Table of Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Dramatis Personæ xiii
Prefatory Note xxi
1 Introductions: Handel and His Friends 1
2 Before London: (1685-1710: German training, Italian sojourn, arrival in England) 17
3 Politics, Patronage, and Pension: (1710-1727: Birthday Ode for Queen Anne to Riccardo primo for George II) 37
4 Commerce and Trade: (1711-1730: Rinaldo to end of Royal Academy) 77
5 Music at Home: (1715-1730: Chamber music and keyboard works, private concerts, publications) 115
6 Marriage, Wealth, and Social Status: (1728-1741: The "second" Academy to the last opera, Deidamia) 151
7 Ambition, Law, and Friendship: (1738-1749: Saul, Samson, Belshazzar, Susanna, Solomon) 189
8 Making and Collecting: (1738-1750: Roubiliac sculpture of Handel, Alexander's Feast, concertos, collecting) 227
9 Religion and Charity: (1739-1750: A look back at Esther, then Israel in Egypt, Messiah, Judas Maccabaeus, Theodora) 265
10 Sickness and Death: (1737-1759: First "paralytic attack," a look back to Admeto, then madness in Saul and Hercules, and Jephtha to The Triumph of Time and Truth) 301
11 Wills and Legacies 341
Appendix 1 Currency, Living Costs, Wages, and Fees 373
Appendix 2 A Very Select Discography 381
Acknowledgments 389
Select Bibliography 391
Notes 411
Index 455