Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
From Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
Handel’s anthem sets to glorious music words sung at English coronations for over a thousand years.
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© Martin Creek, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.
Handel’s German boss fired the composer for spending all his time in London. When they met again, it was... rather awkward.
© Steve Evans, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.
The first thing George Frideric Handel’s oratorio ‘Messiah’ did was to set a hundred and forty-two prisoners free.
© inharecherche, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.
Lost for seventeen centuries, caught up in a war, and used as a pedestal for a plant pot, this is the world’s oldest surviving song.
© Philip Capper, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.
A Scottish widow’s lullaby for her fatherless child inspired his music, but Brahms’s message struck closer to home.
© P.g.champion, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.
A Dubliner with a roving eye and a gift for melody, John Field challenged Europe’s pianists to demand more of themselves.