Talks

Charles Jennens was not only Handel’s best librettist, he was also a ground-breaking editor of Shakespeare’s plays, a Christian philanthropist, innovative patron of the arts and political outsider. This talk, delivered by writer and broadcaster Ruth Smith, leading expert on Handel’s oratorios and Jennens’ biographer, explores his personality and his principles, his aims and his achievements, illuminating his fertile, and sometimes fractious, collaboration with Handel.

Discover the hidden world of networks of musicians in Georgian London, and how they could help a musician succeed.

Katharine Hogg gives insights into Handel's connection with the Foundling Hospital, the UK's first children's charity, and how the concerts of Messiah made the piece popular in London and the whole country. Lizzy Buckle has a closer look on the underpinning objectives of charitable activities during Handel's time and questioned whether Handel really was quite as golden-hearted as we commonly regard him to be...

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As part of the Being Human Festival 2020, researcher Lizzy Buckle introduces her work with the Foundling Museum’s Gerald Coke Handel Collection and discusses who the real beneficiaries of eighteenth-century benefit concerts were.