DICTIONARY OF MUSIC - El Atril

288 HANDEL HANDEL
are, in their own style, as unapproached now as
ever ; he seems to have exhausted what art can
do in this direction ; hut he lias not swayed tlie
minds of modern composers as Bach has done.
Bach lived and wrote in retirement ; a small
proportion only of his works was published in
his lifetime, nor did he take into account their
eliect on the public mind, or feel the public
pulse, as Handel did. It is strange that he in
his seclusion should have preserved a keen interest
in the music of other men, whereas Handel's
shell of artistic egotism seemed hardened
hy the rough contact of the world and society ;
music for him existed only in his own works.
Bach was very anxious to make the acquaintance
of his famous contemporary ; and, on two
occasions, when the latter visited Halle, made
elibrts to meet him, but without success. When
Handel went thither the third time. Bach was
dead.
Bach's influence began to be felt some fifty
years after his death, when the treasures he had
left behind him were first brought to light. He
was a thinker who traced ideas to tlieir source,
an idealist who worshipped abstract truth for
its own sake. His works are close chains of
thought and reasoning, prompted by profound
feeling, and infinitel}' suggestive ; from the various
starting-points which they offer, we go on
arguing to this day ; but they appeal chiefly to
the reflective mind. Tliey are no less complete
as wholes than the works of Handel, hut they
are far more complex ; and to perceive their
unity requires a broad scope of judgment, not
possessed by every hearer.
Handel's works a[jpeal to all alike. He was
what he felt and what he saw
a man of action ;
he painted, but did not analyse. The difference
is the same as that wdiich lies between a great
philosopher and a great epic poet,— betw"een
Plato and Homer. Who shall say whether is
greater ? For traces of the influence of the one
we must seek deeper and look farther, but the
power of the other is more consciously
more universally recognised.
felt and
'The figure of Handel,' says Burney, who
knew him well, ' was large, and he wa^: somewhat
unwieldy in his actions ; but his countenance
was full of fire and dignity. His general
look was somewhat heavy and sour, but when he
did smile it was the sun bursting out of a black
cloud. There was a sudden flash of intelligence,
wit, and good humour, beaming in his countenance
which I hardly ever saw in any other.'
'His smile was like heaven.' To this Hawkins
adds that ' his gait was ever sauntering, with
somewhat of a rocking motion.'
Of jiortraits of Handel there is a multitude.
Several were executed in marlile by Roubilliac ;
one, a bust, presented to (leorge III., with the
original MSS. and Handel's harpsichord, by
Smith ; another, also a bust (17.38), bought hy
Bartleman at the sale of the properties at Vaux-
hall, and bought at his sale again by Mr. Pollock,
whopresented it to theFoundlingHospital
another, a bust, formerly in the collection of the
late Mr. Alfred Morrison (sold at Christie's) ;
fourthly, the Vauxhall statue (1738), formerly
the projierty of the Sacred Harmonic Society,
and now in the possession of Mr. Alfred Littleton.
Roubilliac's tirst work, in which the association
of the commonplace dress of the figure with the
lyre and naked Cupid is very ludicrous ; and
lastly, the statue in the monument in Westminster
Abbey, which, in spite of the affecta-
tion of the pose, is one of the best portraits, the
head having been taken from a cast after death
by Roubilliac, and said to have been afterwards
touclied upon by him, the eyes opened, etc. A
reproduction of this occurs in The Mirror for
July 19, 1834, from which it is here engraved.
A marble medallion is in the private chapel of
Belton House, Lincolnshire. A statue, by Professor
Heidel of Berlin, was unveiled at Halle
in Dec. 18.57.
Of pictures, the one by Denner, a very unsatis-
factory portrait, was given by Lady Rivers to
the Sacred Harmonic Society, and now belongs
to Mr. Littleton ; another by Denner is at
Knowle ;
another, hardlj' more trustworthy, by
G. A. Wolfgang, formerly in the collection of
Mr. Snoxell, was solii to a purchaser named
Clark in 1879 at Puttick and Simpson's. TSvo
by Huilson are in the possession of the Royal
Society of Musicians, while another, said to be
the original, was described by Fiirstemann(1844)
as belonging to the grand-daughters of Handel's
niece, Johanna Fridcrica Fllirchen, at Halle. It
is doubtful if this latter exists. [Another by
Hudson is in the Bodleian, Oxford. An oval
portrait by Hudson, in the possession of Dr.
W. H. Cummings, was reproduced in the special
Handel number of tlie Musical Times.~\ There is
an original by Hudson, signed 1756, at Gopsall,
the seat of Earl Howe, by whom it was lent
to the exhibition organised by the Musicians'
Compan}^ in Fishmongers' Flail, 1904, and a
small copy of it, slightly different, in Buckingham
Palace. [Another version is now in the
National Portrait Gallery. A half-length