Graham Pont
Handel’s last royal pupil was the Princess Louisa (1724-51). For her studies at the harpsichord Handel composed his last two substantial works for the instrument, the Suites in D minor and G minor, HWV 447 and 452. Like her older sisters, Louisa became a regular supporter of her teacher: her presence at performances of Atalanta and Poro (1736) and Saul (1739) are recorded – there were doubtless many others – and she subscribed to the editions of Alexander’s Feast (1738) and the Twelve Grand Concertos (1740). In 1743 Louise married Prince Frederick of Denmark and Norway and became Queen when in 1746 her husband was crowned King. She was popular with the Danish court and admired for her accomplishments: ‘She finds pleasure in reading and music, she plays the clavichord well and teaches her daughters to sing’ (1). In 1748 she arranged for an Italian opera company to perform at the court theatre: the company included Gluck and Sarti. Louisa died from complications of childbirth in December 1751.
When Handel composed the two Suites for Louisa is not known: the Händel Handbuch suggests 1739; Otto Erich Deutsch dates them to 1736. The composer’s autographs of both Suites have survived, as well as several authorised copies, but neither work was published during Handel’s lifetime: perhaps they were considered royal property. The first edition of the Suite in G minor appeared in a rare volume entitled A Favorite Lesson for the Harpsichord Composed for Young Practitioners by George Fred: Handel Never before Printed (London: C. and S. Thompson, n.d.) (2). This edition is usually dated c.1770 but the British Library, which holds one of the only two recorded copies, gives the date as 1772. The only other known copy, in the collection of the present writer, enjoys the rare distinction of having been transported twice around the globe to Sydney.
At the top of the title page is a note in ink ‘Found in Pitt Street, Sydney, 1936’! Eighteenth-century editions of Handel are exceptionally rare in early Australian collections: how and when this volume first reached Sydney and where it lay before being thrown out on the street in 1936 is a complete mystery. There may be some hint as to its provenance in the illegible signature on the top-left corner of the title-page.
The man who found the volume and wrote the notes on the title-page was the Sydney medico Joseph Coen (1880-1955). In his second note he records that in May 1946 he presented the volume to ‘Gilbert Inglefield, for his library and in memory of many hours of Handel’. Sir Gilbert Inglefield (1909-91) was a British architect who became Lord Mayor of London in 1967-68. After Inglefield’s death his music collection was dispersed: books of his were included in sales by Christie, Manson & Woods on 11 July 1968 and 6 August 1975. I purchased this volume from Colin Coleman in 2010 and thus it returned for the second time to Sydney.
Notes
(1) See the interesting and well-illustrated article ‘Louise of Great Britain’ in Wikipedia.
(2) The Suite in G minor has been edited by Terence Best in Händel Klavierwerke III… Erste Folge (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1970), pp.42-47. This version includes a final Gigue which Handel later added but which was omitted from the original edition.