Anecdotes of George Frederick Handel, and John Christopher Smith
With Select Pieces of Music, Composed by J. C. Smith, Never Before Published

Published in 1799, this is a valuable first-hand account of two eminent figures at the heart of eighteenth-century English music.

William Coxe (Author)

9781108070942, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 13 February 2014

116 pages, 34 music examples
25.4 x 17.8 x 0.6 cm, 0.22 kg

The author and clergyman William Coxe (1748–1828), noted for his travel works, was the stepson of Handel's amanuensis, German-born John Christopher Smith (1712–95). First published in 1799, the present work is a valuable source of first-hand information about two men at the heart of eighteenth-century English music: George Frideric Handel (1685–1759), whose inventive and sensitive melodic genius and exuberant brilliance in depicting the spectacular are best displayed in his Messiah and Zadok the Priest, and Smith, a composer of attractive and fashionable music, who settled in London in 1720, took lessons with Handel and later supported the great composer as his eyesight failed. Smith was also organist at the Foundling Hospital until 1770. This publication, profits from which were intended to support Smith's family, draws on the works of John Hawkins and Charles Burney, and on anecdotes claimed to be 'derived from unquestionable authority'.

List of subscribers
Anecdotes of Handel
Anecdotes of Smith
Appendix
Music examples.

Subject Areas: Baroque music [c 1600 to c 1750 AVGC3]