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George Frederic Handel was born in Halle, Germany in 1685. He showed an interest in music from an early age but his surgeon father wanted him to be a lawyer. His musical career started in Hamburg where he worked as a violinist and private tutor.
He composed his first two operas there, of which Almira is deemed the most important to have survived.
He was invited to Italy in 1706 and began writing Italian operas, oratorios, motifs and cantantes in Florence, Rome, Venice and Naples. Italy, which was the centre of most forms of music, had a powerful influence on him. One of the last works he composed there, Agrippina, is considered the climax of his stay in Italy.
In 1710, at the age of 25 years, he left for Hanover, however after a short time there moved to London, where he was quickly absorbed into musical circles. He continued to be very productive, composing operas and church music, only breaking for numerous trips to mainland Europe. He was known as a generous contributor to charitable causes and this was the inspiration for an invitation to Dublin (then the second city of the British Empire).
Handel had already composed Messiah (the text having been prepared by Charles Jenners), and he considered that it's performance would benefit Dublin charities. Neale's new Musick-hall in Fishamble Street had just been opened before Handel's arrival, and it was chosen a the most appropriate venue. A number of concerts were planned which included much of Handel's music and on 13 April 1742 Messiah was performed.
The Musick-Hall was crowded (ladies were asked to come to the first night 'without hoops as it will greatly increase the charity, by making room for more company'. Gentlemen were also asked to come without swords). The Dublin Journal reported 'a more numerous & polite audience than was ever seen upon like Occasion. The performance was superior to anything of the kind in this Kingdom before..'
Mostly local singers and choirs from Dublin's two cathedrals with, of course, the leader/violinist Dubourd performed the Messiah, with singers Christina Maria Avoglie and Mrs Cibber also participating.
Handel's visit to Dublin was a great triumph for Handel and for years after his music was as popular in Dublin as it was in London.
Handel left Ireland on 13 August 1742, intending to return, however this was never to be. In later life he was to reminisce on this happy period in his life, on 'that generous and polite Nation' and the enthusiastic welcome which the Irish had given him.
Of interest to the guests of the George Frederic Handel Hotel will be the fact that the hotel occupies part of Neale's Musick-Hall where Handel's glorious Messiah was performed for the very first time.
Fishamble Street
Reputed to be the oldest street in the city, this was one of the most populous streets of Viking Dublin, and it now forms the western boundary of Temple Bar. The somewhat unusual name derives from the old fish stalls which at one time stood here, and the street can trace it's connection to the fishmongering trade back as far as the early 1400s.
Fishamble Street has a long and rich medieval and Viking heritage. Christchurch Cathedral has stood here since 1170, but at one point a Viking church, dedicated to Saint Olaf, King of Norway, stood on the site.
More recently, the street was the preferred location of such Irish notables as Henry Grattan, and the poet James Clarence Mangan, both of whom had homes here. Perhaps its most famous connection of all however, is that concerning the composer, George Frederic Handel, who, in 1742, gave the first performance of his new composition in the famous Fishamble Street Music Hall.
Fishamble Street Music Hall
Designed by Richard Cassels, the Music Hall opened in 1741, and just a year later Handel, seeking a more appreciative audience than the one he had just abandoned in London, staged the first performance of his 'Messiah' here. Over seven hundred people packed into the hall, the men without their swords and the ladies without their hoops (to create more space!), while the massed choirs of Saint Patrick's and Christchurch Cathedrals made up the chorus.
The Music Hall continued to thrive until the Act of Union, when it was sold, although its connection with entertainment continued until its take-over by an iron works in the late 1800s.
Today the original door of the Music hall remains, next door to the George Frederic Handel Hotel.
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