Handel advertises his wares

Synopsis

On today’s date in 1739, Mr. George Frideric Handel took out an advertisement, announcing that he was now accepting subscriptions for his new set of 12 Grand Concertos for strings. He had, in fact, finished the first concerto one month before, on September 29th, and spent the next five weeks polishing off the other 11 at the rate of one every two or three days.

Handel’s publisher was John Walsh, Jr, who had a shop in London at the sign of the harp and oboe in Catherine Street on the Strand. One hundred twenty-two copies of the music were to be printed and sold at a pre-publication price of two guineas each. Among the initial 100 subscribers were three royal princesses and the Duke of Cumberland, and two copies each were sold to the Academy of Music in Dublin and a certain Mr. Charles Jennens.

It was Mr. Jennens who was to provide the text for Handel’s next major oratorio, “Messiah,” and the city of Dublin the venue for its famous premiere.

So, in 1739, just as today, it pays to advertise!

Music Played in Today's Program

George Frederic Handel (1685 – 1757) Concerto Grosso in D, Op. 6, no. 5 I Solisti Italiani Denon 6305

On This Day

Premieres

• 1787 - Mozart: opera, "Don Giovanni'," in Prague at the Nationaltheater;

• 1837 - Donizetti: opera, "Roberto Devereux," at the.Teatro San Carlos, in Naples;

• 1920 - Edward Burlingame Hill: symphonic poem “The Fall of the House of Usher” (after Poe), by the Boston Symphony with Pierre Monteux conducting;

• 1950 - Copland: Quartet for Piano and Strings, by the New York Quartet at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. at a Coolidge Festival concert; This work was commissioned by Mrs. Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Coolidge Foundation;

• 1955 - Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1, by the Leningrad Philharmonic, Yevgeny Svetlanov conducting, with David Oistrakh as the soloist;

• 1956 - Bernstein: musical "Candide" (original version) in Boston as a trial run at the Colonial Theater, directed by Tyrone Guthrie and conducted by Samuel Krachmalnick; The show opened officially on New York at the Martin Beck Theater on December 1, 1956; According to Opera America magazine, this is one of the most frequently-produced American operas during the past decade;

• 1966 - Milhaud: "Music for Indiana," by the Indianapolis Symphony;

• 1967 - Persichetti: Symphony No. 8, in Berea, Ohio, by the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory Orchestra, George Poinar conducting;

• 1980 - Off Broadway premiere of Sondheim: revue "Marry Me a Little"(compiled from various Sondheim musicals);

Others

• 1734 - The famous Italian castrato Farinelli (Carlo Broschi) makes his debut in London at the opening performance of "The Opera of the Nobility," a company formed to rival Handel's "Royal Academy" (Gegorian date: Nov. 9); The performance takes place at the King's Theater in the Haymarket, formerly the home of Handel's company;

• 1739 - Handel advertises for subscriptions to his new set of Concertos, Op. 6 (Gregorian date: Nov. 9); They are published by John Walsh the younger on April 23 (Gregorian date: May 4) the following year.

• 1739 - Handel completes in London his Concerto Grosso in c, Op. 6, no. 8 (see Julian date: Oct. 18);