Composers' Homes in Britain
Handel, Berlioz and Mozart and Their Residences in London, England.
A brief look at the residences, permanent or temporary, of three of the great composers who traveled to Britain at one time.
George Friedrich Handel (1685-1759), was a German composer of great fame who spent thirty-five years living in London, England, where he rented a house at 25 Brook Street , W1, in the Mayfair/Soho area. After a successful career in Germany, where he was born at Halle, Lower Saxony, Handel travelled to England for a short visit and was so well received by the British people that he stayed for the rest of his life. Although he was a naturalized citizen, Handel could never master the English language and stumbled about with a half-German and half-English vocabulary. King George I, his friend and employer, gave him a stipend of four hundred pounds a year. It was King George II who began the custom of standing while the Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah is performed.
Handel was living at 25 Brook Street when he composed the monumental oratorio 'Messiah,' and it is said that he did not leave the house during the twenty-four days it took him to complete the work. A servant would bring food only to return and find it untouched, with Handel staring into space. Handel, upon finishing the work cried, "I did think I did see all heaven before me, and the great God himself!" The house on Brook Street still stands.
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz, ( 1803-1869) was the French composer of 'Harold in Italy,' 'Romeo et Juliette' and the opera 'Benvenuto Cellini.' In 1851, while the Great Exhibition was going on, Berlioz visited London for the third time. The violinist, Prosper Sainton lived in a house on Manchester Square and it was here that Berlioz met Richard Wagner, prompting Wagner to write to Franz Liszt that "I have conceived a cordial and profound friendship for Berlioz.'
Berlioz took rooms at 58 Queen Anne Street WI in the St.Marylebone area, while he was sitting on a jury to judge various musical instruments at the exhibition. He was not happy with the situation and thought that it was 'abominable drudgery.' He stayed for almost two months before returning to his home on the continent. The house at 58 Queen Street still stands.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), came to London as part of a tour of Europe that his father, Leopold, managed. His sister Nannerl was also part of the 'show' and the two prodigies performed for less than the enthusiastic crowds that greeted them in Europe. They stayed in London for six months, performing every day 'from twelve to three' in the Great Room of a tavern in Cornhill called the Swan and Hoop.
They lodged with a corsetmaker in Frith Street, Soho; with a hair cutter in Cecil Court and at a place called Five Fields Row, now 180 Elbury Street, SW I. The house on Elbury Street still stands.The tour was not successful and the three Mozarts left ill and impoverished.
For further reading about historic London:
Source
Where They Lived in London, by Maurice Rickards,Taplinger Publishing Company, New York, 1973.
