The Copybook

Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.

1639

© Gryffindor, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.

The ‘Raindrop’ Prelude Georges Sand

As the storm raged around him, raindrops fell like music on the pianist’s heart.

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1640

© tango7174, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 4.0.

The Miracle of Piso Livadi Clay Lane

Three fishermen let their tongues run away with them, and were left counting the cost.

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1641

© Jorge Royan, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.

The Harmonious Blacksmith Clay Lane

Handel called it ‘Air and Variations’, but by Charles Dickens’s day everyone knew it as ‘The Harmonious Blacksmith’.

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1642

From Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Zadok the Priest Clay Lane

Handel’s anthem sets to glorious music words sung at English coronations for over a thousand years.

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1643

© Martin Creek, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

The Story of Handel’s ‘Water Music’ Clay Lane

Handel’s German boss fired the composer for spending all his time in London. When they met again, it was... rather awkward.

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1644

© Steve Evans, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

The Story of ‘Messiah’ Clay Lane

The first thing George Frideric Handel’s oratorio ‘Messiah’ did was to set a hundred and forty-two prisoners free.

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