Handel's Global Afterlives

Handel's Global Afterlife is a research project lead by Dr Joe Lockwood.

Important research already exists on how the music of G. F. Handel (1685-1579) was received in Britain after the composer's death. This research shows how the classical music canon came into being, in large part through performances of Handel's music in the second half of the eighteenth century.

My work explores Handel’s reception in the same period beyond Britain, where the composer's music was also popular.

My research considers how ways of performing and thinking about Handel's music developed in locations such as Italy, the Caribbean, Vienna and Calcutta.

In exploring how these differed from what happened in Britain, I investigate Handel's music as an object of cultural transfer.

My work examines the reception of music via events, criticism, and other composers' creative responses to Handelian models.

I have made progress in all the project’s lines of enquiry but have focused so far mainly on the European dissemination of Handel’s music in the period the research covers.

To that end, I have made very interesting research trips to libraries, archives and galleries in:

• Tuscany (Florence, Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini Library)
• Campania (Naples, Conservatorio San Pietro a Majella Library and Gallerie d’Italia)
• Edinburgh (National Library of Scotland and Scottish National Portrait Gallery)
• Kinross-shire (private archive held at Blairadam House near Kelty),
• London (British Library)

My objective in these research trips has been to explore the performance and reception traditions of Handel’s music in Italian cities in the later part of the eighteenth century. This begins with performances at and surrounding the Grand Ducal Court in Florence of Handel’s oratorios in newly-produced Italian translations and musical arrangements.

I've examined multiple manuscript scores and printed libretti (word books) of newly-made versions of oratorios including Messiah and Alexander’s Feast.

I've investigated the household of the British ambassador at the Spanish court in Naples, Sir William Hamilton (1730-1803) as a nexus of Handel performance and reception.

Setting this activity within developments in the history of ideas and aesthetics, I have been learning how those who experienced Handel’s music through Hamilton’s household – in the shadow of Vesuvius – were deeply affected by what they heard and came to understand the music in new ways.

I have spoken about my research in conference paper presentations at the:

• Handel Institute Conference in London (November 2023)
• British Society of Eighteenth Century Studies in Oxford, (January 2024), a sui generis day-long conference held at Newcastle University on opera and music theatre organised around Mary Ann Smart’s Visiting Professorship (May 2024)
• Newcastle Music Research Seminar (February, 2025) and
• the American Handel Society Conference in Boston, Massachusetts (February, 2025)

I have also enjoyed undertaking engagement work, including a study day on ‘English Baroque Journeys’ for the historically informed performance ensemble Arcangelo at the Foundling Museum, London (November 2024), where Professor Kirsten Gibson and I presented our research to Arcangelo’s supporters and members.

I released a ‘pilot’ podcast, in conversation with Professor Ellen Harris from MIT, as part of the Early Music @ Newcastle festival.