Having begun on this tack, it was easy to throw morality to the winds
when he came to the words about all fear of punishment being over.
Handel and Marriage
To man God's universal law
Gave power to keep the wife in awe
sings Handel in a comically dogmatic little chorus in Samson. But
the universality of the law must be held to have failed in the case
of Mr. and Mrs. M'Culloch.
Handel and a Letter to a Solicitor
Jones showed me a letter that had been received by the solicitor in
whose office he was working:
"Dear Sir; I enclose the name of the lawyer of the lady I am engaged
to and her name and address are Miss B. Richmond. His address is W.
W. Esq. Manchester.
"I remain, Yours truly W. D. C."
I said it reminded me of the opening bars of "Welcome, welcome,
Mighty King" in Saul:
[Music score which cannot be reproduced]
Handel's Shower of Rain
The falling shower in the air "As cheers the sun" in Joshua is, I
think, the finest description of a warm sunny refreshing rain that I
have ever come across and one of the most wonderfully descriptive
pieces of music that even Handel ever did.
Theodora and Susanna
In my preface to Evolution Old and New I imply a certain
dissatisfaction with Theodora and Susanna, and imply also that Handel
himself was so far dissatisfied that in his next work, Jephtha (which
I see I inadvertently called his last), he returned to his earlier
manner.
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