Handel

I went to an excellent concert at the Handel House Museum, 25 Brook Street, London. Handel bought the house when it was newly built in 1723 and lived there until he died in 1759. The harpsichord in the first floor drawing room is a replica of the original but it was quite something to hear it being played and to imagine Handel playing the same music in the same spot 280 years ago. He composed The Messiah there, in just three weeks. The house was conveniently situated: he could stroll over to Covent Garden to oversee the rehearsals of his productions and he enjoyed walking in Hyde Park. He went blind in 1752 and he wrote an annotation in his 1751Jephtha manuscript (now in the British Library) that he can't continue writing the notes as he can't see.