu to a life of culture." Burrows notes that, like his father, Handel was able to accept royal (and aristocratic) favours without considering himself

12995-405: Was symmetrical, consisted of two main buildings, one on Broadway and one on Fourth Avenue. It housed also three other departmental fairs - International Department, Knickerbocker's Kitchen and Music Hall. At the construction of the building, bricklayers and fitters took part and due to the role of the building, performed their work at half the standard price of services. The entire construction lasted

13110-450: Was the place agreed upon." Carelessness with dates or sequences (and possibly imaginative interpretation by Mainwaring) makes this period confused. Handel's father died on 11 February 1697. It was German custom for friends and family to compose funeral odes for a substantial burgher like Georg, and young Handel discharged his duty with a poem dated 18 February and signed with his name and (in deference to his father's wishes) "dedicated to

13225-483: Was two hundred and eighty-five feet long, and consisted of two main buildings, each sixty by ninety feet, connected by a narrower one of one hundred and sixty-five feet in length and fifty-five feet wide. There was located the Children's Department. It was divided into ten booths which contained among other things, a miniature pond for skating and the embracing contribution from public schools . Union Square cost $ 17,000,

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