Handel, Commemoration of

HANDEL, COMMEMORATION OF. Early in 1783 three musical amateurs, Viscount Fitzwilliam, Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, and Joan Bates, conceived the idea of celebrating the centenary of the birth of Handel (1684–5) by performing some of his works on a scale then unprecedented in England. The scheme being supported by the leading musical professors and the Directors of the Concert of Ancient Music (who undertook the arrangement of the performances), and warmly entered into by the King, it was determined...