Handel and the English Chapel Royal (review)

Those who have been looking forward to the transformation of Donald Burrows's Ph.D. dissertation 'Handel and the English Chapel Royal during the Reigns of Queen Anne and King George I' (The Open University, 1981) into a book now have their patience richly rewarded. In his preface the author explains the delayed appearance of the book by referring to various 'interruptions'—a very modest description of three major works of scholarship that he has produced in the intervening years. The first two were Handel, his life-and-works study in the Master Musicians series, and A Catalogue of Handel's Musical Autographs, co-authored with Martha J. Ronish, both published in 1994. In the same year the Earl of Malmesbury deposited in the Hampshire Record Office the papers of his ancestor James Harris; in collaboration with Rosemary Dunhill, the Country Archivist of Hampshire, Burrows extracted from this vast archive all references to music and theatre, and presented them, with detailed commentary, in Music and Theatre in Handel's World (2002). The beneficial effect not only of these three 'interruptions' but also of Burrows's continuing work on Handel's Chapel Royal music—notably his editions of the music and his investigation of the documentary background—is apparent throughout Handel and the English Chapel Royal. Recent research by other scholars has also enriched the book, notably that by Andrew Ashbee (Records of English Court Music, 9 vols. (Snodland and Aldershot, 1986–96)), by Ashbee and John Harley (The Cheque Books and the Chapel Royal, 2 vols. (Aldershot, 2000)), and by Graydon Beeks (his dissertation and subsequent articles on Handel's music for James Brydges at Cannons).

The most obvious difference between Burrows's dissertation and his book is that, while in the former he had to restrict himself to the reigns of Queen Anne and King George I, in the latter he has extended the coverage to include the reign of King George II, whose death occurred in the year after that of Handel. Inevitably, after an interval of over twenty years, the transformation of thesis into book has necessitated considerable revision in the light of recent scholarship; this has affected, for example, the treatment of Handel's relationship with the British court, of music by earlier composers for the Chapel Royal, and of eighteenth-century makers and players of organs and trumpets. In one respect, however, Burrows was able to abbreviate the thesis: much information on early sources of Handel's church music is now available in the commentaries of published editions of the music (especially volumes of the Hallische Händel-Ausgabe), so it was possible to restrict description of the source material to that which is most directly relevant.

Handel never held an established post in the Chapel Royal and did not compose music on a regular basis for the liturgy of the Anglican church. He did, however, have close connections with the British royal family and was held in high esteem by successive monarchs: the annual pension of £200, first granted by Queen Anne on 28 December 1713, continued to be paid until Handel's death; both King George I and his son were loyal supporters of Handel's Italian operas; in 1723 Handel was appointed 'Composer of Musick for His Majesty's Chappel Royal', a court appointment that carried an additional remuneration of £200 per annum (the annual salary for a regular Chapel Royal composer was £73); at about the same time or slightly later he was appointed Music Master to the Princesses Anne and Caroline (granddaughters of George I), a post that attracted a further annual stipend of £200; and it was on the insistence of King George II that Handel, and not Maurice Greene, the Composer and Organist to the Chapel Royal, composed...