For unto Ireland, Handel’s Messiah is born in Dublin
‘Last Wednesday, the celebrated Dr Handell arrived here in the Packetboat from Holyhead, a Gentleman universally known by his excellent Compositions in all kinds of Musick.’ So ran a short news announcement in The Dublin Journal, days a!er Handel’s disembarkment in the city on 18 November 1741.
What was Handel doing in Dublin, when for 30 years London had been his main centre of operations? It was possibly the Duke of Devonshire, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, who invited him. If so, it was a timely intervention: Handel’s last three operas had failed, and he was at a low ebb both personally and professionally.
Two months before leaving London, Handel had completed Messiah, a new oratorio on the life of Christ and its theological significance. The author of its text, Charles Jennens, came up
2nd: The Scottish physician James Douglas dies. One of the most eminent anatomists and obstetricians of his day, Douglas’s admirers included the Pope. His research into the human body, in particular the peritoneum, was of major importance in surgical procedures and led to anatomical terms such as the ‘Douglas pouch’ and the ‘Douglas line’. 4th: At the University Church of St Mary the Virgin in Oxford, the Methodist preacher Charles Wesley delivers his ‘Awake Thou
That Sleepest’ sermon. In it, Wesley warns of those ‘sleepers’ who have become unaware that they need religious salvation, exhorts them to wake up to their present state and sets out the promises that can be made to those who do so. His brother, John, includes his words as one of the key sermons for Methodist preachers to use.
13th: The composer Giovanni Veneziano dies aged 59. Deputy conductor at the Santa Maria di Loreto Conservatory in Naples from 1716 onwards, Veneziano concentrated almost entirely on opera, and his Lo ’mbruoglio de li nomme, Patrò Tonno d’isca and Lo Pippo were all premiered at the city’s Teatro dei Fiorentini. At his death, he leaves a wife and eight children in a state of poverty. 22nd: London’s Ranelagh Gardens opens three days per week for concerts and public breakfasts. At the centre of the gardens, admission to which is 12 pence, is a large rotunda heated by a central fireplace with an orchestra, organ and 52 candle-lit boxes around the walls where guests can take refreshments. Future visitors include the eightyear-old Mozart performing there in 1764. 25th: Elizabeth I of Russia crowns herself as Empress at the Dormition Cathedral in Moscow. The daughter of Peter I, ‘The Great’, she enjoys a successful 19-year reign, repairing the damage caused by her two disastrous predecessors. As well as proving a shrewd diplomatic operator abroad, she also improves living conditions at home and is a staunch supporter of the arts.