Handel Hendrix House
Almost all his works after 1723, amongst them many of his best-known operas, oratorios and ceremonial music, were composed and partially rehearsed in the house, which contained a variety of keyboard instruments, including harpsichords, a clavichord and a small chamber organ.
The idea first sparked in 1958 when Leslie Sparey,[1] a dentist from the Lake District, made arrangements with Viyella, who occupied 25 Brook Street at the time, for a special visit with his family.
Sparey noted that although planning permission had been refused, he understood that the Co-operative Insurance Society, who had acquired 25 Brook Street in 1971, intended to appeal.
His memorandum also mentioned that a few years earlier he had helped set up a committee specifically for promoting a Handel museum, with representatives from the Royal College of Music, the Royal Academy of Music, the Arts Council and interested others; having noted that the project had been shelved, Sparey finished his memorandum by pointing out the urgent need in ensuring the permanent preservation of Handel's House.
By 1983 the idea of forming The Handel Museum Trust Fund had been mooted, and as a result of a meeting with the Charity Commissioner a draft statement was issued in January 1984, setting out the objects and aims which involved creating a Handel museum in which articles of musical and personal interest from the period would be available for public display, organising events including exhibitions, seminars and concerts, creating scholarships, bursaries and fellowships, and raising funds for making all these aims possible.
In Sparey's reply he informed Hicks that the Cooperative Insurance Society Ltd were appealing against the rejection of their development plan for the area, but with the assurance that if they won their case they would be interested in the idea of creating a Handel Museum.
Following a long period of extensive renovation work, 25 Brook Street finally opened its doors as the Handel House Museum on 8 November 2001.
A typical early 18th century London terrace house, it comprises a basement, three main storeys and an attic, and Handel was the first occupant.
Handel acquired 25 Brook Street in the summer of 1723, shortly after having been appointed by George II as composer to the Chapel Royal, for which he was paid £400 per annum.
The fact that he remained there for the rest of his life, almost 40 years, is remarkable, since opera composers at the time were rarely of fixed abode; prior to that, Handel had been lodged in the homes of friends and patrons.
The museum currently contains a reproduction of a period harpsichord of the Flemish firm Ruckers; a reproduction of a period chamber organ, based on the designs of the organbuilders Richard Bridge and Thomas Parker, was made for the Handel House Trust in 1998[5] and can be seen in Handel's parish church, St George's, Hanover Square, round the corner from Brook Street.
Listening to a rehearsal of Alcina with the soprano Anna Maria Strada, Mrs Pendarves commented, "Whilst Mr Handel was playing his part, I could not help thinking him a necromancer in the midst of his enchantments."
Handel's clavichord was built in 1726 by the Italian instrument maker Annibale Traeri from Modena; it is now in the Maidstone Museum & Art Gallery in Kent.
[4] Handel used his house not only for entertainment, composition and rehearsal, but also for business: in the late 1730s the scores of Alexander's Feast and other works could be purchased directly there.
His home also contained an extensive art collection, and by the end of his life Handel possessed over 80 paintings and prints, including works by Watteau, Teniers and Poussin.
This was justified by the fact that it was only Handel's occupancy that had led to the classification as a Grade I listed building and by the presence of an internal period staircase in near perfect condition.
The refurbishment of the interior, including panelling, shutters, window seats and cornices, was based primarily on period details from the adjacent house at 27/29 Brook Street.
These include: Around the same time the trust also bought two paintings of Jennens (by Thomas Hudson) and the opera singer Faustina Bordoni (by Bartolomeo Nazari).
The museum incorporates the upper floors of its neighbour at 23 Brook Street, which was the home of American rock singer-guitarist Jimi Hendrix in 1968–1969.
