Handel declines, Schuman accepts

Synopsis

On today’s date in 1733, Georg Friderich Handel paid a visit to Oxford to conduct the premiere performance of his new oratorio, Athalia, at the Sheldonian Theater.

Handel had been invited by the University to add some musical pizzazz to an elaborate ceremony know as “The Publick Act,” during which honorary degrees were bestowed on worthy individuals. It was apparently a terrific performance, with one visitor from London reporting: “Never has there been such applause and marks of admiration.” But not everyone in Oxford was happy. One crusty don, apparently not a fan of new music, complained of the presence of “Handel and his lousy crew — a great number of foreign fiddlers.“

Handel was offered an honorary degree by Oxford, but he did not accept, claiming he was “too busy,” but maybe he just balked at paying the University’s required fee of 100 pounds to receive the honor.

In the 19th century, Oxford and its rival Cambridge would bestow honorary degrees on other major composers like Tchaikovsky and Dvořák, and, in our own time, between 1949 and 1990, one American composer, William Schuman received no fewer than 28 honorary degrees. In fact, Schuman had so many that he had a quilt sewn together from pieces of his ceremonial gowns, so that, as he liked to quip, “He could take his naps by degrees.”

Music Played in Today's Program

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759): Sinfonia from ‘Athalia Academy of Ancient Music’; Christopher Hogwood, conductor; L’Oiseau-Lyre 417 126

William Schuman (1910-1992): Chester (Variations for Piano); Alexei Sultanov, piano; Teldec 46103On This Day

Births

• 1835 - Polish composer and violinist Henryk Wieniawski, in Lubin

• 1895 - German composer and music educator, Carl Orff, in Munich

• 1933 - Broadway composer Jerry Herman, in New York City

Deaths

• 1940 - British composer and conductor Sir Donald Tovey, 64, in Edinburgh

• 1941 - Jazz pianist and composer Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton, 55, in Los Angeles

• 1979 - American conductor of the Boston Pops, Arthur Fiedler, 84. He started the first outdoor Esplanade Concerts in Boston in 1929 and the famous Boston Pops series in 1930. In 1979, Fiedler was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

• 1983 - German composer Werner Egk, 82, in Inning (near Munich)

Premieres

• 1733 - Handel: oratorio Athalia, in Oxford at the Sheldonian Theater, with Handel conducting from keyboard (Gregorian date: July 21)

• 2001 - Bernstein (arr. William David Brohn): West Side Story Suite for violin and orchestra, in New York’s Central Park, with soloist Joshua Bell and the New York Philharmonic, William Eddins, conducting

Others

• 1741 - Charles Jennens, the librettist for Handel’s oratorio Saul, writes to a friend: “Handel says he will do nothing next Winter, but I hope I shall persuade him to set another Scripture collection I have made for him, and perform it for his own benefit in passion week. I hope he will lay out his whole genius and skill upon it, that the composition may excel as his former compositions, as the subject excels every other subject. The subject is Messiah.” (Gregorian date: July 21)