Exhibitions

Current Exhibition

Highlights from Handel & the Divas and Handel & the Castrati exhibitions

From 2 March 2010

An opportunity to see highlights from the popular exhibitions Handel & the Divas and Handel & the Castrati, including caricatures of the singers Handel worked with and Mainwairing's biography of the composer.

Previous Exhibitions

Mr Handel's Friends

10 November 2009 to 28 February 2010

Handel had many friends and admirers in London who collected, played and promoted his music, entertained him in their homes, and supported him in difficult times. Through the private letters and diaries of the Harris family this exhibition explores these relationships and shows the many sides of the famous composer’s character and fortunes. Curated by Donald Burrows and Rosemary Dunhill.

Handel Reveal'd

8 April to 25 October 2009

Handel Reveal'd investigates many aspects of Handel's life, including his finances, his love of food and his health, drawing on objects from the Museum's own collection andd significant loans from national museums and private collections. This major exhibition is part of the Museum's Handel 2009 programme of activities to commemorate 250th anniverary of Handel's death. See Handel 2009 for more information about our activities.

Handel & the Divas
30 April to 16 November 2008

This major exhibition explores the careers, rivalries, successes, failures and stories of scandalous behind-the-scenes behaviour which made the first divas the talk of 18th-century London, through portraits, scores, objects, and of course, the music they sang. A series of special events and recitals will run alongside the exhibition.

Handel and Glyndebourne
2 May to 28 October 2007

It has only been during the 20th and 21st centuries that opera houses have re-discovered the attractions of Handel's operas and oratorios. After Handel's death in 1759, there were no staged performances of Handel's works until 1920. Glyndebourne, amongst many other opera companies and festivals, has been part of the re-emergence of staging Handel productions. This small exhibition at Handel House will explore the four works that Glyndebourne has presented at their home in Sussex, using images, costumes, props, scores, programmes and music.

Handel & the Castrati
29 March to 1 October 2006

Handel & the Castrati reveals the stories behind the eighteenth-century operatic superstars. These male singers, with remarkably powerful and high voices, brought their celebrity status to wherever they travelled, and were surrounded by money, extensive entourages and adoring fans. The exhibition features portraits, prints, scores, recordings and objects relating to the castrati, including the instruments used in 'the operation'.

This exhibition is supported by a syndicate of individual donors and the Istituto Italiano di Cultura Londra.

Hendrix: A Private View
20 November 2003 to 6 June 2004

Supported by Capital Gold Network www.capitalgold.com

The Handel House Museum presents a major new exhibition - Hendrix: A Private View - which brings together for the first time forty rarely-seen as well as iconic photographic images of rock music's greatest guitarist. The exhibition, in collaboration with Backbeat Books, includes works by photographers David Redfern, Baron Wolman, Miki Slingsby, Gered Mankowitz, Bruce Fleming, Richard Wolff, Jan Persson and Barrie Wentzell and captures not only the flamboyant stage persona, but the thoughtful, reflective musician behind the rock icon.

Jimi Hendrix lived at 23 Brook Street, W1 from 1968-69 at the peak of his tragically short career. Upon learning that the composer Handel had lived next door at 25 Brook Street 250 years beforehand, he went to a local record shop and bought some works including Messiah and the Water Music.

For Hendrix, Brook Street was the doorstep to the London music scene of the late 60s. His flat was a short stroll from legendary venues like the Marquee, the Speakeasy and the Saville, and he would spend many evenings wandering from club to club looking for a chance to play. On 14 September 1997, 23 Brook Street was chosen for an English Heritage Blue Plaque commemorating his life and work. Since November 2001, the upper floors of 23 Brook Street including Hendrix's flat, have been part of the Handel House Museum.

The exhibition is curated by author, critic and broadcaster, Keith Shadwick who has written a penetrating and fully illustrated book Jimi Hendrix: Musician by Backbeat Books (November 2003).

Copies of Jimi Hendrix: Musician are available from Backbeat Books. For further information, please contact Mark Brend or John Ryall on 020 7720 3581 or email mark@backbeatuk.com or john@backbeatuk.com.

'The Purest Benevolence'
Handel and the Foundling Hospital
6 March to 2 November 2003

The Museum's first major exhibition will focus on Handel's remarkable relationship with the Foundling Hospital, England's first hospital for abandoned children. Drawn from the extraordinary collection of Coram Family in the care of the Foundling Museum (currently closed for refurbishment), this exhibition of over 30 objects includes such rarely seen treasures as the complete Messiah copy and parts which Handel gave to the hospital in his will - displayed here for the first time in its entirety - the score of the "Foundling Hospital Anthem" which Handel composed and performed for the hospital's benefit, tokens left with the children by their destitute mothers, as well as paintings, prints, manuscripts and costumes.

The hospital was instigated by Capt Thomas Coram, who was moved by the terrible sight of babies - many born to unmarried women - and young children left to die in London's streets. After a 20-year struggle, the hospital was founded in 1739.

Stimulated by "motives of the purest benevolence and humanity" (Charles Burney), Handel's involvement began in 1749 with a concert in aid of the hospital's chapel building work. In 1750 he donated the chapel organ and from that year onwards Messiah was performed under his direction on an annual basis for the Hospital's benefit. It is estimated that within a decade Handel had generated income of £10,000.