J. S. BACH Jonathan Berkahn - Victoria University - Victoria ...

—also remained strongly Handelian until the end of the century. In the absence of
strong local traditions Handel’s chamber and orchestral music continued to exert a
stronger influence than they would have elsewhere, as can be seen in (among others)
important sets of sonatas and concertos by Boyce and Stanley. Although the sonatas of
Domenico Scarlatti had provided an alternative—and highly popular—stylistic model
since their first appearance in 1738, Handel’s harpsichord music had some imitators
(notably Thomas Chilcot, J. C. Smith, and Joseph Kelway) and remained popular in
anthologies. His operas on the other hand had been progressively superseded by the
more up-to-date styles of J. C. Bach, Sacchini, Giordani, Gluck, and eventually
Mozart; and his pre-London works were of course completely unknown to the English
musical public (except insofar as he exploited this fact himself by re-using various
movements in many later pieces).
One effect his music had can be seen by comparing a few Handel originals to
the music they inspired. Handel was at the centre of London musical life for the last
forty years of his life, and maintained a large circle of friends and admirers. One of
these was Thomas Chilcot (c.1700-1766), an organist who lived and worked at Bath.
Chilcot hired out harpsichords and music, ran a music shop, and organised concerts,
doing much to promote the music of Handel in the process. He published a set of six
keyboard suites in 1734 which are heavily dependent on Handel’s style, constantly
reminding one of similar passages in his suites. The Overture to the first suite in G
minor reminds one inescapably of the beginning of Handel’s 1720 suite in the same
key (HWV 432), just as the Jigg recalls that from one of the suites he wrote in 1739 for
Princess Louisa (HWV 452). Even where there is no definite resemblance, the style is
always, rather timidly, Handelian. Nowhere does he make as explicit a reference as in
the Presto of the second suite, in A major (Ex.2.1)—and nowhere is it possible to see
so easily how much was learned, and how much forgotten.
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