954720

Handel's Peace AnthemAuthor(s): Donald J. BurrowsSource: The Musical Times, Vol. 114, No. 1570 (Dec., 1973), pp. 1230-1232Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/954720 .

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Handel's Peace Anthem Donald J. Burrows

On Saturday 27 May 1749 Handel gave the first of his concerts in aid of the Foundling Hospital. The programme consisted of items from his 1749 repertory: the Music for the Royal Fireworks, a section from Solomon, and the first performance of the Foundling Hospital Anthem. The Royal Fireworks had been part of the official celebrations, held a month before, of the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle; in the advertisement for the Foundling Hospital concert1 the repeat performance of the fireworks music is coupled with another item which seems to have been connected with the celebrations-an 'Anthem on the Peace'. References to this anthem can be found in the newspapers for the end of April. The Peace itself had been signed in October 1748, and was proclaimed in London on 2 February 1749: a grand thanksgiving service on similar lines to that which followed the victory of Dettingen was expected, especially since a period of whole- hearted celebration would distract attention from too close an inspection of the Peace agreement. The Whitehall Evening Post or London Intelligencer (February 28-March 7) gives details of preparations for such a service: the king was expected to dine with the Lord Mayor at Guildhall after a service in St Paul's; the Mayor and the greater part of the Aldermen were to ride on horseback before the king from Temple Bar to St Paul's and the Houses of Lords and Commons would attend his Majesty. Trappings were made ready for the horses: 'city workmen' measured up around and inside the cathedral for scaffolding. On March 1 the General Advertiser said:

We are now credibly informed that Thursday the 6th of April is fix'd for the Thanksgiving on account of the Peace: when his Majesty will go to St Paul's with the usual State. And that the Fireworks in the Green Park will be play'd off the Day following. Suddenly, things seem to have gone wrong. On

March 4 the General Advertiser announced: 'We are informed that his Majesty will not come to St Paul's on the Thanksgiving Day, as has been so confidently asserted'. The date for the celebrations was put back:

His Majesty has been graciously pleased to publish his Royal Proclamation, for appointing Tuesday the 25th Day of April next, to be solemnized as a publick Thanksgiving for the Conclusion of the Peace. ( Whitehall Evening Post, March 18-21)

In the event, the king went to the Chapel Royal with his family, the Lord Mayor to St Paul's, the House of Lords to Westminster Abbey and the House of Commons to St Margaret's, Westminster! The Whitehall Evening Post for April 20-22 records a rehearsal:

This Day [Saturday April 22] there was a Practice of a new Anthem and Te Deum in St James's

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Chapel, which is to be performed on the Thanks- giving Day before his Majesty and the Royal Family.

The service itself was well reported in the press, the fullest account appearing in the same newspaper (April 25-7):

Tuesday [April 25] being the Day appointed by Royal Proclamation, for a General Thanksgiving on Account of the late Peace, his Majesty and the Royal Family went to the Chapel Royal, where a new Te Deum and Anthem, the Musick whereof was composed by Mr Handel, was performed, and also heard a Sermon preached by the Rev. Dr Denne, one of his Chaplains, and Archdeacon of Rochester, from the 29th Psalm, and the 10th Verse. These accounts, however, tell us nothing directly

about what constituted the 'Peace Anthem'. Deutsch2 identifies it as the Dettingen Anthem with new words. However, the wordbook produced for the Foundling Hospital performance3 gives the text as follows:

The ANTHEM composed on the Occasion of the PEACE VERSE DUET How beautiful are the Feet of

them that bring good Tidings of Peace! that say unto Sion, Thy God reigneth!

CHORUS Break forth into Joy, thy God reigneth.

CHORUS Glory and Worship are before Him, Power and Honour are in his Sanctuary.

VERSE AND CHORUS The Lord hath given Strength unto his People: The Lord hath given his People the Blessing of Peace.

FULL CHORUS Blessing and Glory, Power and Honour be unto God for ever and ever. Amen.

It would be extremely difficult to fit these words to the music of the Dettingen Anthem. A more fruitful line of inquiry is to seek Handelian settings of the texts of the Peace Anthem as they appear in the wordbook. The words of the opening movements are of course familiar from their use in Messiah. Handel made a number of settings, including a duet-and-chorus version which was used at the first performance of the oratorio at Dublin in 1742. The words of this version do not quite correspond to the text given for the Peace Anthem in the wordbook, however. There is another duet-and-chorus setting of 'How beautiful', the autograph of which appears in a volume of sketches in the British Museum (RM 20.g.6, ff.25-31r) and which was published by Chrysander in facsimile.4 Though

20. E. Deutsch: Handel: a Documentary Biography (London, 1955), 671 3'A Performance of Musick . . .', Mann Collection, King's College, Cambridge, Mn 20.49 4Das Autograph des Oratoriums 'Messias' (Hamburg, 1892), 285-97 1General Advertiser, 19 May 1749



Ex.0 ViolinI -A-- 1r-- M- --- -- -- A -- --

---etc.

ThyGod reign

..-eth

How beau-

Chorus glad ti - dings. glad

ti -digs

A = As Pants the Hart glad Tidings. glad Tidings How beau - ti - ful are the Feet M = Messiah *altered editorially from gg

frequently referred to in literature on Messiah,5 this setting has never been certainly identified with the oratorio and the occasion for which it was written was not known. There can be no doubt that it is the opening movement of the Peace Anthem: the words of the autograph are the same as those in the wordbook, except for the ungrammatical substitu- tion of 'bringeth' for 'bring'.6 Moreover, the autograph continues on f.31v with trumpet and drum parts headed 'NB Glory and Worship are before Him', and there follows an incomplete setting of 'The Lord hath given Strength' for treble solo and chorus (ff.32-3). The association of this autograph with the Peace Anthem is thus quite explicit. In the duet section of 'How beautiful' Handel names 'Mr Bayly' and 'Mr Menz' as the soloists. Both could easily have sung in the Anthem in 1749: Benjamin Mence appears (as'Mr Mints')in Chamber- layne's list of Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal for 1748,7 and Anselm Bayly's translation from Gentleman to Priest would not have prevented him from singing solo parts on special occasions.8 The General Advertiser for December 2, 1748 names 'Mr Bailey' and 'Mr Mence' as soloists (together with Wass, Savage and Beard) for the performance of Greene's Royal Birthday Ode Could fervent vows on that day; the presence of the names of both men on the autograph of the early Te Deum in D (RM 20.g.4; HG xxxvii, 1) suggests that this was the 'new' Te Deum revived for performance with the Peace Anthem.

On 23 March 1749 Handel revived Messiah, using the aria-and-chorus setting of the 'How beautiful' (Romans) text: the duet-and-chorus movement was now 'spare' and Handel could easily have used the movement for the Peace Anthem almost as it stood, changing only the final cadence. Instead he rewrote it, adding an introduction based on material that had already seen service in two settings of the anthem As pants the Hart and in an op.5 Trio Sonata. This leads into a solo section for -flute (Traverso) and oboe (possibly for the players Richter and Teede, whose names appear in the Te Deum Ms), more extended in scope than the parallel Messiah passage: the rest of the movement is then rewritten with minor improvements, sometimes to accom- modate variations in words, sometimes to give the

wind soloists extra material, and eventually to produce an ingenious combination of the Messiah chorus music with a figure from the introduction (ex.1).

For the next movement of the anthem a setting of the words 'Glory and Worship are before Him' is required, to which the trumpet and drum parts can be added: the wordbook says that the movement is a chorus. Handel made two choral settings of these words: in a Chandos Anthem (HG, no.8) and in the later Chapel Royal version of I will magnify Thee (HG, no.5b). The trumpet and drum parts fit only the latter version, a fine movement for four soloists and ripieno chorus. The surviving part of the autograph (RM 20.g.8) contains pencil marks for the adaptation of other movements of the anthem for use in Belshazzar (1744): the anthem as a whole must therefore have fallen out of use by then, and one can well imagine that Handel was pleased that the Peace Anthem gave him an opportunity to revive this movement.

The next movement of the anthem, 'The Lord hath given Strength', is based on the solo and chorus 'Be wise at length, ye kings averse' in the Occasional Oratorio, which was itself a reworking by Handel of musical ideas from a serenata movement by Stradella.9 For the solo section, Handel improved the Occasional Oratorio version only in points of detail, but he wrote a new extended introductory section for his flute and oboe soloists with continuo. The solo (ex.2) is indicated for 'The Boy'-perhaps Ex. 2 "The Boy" 30 Larghetto _

4 -44 rv m

",-"

The Lord hath gi -ven Strengthun - to his People, andhathgi-ven his

Peo-ple the Bles-sing of Peace, the Bles - - - sing of Peace.

the treble soloist who was part of the 1749 cast of Susanna. It is interesting, and doubtless not purely accidental, that the sermon at the Thanksgiving Day service was based on the text of this movement, which is a revised version of Psalm 29, verse 10.10 Following the treble solo, the anthem autograph gives the first 14 bars of a chorus on the same text and based on the same music, but the autograph stops at an 'NB' cue, indicating a continuation elsewhere.

The continuation is to be found in the autograph of the Occasional Oratorio (RM 20.f.3, f.45), in the chorus from which the anthem movement is derived. Handel indicated 'NB' at the appropriate point

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9published by Chrysander, HG Supp. iii, 28-31 lov.10 in the Prayer Book numbering, v.11 in the Authorized Version

5see, for example, J. Tobin: Handel's 'Messiah' (London, 1969), 48ff, and Handel at Work (London, 1964), 34, 37, 39; also J. P. Larsen: Handel's 'Messiah' (London, 1957), 230-32 6The text is an amalgam of Isaiah, lii.7, 9 and Romans x. 15; Handel's minor inconsistencies in the text and deviations from the wordbook are probably the result of using the Messiah duet as a copy-text. 7Magnae britanniae notitia (1748), 115 8As sub-dean of the Chapel Royal, Bayly later (1769) published a wordbook of anthems as sung in the chapel.



(HG, xliii, 72, bar 6) and added the anthem words for a few bars; further indications near the end show how the concluding bars of the choral parts are to be treated. He could then have left the rest of the adaptation to the copyist, who would simply have had to fit the new words on to the music. There is evidence that this is not the end of the story, however. Handel included the anthem chorus (without the opening solo) in the composite creation which formed Part I of Israel in Egypt in the 1756 revival. Handel's conducting score of Israel no longer contains a first part, but fortunately the anthem chorus was used again when J. C. Smith junior rearranged the oratorio in the 1760s.11 Smith's conducting score survivesl2 and begins with 'The Lord hath given Strength'-the first two bars in the hand of Smith junior and the rest copied by the scribe designated S5 by Larsen. This copy contains three sections not in the Occasional Oratorio original: two interpolations giving addi- tional solos to the flute and oboe, and a more extensive epilogue for the strings. The use of the wind instruments strongly suggests that Handel himself added the new music for the Peace Anthem (rather than for Israel in 1756), no doubt in a conducting score which has not survived.

Following the autograph fragment of 'The Lord hath given Strength', RM 20.g.6 contains another setting of 'How beautiful are the feet',13 also using the music of the Occasional Oratorio movement 'Be wise'. Like its original, it is for soprano (treble?) solo and chorus, but the key is D major, a tone lower, the music is extensively reworked, and trumpets and drums enter in the choral section. It was never finished: the last 17 bars are not orchestrated, even though earlier parts of the movement show signs of revision. Probably the movement was Handel's first attempt at setting the opening verse of the Peace Anthem, but in any case the incompleteness of the music shows that it cannot have formed part of the anthem as sung in 1749.

For the last movement of the Peace Anthem we have to turn to the Messiah Mss. In the 'Tenbury' conducting score (Ms 347) Handel added cues to the opening words of the 'Blessing and Honour' chorus which adapt the music of this movement to the similar text of the anthem.14 These alterations bring 'Amen' within the text of the movement: the 'Amen' chorus itself becomes unnecessary-and indeed it would be inappropriate to the smaller proportions of the anthem. At the end of the 'Blessing and Honour' chorus, therefore, Handel also provided rudimentary cues in the vocal bass part for a conclusion before the 'Amen' chorus.15 This leaves the upper parts of the 'new' final bars to be filled in, and this seems to have been done from the last bars of the 'Amen' chorus itself. The final two bars of the Messiah autograph (RM 20.f.2

f. 132v; facsimile p.260) carry indications that Handel intended this to be done: there are some of his characteristic cue markings below these two bars, including an 'NB' hitherto mistaken for a 4-3 figuring, and in addition there is an 'adag[io]' above the soprano part which is redundant for Messiah but which makes sense as part of a cue for the anthem. If indeed the autograph as well as the Tenbury score formed a copyist's text for the Peace Anthem, it seems possible that the cut indicated in the autograph of the 'Blessing and Honour' chorus refers to the anthem rather than to Messiah.

In 1892 Chrysander wrote of the Peace Anthem autograph that it was 'without any evidence to show whether it formed part of a large Anthem, or whether the latter ever was completed'.16 His pessimism may have been due to the state of the MS, for Rockstro wrote of it in 1883: 'the pages of these MSS have been so cruelly misplaced by the book- binder, that the pieces . . . are constantly running into one another'.17 Having reconstructed the anthem, what can one say of its value ? It is Handel's penultimate essay in the English anthem form, succeeded only by the Foundling Hospital Anthem a month later, and like the latter piece it contains a large amount of reworked or transferred music. However, the outstanding fact is the trouble Handel took, when he could easily have thrown the work together without revising any of its constituent parts. Every movement has something new added to it; Handel seems to have welcomed the chance to rethink and improve movements, even if he had already worked them several times. Listened to with a fresh ear (difficult when some of the music is familiar in other contexts) the Anthem on the Peace forms an impressive addition to the canon of Handel's anthems. Handel himself valued it highly enough to give a repeat performance: it deserves at least an occasional hearing today. Handel's Peace Anthem has what is thought to be its first performance since 1749, at St Helen's Church, Abingdon; it will be given on December 1 by the Abingdon and District Musical Society conducted by Donald J. Burrows. 16facsimile preface, p.xiv 17 The Life of George Frederick Handel, 255

Partnership in Practice is the title of an illustrated booklet published by the Standing Conference of Regional Arts Associa- tions which includes the history, origin and activities of regional arts associations and their relationship with local authorities. Details from the Hon Secretary, Standing Conference of Regional Arts Associations, 31 New Bridge Street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE1 8JY.

Artsmail Merseyside and Artsmail North West, sponsored by Artsmail Ltd with the Merseyside Arts Association and the North West Arts Association are two new information services for local subscribers. Details from David Pratley, Merseyside Arts Association, 6 Bluecoat Chambers, School Lane, Liverpool L1 3BX and David Pease, North West Arts Association, 52 King Street, Manchester M2 4LY.

Yorkshire Arts Association has published its annual report for 1972-3 and a booklet outlining its policy for the next five years; among the proposed music schemes is the establishment of an annual competition for young musicians. Both publications are available from Yorkshire Arts Association, Glyde House, Glydegate, Bradford BD5 OBQ.

Eastern Arts Association grants and guarantees include awards to Tring Arts Society, Chelmsford Singers, Spiral Arts Pro- motion, Bedford Music Club, East Anglia New Music Society, Ipswich Bach Choir, Ipswich Chamber Music Society, Suffolk Singers and Wangford Festival.

11The earliest dated wordbook for the 'Smith' performance of Israel seems to be for the year 1765 (BM). 12Hamburg, Staats- und Universitiitsbibliothek M:C/262a 13ff.34-9; facsimile, 298-309 14The Messiah text is based on Revelation v. 13; the anthem text is based on Revelation vii.12 15The various cues are quoted by Watkins Shaw: A Textual and Historical Companion to Handel's 'Messiah' (London, 1965), 185f and by Tobin (1969), 248 (with a misprint in the second music example). 1232



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