The
native musicians were very naturally jealous of the foreigner, and the
numerous foreign musicians in London jealous of one who made more money out
of the extravagant English than they did themselves. The Italian singers
found him tyrannical, and society very probably resented his rough manners.
Society had engaged him to provide music for their entertainment, and he
took up the unheard-of attitude of expecting society to pay its guineas
for whatever music he chose to write. England, one might almost say, had
spoiled him, for it was only in England that "The Great Bear," as he was
sometimes called, could go his own way--a musician behaving with the
complete disregard of public opinion which was considered the exclusive
privilege of the English nobility. In any other country he would have
been forced either to pander to the taste of a court or to relapse into
obscurity. It was not until after the French Revolution that a Beethoven
could display the independence of Handel in the aristocratic environment of
Vienna.
The English nobility, having set Handel this example, claimed their own
rights, and organised a rival opera-house at Lincoln's Inn Fields. They had
no difficulty in seducing, first Senesino, then Montagnana, and finally
Heidegger.
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