Handel on the road

Synopsis

On today's date in 1750, this alarming notice appeared in a London newspaper: "Mr. Handel, who went to Germany to visit his friends some time since, and between the Hague and Harlem had the misfortune to be overturned, by which he was terribly hurt, is now out of danger."

To translate into modern journalistic prose: While visiting the continent, London-based composer George Frideric Handel, age 65, was injured in a traffic accident – his coach somehow toppled over with Handel inside. The exact details of the accident are not known, nor are the extent of Handel's injuries, but the composer seems to have recovered from the accident.

Upon his return to London, Handel completed a new organ concerto for his 1751 oratorio season. This concerto — which we're sampling — was published as his Op. 7, no. 3, and turned out to be Handel's last major orchestral work. Although he lived for another 9 years, Handel's health took a turn for the worse in 1751. With some difficulty he completed his last great oratorio, "Jeptha", and spent the remaining years of his life reviving earlier works and putting his music and affairs in order.

In our own time, we note with sadness that at least three American composers have died as a result of road accidents in the last decade: composers Stephen Albert, at age 51, in 1992, Eric Stokes, at age 69 in 1999, and Vivian Fine, at age 86, in the year 2000.

Music Played in Today's Program

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) Organ Concerto in Bb, Op. 7, no. 3 Simon Preston, o; The English Concert; Trevor Pinnock, cond. Archiv 413 468

On This Day

Births

• 1893 - French composer Lili Boulanger, in Paris; She was the younger sister of Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979), the famous French composition teacher;

• 1927 - German composer Willhelm Killmayer, in Munich;

Deaths

• 1951 - British composer and writer Constant Lambert, age 45, in London;

Premieres

• 1966 - Creston: "Pavane Variations" at the La Jolla Music Festival in California;

Others

• 1800 - The U.S. Marine Band presented its first public concert in Washington, DC, "on a hill overlooking the Potomac," near the future site of the Lincoln Memorial.