DICTIONARY OF MUSIC - El Atril

HANDEL-GESELLSCHAFT HAXDEL-GESELLSCHAFT 291
Egypt,' were performed, the principal singers
including Clara Novello, Miss Dolhy, Sims
Reeves, and Formes, and the conductor being
Costa, as conductor of the Society.
This festival liaving establislied the fact tliat
the Central Transept of the Palace niiglit be
made a fitting locality for the Cominemoratiun
in 1S59, it took place under the same management,
on the 20th, 22nd, and •24th June, 'Messiair
and ' Israel in Eygpt '
again occupying the first
The
and third days, the second being devoted to
' a selection from
and ' Dettingen Te Deum
various works. The band was augmented to
460, and the chorus to upwards of 2700
performers ; Costa was conductor, and the
principal singers inclnded Clara Novello, Sims
Reeves, and Signer Belletti. Tlie orchestra was
improved by inclosing it with wooden screens,
and covering it in witli an enormous awning of
oiled and hardened canvas. Tlie three performances
and the public rehearsal were remarkably
successful, and attracted 81,319 visitors.
This success led to the determination that
similar festivals should be helrl periodically
under the name of the Triennial Handel Festival.
Fifteen have been held, viz. in 1862, 1865,
1868. 1871, 1874, 1877, 1880, 1883, 1885
(the festival of 1886 being anticipated so as to
celebrate the bi- centenary of the composer's
birth), 1888, 1891, 1894, 1897, 1900, and
1903. The first and tliird days have invariably
been occupied by 'Messiah' and 'Israel,' the
intermediate days being devoted to varied selec-
tions, including ' Zadok
The
The Dettingen Te ' Deum
1871; the Coronation Anthems, '
Priest' (1865), and '
in
the
king shall rejoice'
(1877) ; and the First, Fourth, and Second
Organ Concertos respectively in 1871, 1874, and
1877. The singers Avho appieared at these
festivals were the most eminent then before the
public. The Sacred Harmonic Society was solely
respionsible for the earlier pierformances, which
were conducted by Costa down to 1880. From
1883 to 1900 Mr. (now Sir August) Manns was
the conductor, and for that of 1903, Jlr. (now
Dr.) F. H. Cowen was appointed. The band was
augmented in 1865 to 495 performers, and the
chorus in 1874 to nearly 3200. The sonority
of the orchestra was increased by the erection
in 1862 of a boarded roof covering in the whole
space occupied by the performers, and e.xtending
24 feet beyond the front. w. h. h.
HANDEL-GESELLSCHAFT. A society for
the piublication of a critical and uniform edition
of the whole of Handel's works in full score,
with pianoforte arrangement and German translation
of the text. The Prospectus is dated
August 15, 1856, and has thirty-five names
appended to it, including those of Chrysander,
Dehn, Franz, Gervinus, Haupitmann, Hiller,
Jahn, Liszt, Meyerbeer, Moscheles, Renkomm,
and Rietz. A second Prospectus announcing the
first year's issue is dated Leipzig, June 1, 1859,
and signed b}^ the Dirccforium, viz. Rietz,
Hauptmann, Chrysander, Gervinus, Pjreitko]if
& Hartel. Dr. Friedricli Chrysander was sole
active editor from the commencement, having
had for some few years at the beginning the
little more than nominal co-operation from
Rietz, Hauptmann, and Gervinus. The editor
paid frequent visits to England to consult
Handel's original manuscripts, upon which the
edition is based throughout ; and acquired the
scores written for the purpiose of conducting
by Handel's secretary J. C. Smith, wliich previously
belonged to M. Schoeloher. Vols. 1-18
of this edition were issued by Breitkopf & Hiirtel
of Leipzig; but in the year 1864 the editor
terminated this arrangement, and engaged
engravers and printers to work under his immediate
control on his own premises at Bergedorf
near Hamburg. All the volumes from
vol. 19 have been thus produced ; and with vol.
20 an important improvement was made in the
use of zinc (as a harder metal) instead of pewter
for the engraved plates.
In the I'ollowing list, an asterisk is prefixed
to those works which were published for the
first time, at all events in compilete score. A'ol.
97, in a ditt'erent form (the oblong shape of
Handel's manuscripit), contains a facsimile of
' Jephtha," which is oi' especial interest as show-
ing the composer's style of writing when blindness
was rapidly coming on, and making evident
the order in which he wrote—the parts of the
score first written exhibiting his ordinary hand^
while those which were written in later, when
he was struggling with dimness of sight, can
be readily distinguished by their blotclied and
blurred aptpearance.
The English Oratorios, Anthems, and other
vocal works, are pirovided with a German version,
executed by Professor Gervinus, and after his
death by the editor ; and the few German vocal
works have an English translation added. The
Italian Operas and other vocal works, and
the Latin Church JIusic, have no translation.
The Oratorios, Odes, Te Deums, ' Acis and Ga-
latea, '
' Parnasso in Festa,' Italian duets and
terzets, and Anthems, have a PF. accompaniment
added to tlie original score ; but not the
Italian Op'cras, nor vols. 24, 38, 39. These accompaniments
are partly by the editor, partly
by Im. Faisst, J. Rietz, E. F. Richter, A. von
Dommer, and E. Prout.
Dr. Chrysander also published the following
articles on certain works of Handel's, which
should be combined with the information contained
in the prefaces to make the edition coni-
pilete : on vol, 13 ('Saul'), in Jalirbiicher fiir
inusikaJische U'issenschaft, vol. 1 ; on vol. 16
('Israel in Egypt'), ibid. vol. 2; on vol. 47
(Instrumental Music), in Vierteljahrsschrifl fiir
Musikxi'issenschaft for 1887. After the completion
of the edition, a series of ' Supplemente
was issued, consisting of certain works from