Handel's French biographer, David, remarks with enthusiasm of the master's setting of Dryden's "Alexander's Feast, or the Power of Music " : " We have made our loftiest eulogy when we have said that the music is worthy of the words." There is some possibility that the poet would have taken exception to the word " worthy," for it was he who, when assured by a friend that his new ode was the greatest ever written, returned with becoming modesty, " It is not only the greatest ode that ever was written, but the greatest ode that ever will be written." And strange to say, after over two centuries he has not yet been proved wrong. This famous lyric to St. Cecilia was composed in 1697, when Dryden was sixty-six years of age.
Handel's setting of the poem was first performed Feb. 19, 1736, at Covent Garden Theatre. The text was put into practical form, that is, divided into strophes, by Handel's friend, Newburgh Hamilton, who permitted himself an addition to the text in the way of a canticle, which is latterly omitted. Hamilton's arrangement had been originally made twenty-five years before, for one Thomas Clayton, who had failed lamentably to rise to the occasion. No one could have been found who was more ably fitted to divide this great poem than was Hamilton. To him the lines of this noble poem were so sacred that he was determined to preserve it in its own form as closely as possible, and the material has lost nothing in his hands. That one of England's greatest songs should be set to music by the gifted Handel was but fitting, since Handel had long been a great favorite with the English nation; and the united efforts of Dryden and Handel have immortalized Alexander's Feast. Coming at a time when the English public had become tired of foreign opera, this home product was enthusiastically received. Hamilton was so delighted with Handel's success that he prefaced the work with a poetical panegyric which thus concludes :
"Had Dryden liv'd the welcome day to bless,
Which cloth'd his numbers in so fit a dress;
When his majestic poetry was crown'd,
With all your bright magnificence of sound;
How would his wonder and his transport rise,
While fam'd Timotheus yields to you the prize."
"Alexander's Feast " is more than ever admired, as it now stands with Mozart's additional accompaniments composed in 1790. In Germany it is one of the most familiar of Handel's works.
A description of the first performance is given in the London Daily Post : " Yesterday evening the Duke of Cumberland and the Princess Amelia were at the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden, where they heard the hymn of Dryden which Mr. Handel has put to music. There never was upon the like occasion so numerous and splendid an Audience at any Theatre in London, there being at least thirteen hundred Persons present, and it is judged that the receipts of the house could not amount to less than four hundred pounds. It met with general applause though attended with the inconvenience of having the performers placed at too great a distance from the audience, which we hear will be rectified the next time of performance."
It is difficult to understand the apparent astonishment over the size of the audience when we read of "Athaliah " being performed at Oxford and " vastly applauded " by an audience of thirty-seven hundred persons. The singers upon this first occasion were Signor Strada, Miss Young, the fiancée of Dr. Arne, Beard the tenor, and Erard the basso. It was successfully given five times that season. Handel wrote "Alexander's Feast " soon after a period of recuperation at Tunbridge, and not, as frequently stated, after his successful trial of the baths of Aix-la-Chapelle, which followed his complete breakdown in health and fortune. It came into being when his persecution at the hands of his professional enemies was at its height, when even the playbills announcing his performances were torn down as soon as they were put up.
The text of "Alexander's Feast was appropriate matter, and it is small wonder that Handel found himself in his element with it. The poem is generally familiar. Alexander is pictured at his wedding feast reclining beside his bride, the lovely Thais. The old Timotheus strikes his lyre, and by music's power moves the hero from mood to mood. He sings of Jove, and Alexander by the power of suggestion, himself
"Assumes the god,
Affects to nod,
And seems to shake the spheres."
Bacchus, the " jolly god," becomes Timotheus' theme, and praise of " drinking, the soldier's pleasure," and Alexander, grown vain, in fancy sees his hosts about him, and fights " all his battles o'er again," when the notes change to a sadder strain, Alexander's pride is checked and a mist of tears rushes across his eyes as the musician describes Darius, the once powerful enemy, hurled from glory to infinite degradation, " with not a friend to close his eyes " when death claims him. In the gamut of emotion love is next to pity, and Timotheus gallantly sings the charms of Thais. A crash of martial sounds rouses him, and he sees his army surround him to urge him to the fight, the spirits of the fallen Grecian warriors reminding him of their unrevenged fate. The king seizes a flambeau and starts forth from the banquet hall with his men to fire Persepolis. Holding aloft her torch, before them all goes Thais, who " like another Helen fired another Troy."
Having thus illustrated the marvels done by the musician of ancient days with his lyre and flute, the poet sets forth as his peer the later Cecilia, traditional inventress of the organ, whose performance moved an angel from heaven to espouse her.
Not only the magnificent choruses are notable, although the work is much stronger in them than in the airs. The overture with its " majestic, joyful fugue," has been described as inspired. Worthy of mention are the solo, " Revenge, revenge, Timotheus cries; " the recitative, " Give the vengeance due the valiant crew ; " the solos, " Softly sweet in Lydian measure," with violoncello accompaniment ; and " The King seized a flambeau with zeal to destroy."
Important among the choruses are the graceful bridal chorus, " Happy, happy, happy pair; " the soldiers' drinking chorus, " Bacchus' blessings are a treasure ; " " He sung Darius great and good ; " the bold and dramatic male chorus, " Break his bands of sleep asunder; " " Let old Timotheus yield the prize," a double fugue with four different subjects; " The many rend the skies with loud applause," the last constructed upon a ground base of five bars repeated fourteen times, but so skilfully managed that no monotony has resulted.
Some confusion has arisen over the fact that in 1739, for the festival of music's patron saint, Handel set to music Dryden's smaller ode on St. Cecilia's Day, which preceded "Alexander's Feast " by ten years. This begins, " From harmony, from heavenly harmony, this universal frame began." To judge by a letter written Sept. 3, 1687, by Dryden to his son, who was then in Italy, this poem was composed in a rather perfunctory manner. " In the meantime," says he, " I am writing a song for St. Cecilia's feast, who you know is the patroness of music. This is troublesome and in no way beneficial, but I could not deny the stewards of the feast who came in a body to desire that kindness, one of them being Mr. Bridgeman, whose parents are your mother's friends."
There is record that Handel's score for this was sometimes performed at the same time as "Alexander's Feast," together with two concertos for various instruments and an organ concerto, and sometimes in performance with "Acis and Galatea." It is divided into fourteen numbers and contains some of Handel's best chorus work. The manuscript score is in ,Buckingham Palace, and according to the dates inscribed in Handel's handwriting, it was begun September 15, and finished September 24. Sir John Hawkins states that Handel originally wrote its music for the opera "Alceste," but it is too characteristic of the sentiment for his statement to go unchallenged without other testimony. The custom of honoring St. Cecilia's Day with distinguished musical performances had been inaugurated by Dr. John Blow and Henry Purcell, and was in vogue in Handel's day. Even Pope, who, according to Shakespeare, was by nature well fitted for " treason, stratagem and spoils," wrote an ode to St. Cecilia in order to be in fashion.
