The Love Affairs of Great Musicians, Volume 2

ther eighteen, strike the town of Lübeck in 1703. They are drawn thither by a

must marry the daughter of the man in whose shoes they would fain have trodden the pedals. One look at the daughter was enoug

n, and incidentally playing the role of Antony. The younger of the friends is the conductor, and presides, as is the custom of the time, at the clavecin. There is another custom in the pe

A quarrel that narrowly escapes ruining the melodious swan-song of Cleopatra, is postponed till after the final curtain. Then it takes the form of a duel. The composer manages at last to elud

ns again, lasting with healthful interruptions until the younger musician goes his way toward the fulness of his glory; the e

sitions he studied and profited from. Old Buxtehude, himself the son of an organist, had himself married the daughter of the organist who had preceded him. The daughter he left behind to frighten away as

e Crichton," who married in 1709 Catherine Jennings, daughter of an English clergyma

eedful here to tell the story of his brilliant life and the big events it crowded into the four and seventy years between 1685 and 1759. His friend Mattheson, like Beethoven, spent his later years in the dungeon of deafness. H?ndel, like his great rival Bach (who was born the same y

en to have been in love, though he was a

ed to sing an air of his the way he wished it. He seized her, and, dragging her to a window, threatened to throw

y [by Doctor Mainwaring] in 1760, the author says that H?ndel was "always habituated to an uncommon port

on, so exquisite a palate, so craving an appetite, that fortune enabled him to obey these calls, and to satisfy these demands of nature.... H

about, H?ndel demanded why; the servant answered that he was waiting for the company to come, whereupo

ne, alluding to his bulk, said that his hands were feet and his fingers toes. Mrs.

f womankind. Schoelcher in his biography states "that not one woman occupies the smallest place in

that she filled the part of the prima donna in 'Roderigo,' his first Italian score. At that period, and even later, it was not uncommon to find princes and princesses singing in the pieces which were produced at their courts. Artist or archduchess, either ti

iography properly notes that the legend has been twisted, and represents here the god as fleeing from the nymph. Coxe says that Vittoria wa

r chief success in men's roles, singing bass songs transposed an octave higher. She was born at Florence in 1690, and would have been seventeen years old when H?ndel's "Roderigo" was produced there in 1707

method of escaping the proposals of a certain nobleman who implored her to marry him. She had no prejudices against the nobleman, but strong prejudices against marriage. Finally, to quiet her lover's conscientious appeals, she went out into the street and bribed the first labour

ed before or since. He is still reigning to the

is said to have said: "I admire H?ndel principally because he conceals his petticoat peccadillos with such perfection." This statement may be taken as only a proof eithe

given in that strangely named book, "Anecdotes of H?ndel and J.C. Smith, with compositions by J.C. Smith." This was published anonymously in London, in 1799, but it is known to have been written by Dr. William Coxe. Smith (né Schmidt) was H?n

a fiddler. After the mother's death, the father implied that all obstacles were now removed, but too late. He never saw the girl again, and she fell into a decline, which soon terminated her existence.

y to two cousins, also to tw

nstance, the creator of "Samson." He created Samsonian scandal by marrying Lady Henrietta Herbert, the only daughter of the Earl of

his voice was artificial. He became finally a sort of vocal prime minister to Spain. To st