Handel’s ‘Alexander’s Feast’
Royal Albert Hall
It has been a somewhat subdued Saturday. The weather overcast with sporadic showers. Had our semi-usual family lunch at the Brown Bear coffee shop in Irby Village. My baby niece has been in Arrowe Park hospital overnight with a cellulitis of the eye - fortunately it was treated promptly and she is in full recovery and good spirits at home this afternoon, but heartbroken when my brother and I have to leave.
In a copy of last Saturday, I purchase a bottle of Ayinger dunkel bier from the Crafty Tavern, and sit down in the front room of my parents' house to listen to the Prom on BBC Sounds. I'm about half an hour behind the live broadcast on Radio 3.
Tonight it's Alexander’s Feast, by Handel. It's conducted by Peter Whelan [any relation to Bill Whelan, of Riverdance fame, I wonder?!]. It's the Irish Baroque Orchestra, and I think I catch the presenter saying something like the hall is 'glowing green.'
It's a long piece of music so, rather than shower it all with commentary, I'll just offer a few general points on the music, and a few of my random takeaways about Handel himself.
The music at whole is, I guess, textbook Baroque. It's decorative... ornate. It's powdered wigs, doublet and hose. When I reflected on some of my favourite composers the other day (Bach, Vivaldi, Saent-Sains, Grieg), I probably forgot to include Handel. With him in the mix, three out of five of these are of the Baroque period, and I do think I have a penchant for this style.
A few nights ago I blogged that I had enjoyed a pint of Guinness at The Harp Inn, at Neston. Well, on his way back from Ireland our man Handel allegedly lodged just down the road from there, at Parkgate, which, at the time, offered a maritime gateway to traffic of the Irish sea.
Back in 2016 I visited the Handel and Hendrix exhibition in London. I still have some pictures I took, which I've uploaded here as a matter of interest.
I've even had a more recent encounter with Handel! Earlier this year, I started attending history talks at Preston Brook village hall. They are put on monthly by the Preston Brook and District History Group, and the talks are always varied and interesting; nicely informal and with visitors from all over the country. Anyway, the subject of one of the talks was the Foundling Hospital in Chester, and this led on to a wider discussion about the Foundling initiative, and the Foundling Museum in London. I thought that I must visit this museum when I was next down in the capital and, in May, I did just that. Turns out, Handel was a big proponent and donator to the scheme, and there's an important collection of his works on the top floor - see my final photo below. [The ticket I bought included a one-year valid entry, so I'll be returning for a second visit for sure.]
I was actually thinking of attending this Prom; the plan being to bus it down in the morning, see the show, then get the bus back through the night. In one way I'm regretting I didn't do it because, being familiar with the acoustics at the RAH, I know it would have sounded spectacular in there. But in another way I'm glad I've stayed at home and saved some money and energy - both of which I suspect I'll need to acquire a ticket for the Last Night of the Proms in two weeks time.
We get an encore of 'Hallelujah' from Messiah. Suppose that was obligatory wasn't it, but I'm not in any way complaining!
Gerald Coke Handel collection at the Foundling Museum, 2025
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