Charles Jennens (1700 – 20 November 1773) was an English landowner and patron of the arts. As a friend of
Handel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training i ...
, he helped author the
libretti
A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major litu ...
of several of his
oratorio
An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...
s, most notably ''
Messiah
In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; ,
; ,
; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of ''mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach'' ...
''.
Life
Jennens was brought up at
Gopsall Hall
Gopsall (or Gopsall Park) is a former civil parish, now in the parish of Twycross, in the Hinckley and Bosworth district, in the county of Leicestershire, England. It is located between the villages of Appleby Magna, Shackerstone, Twycross and Sn ...
in Leicestershire, the son of Charles Jennens and his second wife, Elizabeth Burdett.
He was educated at
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...
,
matriculating
Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination.
Australia
In Australia, the term "matriculation" is seldom used now. ...
in 1716, but did not graduate. He was a devout Christian and a
non-juror, upholding the legitimacy of the deposed
Stuart line.
He became interested in Primitive Apostolic (Sabbatarian) Christianity and
John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom (; gr, Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος; 14 September 407) was an important Early Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his homilies, preaching and public speaking, his denunciat ...
. Jennens has been identified as an anti-
Deist
Deism ( or ; derived from the Latin '' deus'', meaning "god") is the philosophical position and rationalistic theology that generally rejects revelation as a source of divine knowledge, and asserts that empirical reason and observation ...
.
Richard Kidder
Richard Kidder (1633–1703) was an English Anglican churchman, Bishop of Bath and Wells, from 1691 to his death. He was a noted theologian.
Biography
He was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he was a sizar, from 1649, graduatin ...
's book ''A Demonstration of the Messias'' influenced him.
After his father's death in 1747, Jennens had Gopsall Hall completely rebuilt in the Palladian style, including within the estate an Ionic temple built in memory of his friend, the poet and classical scholar,
Edward Holdsworth
Edward Holdsworth (1684–1746) was an English classical scholar, known as a neo-Latin poet.
Early life
The son of Thomas Holdsworth, rector of North Stoneham, Hampshire, he was born there on 6 August 1684, and baptised on 3 September. He was ed ...
. Remaining unmarried, he was considered melancholic and extravagant, his neighbours calling him
Suleyman the Magnificent
Suleiman I ( ota, سليمان اول, Süleyman-ı Evvel; tr, I. Süleyman; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the West and Suleiman the Lawgiver ( ota, قانونى سلطان سليمان, Ḳ ...
.
As a non-juror, Jennens was ineligible for any public appointment, and he devoted himself to the arts, both as a collector of fine art (his collection was one of the best in Britain at the time) and a music patron.
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music, Baroque composer well known for his opera#Baroque era, operas, oratorios, anthems, concerto grosso, concerti grossi, ...
's compositions were very much to his musical taste and they became close friends.
Handel visited him frequently at Gopsall Hall and in 1749 provided the specification for an organ for his home.
Thomas Hudson's portrait of Handel was commissioned by Jennens
– and the same artist's portrait of Charles Jennens is now in the
Handel House Museum
Handel & Hendrix in London (previously Handel House Museum) is a museum in Mayfair, London, dedicated to the lives and works of the German-born British baroque composer George Frideric Handel and the American rock singer-guitarist Jimi Hend ...
in London.
He died on 20 November 1773. His memorial lies in
Nether Whitacre
Nether Whitacre is a small village and larger rural civil parish in North Warwickshire, Warwickshire, England.
Topography
It is one of 'The Whitacres': Nether Whitacre, Over Whitacre and Whitacre Heath which are in the upper valley of the River ...
Parish Church and was sculpted by
Richard Hayward who also provided sculptures both in his London home at Great Ormond Street and at his country seat of
Gopsall Park.
After his death, Jennens' second cousin
Heneage Finch, 3rd Earl of Aylesford
Heneage Finch, 3rd Earl of Aylesford (6 November 1715 – 9 May 1777), styled Lord Guernsey between 1719 and 1757, was a British peer and politician.
Background and education
Finch was the son and heir of Heneage Finch, 2nd Earl of Aylesford ...
, inherited his music library and much of it is now preserved in the Henry Watson Music Library at
Manchester Central Library
Manchester Central Library is the headquarters of the city's library and information service in Manchester, England. Facing St Peter's Square, it was designed by E. Vincent Harris and constructed between 1930 and 1934. The form of the buildin ...
. It contains a large collection of manuscripts and published music by Handel and other contemporary composers, both English and Italian; there are 368 volumes of Handel manuscripts, and others include the autograph of
Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread a ...
's "Manchester" violin sonatas and an early manuscript of ''
The Four Seasons''.
Jennens' extensive collection of books by
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
, on literature,
philology
Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...
and theology was largely dispersed in a sale in 1918.
Collaboration with Handel
Jennens' deep knowledge of the Bible and wide literary interest led him, from 1735, to prepare or contribute to libretti for Handel. These included ''
Saul
Saul (; he, , ; , ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE, supposedly marked the transition of Israel and Judah from a scattered tri ...
'' (1735–39), ''
L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato
("The Cheerful, the Thoughtful, and the Moderate Man"), HWV 55, is a pastoral ode by George Frideric Handel based on the poetry of John Milton.
History
Handel composed the work over the period of 19 January to 4 February 1740,Michael O'Connell ...
'' (1740–41), ''
Messiah
In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; ,
; ,
; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of ''mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach'' ...
'' (1741–42), ''
Belshazzar
Belshazzar (Babylonian cuneiform: ''Bēl-šar-uṣur'', meaning " Bel, protect the king"; ''Bēlšaʾṣṣar'') was the son and crown prince of Nabonidus (556–539 BC), the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Through his mother he might ...
'' (1744–45) and, possibly, ''
Israel in Egypt
''Israel in Egypt'', HWV 54, is a biblical oratorio by the composer George Frideric Handel. Most scholars believe the libretto was prepared by Charles Jennens, who also compiled the biblical texts for Handel's ''Messiah''. It is composed ent ...
'' (1738–39). The libretti were freely given and always published anonymously. ''Saul'' and ''Belshazzar'' are said to "show an impressive gift for dramatic structure and characterization and the ability to wield political analogies adroitly."
Well versed in music as well as literature, he annotated his copies of Handel's operas, adding corrections, bass figures, rejected pieces and dates. It is also clear that on occasions Handel was prepared to accept Jennens' suggestions and improvements to his compositions.
The most famous collaboration is Jennens' libretto for ''Messiah'', drawn entirely from the Bible, about 60 per cent from the Old Testament (with occasional small alterations). Musicologist
Watkins Shaw
Harold Watkins Shaw, OBE (3 April 1911 in Bradford, Yorkshire – 8 October 1996 in Worcester) was a British musicologist and educator best known for his critical edition of Handel's ''Messiah'' compiled between 1957 and 1965, which version h ...
describes it as "a meditation of our Lord as Messiah in Christian thought and belief", and which "amounts to little short of a work of genius". Some attribute ''Messiahs emphasis on the Old Testament – and choice of the Old Testament title "Messiah" – to Jennens' theological beliefs.
Jennens was less than wholly approving of the musical setting, writing to Edward Holdsworth:
"I shall show you a collection I gave Handel, called ''Messiah'', which I value highly. He has made a fine entertainment of it, though not near so good as he might and ought to have done. I have with great difficulty made him correct some of the grossest faults in the composition; but he retained his overture obstinately, in which there are some passages far unworthy of Handel, but much more unworthy of the ''Messiah.''"
Editor of Shakespeare
In the early 1770s Jennens commenced the preparation of scrupulous critical editions of Shakespeare plays, and the first time that these had been published individually and with editorial footnotes. He completed ''King Lear'', ''Hamlet'', ''Othello'', ''Macbeth'', and ''Julius Caesar'' before his death in 1773. These editions drew scorn, perhaps due to envy, from the Shakespeare editor
George Steevens
George Steevens (10 May 1736 – 22 January 1800) was an English Shakespearean commentator.
Biography Early life
He was born at Poplar, the son of a captain and later director of the East India Company. He was educated at Eton College and at ...
who severely attacked not only Jennens' work, but particularly his character: "The chief error of Mr. Jennens's life consisted in his perpetual association with a set of men every way inferior to himself. By these means he lost all opportunities of improvement, but gained what he preferred to the highest gratifications of wisdom – flattery in excess."
Family
Jennens was the grandson of Birmingham ironmaster Sir Humphrey Jennens, of Eddington Hall, Warwickshire. Charles Jennens' first cousin,
William Jennens
William Jennens (possibly Jennings) (1701–1798), also known as William the Miser, William the Rich, and The Miser of Acton, was a reclusive financier who lived at Acton Place in the village of Acton, Suffolk, England. He was described as the " ...
was described as the "richest commoner in England" when he died unmarried and intestate with a fortune estimated at £2 million (worth in excess of £230 million at 2015 rates). Charles Jennens' own fortune was inherited by his sister Elizabeth Jennens Hanmer (1692–1777). Elizabeth's daughter Esther Hanmer (1719–1764) married
Assheton Curzon, 1st Viscount Curzon
Assheton Curzon, 1st Viscount Curzon (2 February 1730 – 21 March 1820), styled Lord Curzon between 1794 and 1802, was a British Tory politician.
Background and education
Curzon was the second son of Sir Nathaniel Curzon, 4th Baronet of Kedle ...
.
[Smith, R. (23 September 2004). Jennens, Charles (1700/01–1773), patron of the arts and librettist. ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'']
See also
*
Letters and writings of George Frideric Handel
Few of the letters and writings of George Frideric Handel remain today—certainly far fewer than remain for other major composers. Handel wrote relatively few letters and kept no diary, yet those letters that do remain provide insight into the v ...
References
Further reading
*
* Amanda Babington and Ilias Chrissochoidis, "Musical References in the Jennens–Holdsworth Correspondence (1729–46)," ''Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle'' 45:1 (2014), 76–129.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jennens, Charles
1700 births
1773 deaths
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
English opera librettists
English oratorio and passion librettists
English patrons of music
English landowners
People from Hinckley and Bosworth (district)
18th-century composers
18th-century male musicians
English male dramatists and playwrights
18th-century philanthropists
es:Charles Jennens#top