George Frideric Handel was the house composer at

Cannons A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder dur ...

from August 1717 until February 1719. The Chandos Anthems and other important works by Handel were conceived, written or first performed at Cannons. Cannons was a large house in

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

, the seat of James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos who was a patron of Handel. The duke, a flute player, had a private orchestra, consisting of 24 instrumentalists. Johann Christoph Pepusch was the Master of Music at Cannons from 1716 and he saw the size of the musical establishment at first expand and then decline in the 1720s in response to Brydges' losses in the South Sea Bubble, a financial crash which took place in 1720. Vanderbank - 1st Duke of Chandos

Handel's move to Cannons

Handel settled in England in 1712, but appears not to have maintained his own household in London until 1723. He attracted the patronage of noblemen such as

Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington and 4th Earl of Cork, (25 April 1694 – 4 December 1753) was a British architect and noble often called the "Apollo of the Arts" and the "Architect Earl". The son of the 2nd Earl of Burlington and 3rd Ea ...

, and he was based at Burlington House before becoming Cannons' resident composer from 1717 to 1718. It has been suggested that the move to Cannons was related to the fact that in 1717 there was reduced demand for his services in central London because operatic productions were experiencing a temporary downturn. At the end of Handel's stay at Cannons, the Duke and his friends helped him establish a new opera company in London, the so-called Royal Academy of Music.

Church music

Handel wrote church music for performance at Cannons, the ''Chandos Te Deum'' and the ''Chandos Anthems'' (settings of texts from the

psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

for use in the Anglican liturgy). While Handel was at Cannons, the ducal chapel was still being constructed (it was finished in 1720). The church music was performed at the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

(

St Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. " laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roman ...

, Whitchurch). The church reopened in 1716 after the Duke had reconstructed the building to his baroque taste. St Lawrence still contains artwork by Louis Laguerre and Bellucci (who also worked on the decorative scheme of the house). At the east end of the church is the organ used by Handel. Modernised over the years, it was restored in 1994 using the surviving parts of the original 1716 single- manual organ as the reference point.

Chandos Anthems

The Chandos Anthems were written at a time when the musical establishment at Cannons was still being expanded. The scoring of the anthems varies, with strings predominating including first and second violins (but only occasionally violas), cellos and basses. There is usually a separate part for an oboe, and one for organ. Bassoons occasionally join the cellos and basses. The number of singers at Handel's disposition is unknown. Although Daniel Defoe referred to the duke having a "full choir" at a slightly later period, it seems that altos were missing from the choir at the start of Handel's tenure at Cannons (see ''As pants the hart'' for details of the scoring of one of the earlier anthems).

Dramatic music

Handel's ''Esther'' (HWV 50a), which is now recognised as the first English

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 ...

, was performed by the Cannons musicians as early as 1718. The libretto, based on a tragedy by

Jean Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western traditi ...

, was by John Arbuthnot and

Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, ...

, and according to Winton Dean appears to have been given in a semi-staged version although this is not definitively proven in any known document. Handel used several parts of his Brockes Passion in "Esther." Another premiere in May 1718 is without doubt the

masque The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A masq ...

'' Acis and Galatea''.Marx, J.H. (1998) Händels Oratorien, Oden und Serenaten, p. 8. The libretto was by John Gay, who was to collaborate with Pepusch in "

The Beggar's Opera ''The Beggar's Opera'' is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of satiri ...

" in 1728. According to tradition, ''Acis and Galatea'' was performed in the garden. Appropriately for Cannons, which had expensive water features, the pastoral hero Acis is transformed into a fountain at the end.

Instrumental music

Handel published eight keyboard suites in 1720. It is possible, though unproven, that some of them were written at Cannons. Dating the music is difficult because it was written over a period of years and the composer had been happy to leave it in manuscript until he got wind of a forthcoming unauthorised publication. ''

The Harmonious Blacksmith ''The Harmonious Blacksmith'' is the popular name of the final movement, ''Air and variations'', of George Frideric Handel's Suite No. 5 in E major, HWV 430, for harpsichord. This instrumental air was one of the first works for harpsichord p ...

'' variations (concluding the 5th suite, in E major) is said to have been written at Cannons.

References