Sometimes at home, sometimes in
foreign lands, he was always working, thinking, learning. He is said,
in his boyhood, to have copied large quantities of music, and to have
composed something every week. This copying made him better acquainted
with other music, and the early habit of composition made it easy for
him to write his thoughts in after years. Indeed, so skilled did he
become, that he wrote one opera--"Rinaldo"--in fourteen days, and the
"Messiah" was written in twenty-four days.[63]
Yet parts of his great works he wrote and rewrote until they were
exactly as they should be. _It will do_ is a thought that never comes
into the head of a great artist. How do you imagine such a man was to
his friends? We are told that, "he was in character at once great and
simple." And again it has been said that, "his smile was like heaven."
We have seen Handel as the great composer, but he was not so busy in
this that his thoughts were not also dwelling upon other things. If
ever you go to London, you should of a Sunday morning hear the service
at the Foundling Hospital. You will see there many hundreds of boys
and girls grouped about the organ. Their singing will seem beautiful
to you, from its sweetness and from the simple faith in which it is
done. After the service you may go to the many rooms of this home for
so many otherwise homeless ones.
Pages:
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103