Gerald Coke Handel Foundation

Tonight @bbcproms Handel's Messiah; here's the wordbook (programme) from the very first performance in Dublin in 1742, from the #GeraldCokeHandelCollection @FoundlingMuseum

Music lovers – our new @HandelGCHF display is particularly noteworthy 🎵 Learn more and book your tickets: ow.ly/1V6v50SCph3

Booking is now open for the Handel Institute Study Day ‘Handel’s Deidamia: Myth, Literature, Music’, in partnership with @HandelGCHF. Thursday 28 November 2024, 10am–5pm, at The Foundling Museum, London. Advance booking is obligatory. handelinstitute.org/about/study-da…

OTD 1824 at a concert in Cambridge's Senate House, the crowds were so great the performers entered through a window. This image in the #GeraldCokeHandelCollection shows the singer Catalani and the Bishop of Limerick @RISM_music @FoundlingMuseum @MLAGuk

Henry Carey's song 'The Free Election' in this 1767 edition at #GeraldCokeHandelCollection @FoundlingMuseum. The text still relevant today @IAML_UK_IRL @MLAGuk

18th-century vote-chasing included hosting Election Balls, as depicted in this image by George Cruickshank in the #GeraldCokeHandelCollection @FoundlingMuseum @MLAGuk @IAML_UK_IRL

The night before the election...an etching by Cruickshank in the #GeraldCokeHandelCollection @FoundlingMuseum @IAML_UK_IRL @MLAGuk

Handel's will included a bequest to the apothecary John Gowland, inventor of Gowland's Lotion, which claimed to improve the complexion and remove freckles. The Lotion is mentioned in Jane Austen's novel Persuasion.

Dive into the intriguing personal life of a Baroque master 🎼 Our display 'Handel's Will: Love & Legacy' is set to close in just one month. Here's @HandelGCHF Librarian Katharine Hogg telling us what makes this historic document significant. Catch it before it's gone!

John Christopher Smith, composer and organist, was Handel's agent and copyist, succeeding his father of the same name. In his will Handel left his 'musick books' to Smith Sr, and they passed to his son, shown in this portrait by Zoffany @FoundlingMuseum @RISM_music @IAML_UK_IRL

Happy May Day! This song by John Webb, published around 1775, was recently added to the #GeraldCokeHandelCollection @FoundlingMuseum @RISM_music @IAML_UK_IRL

This one's for the music history buffs 🎼 Peek into the fascinating artefacts housed in the Gerald Coke and Handel collection that tell us about music, philanthropy and the Foundling Hospital with Librarian Katharine Hogg. ow.ly/SMZi50R6tN5

Traditionally hot cross buns were eaten on Good Friday. Luffmann Atterbury, appointed music master at the Foundling Hospital in 1773, is credited with composing the popular song. You can listen to it here youtube.com/watch?v=XxiZOl… @FoundlingMuseum @IAML_UK_IRL

The @EnglishConcert performs Handel's Brockes Passion at the London Handel Festival tonight. This 1867 programme from Stuttgart in the #GeraldCokeHandelCollection has a note in English by the original owner 'This was sung splendidly' @LHandelFestival @FoundlingMuseum @RISM_music

Join the @LHandelFestival on Sunday 24 March for an afternoon concert by @ensemblemoliere and a talk introducing the #Handel's Will display at the Foundling Museum @FoundlingMuseum @IAML_UK_IRL @CCMusicUK @RISM_music @MakingMusic_UK

🎹 Ensemble Molière bring a programme of beautiful and rarely heard collections of 18th-century French Baroque chamber music paired with its more well-known counterparts @foundlingmuseum on 24 March london-handel-festival.com/show/2024-ense…

Tonight the #LondonHandelFestival opens with Handel's oratorio Esther at his church. Here's the front page of the wordbook the audience had for the 1732 performance, from the #GeraldCokeHandelCollection @FoundlingMuseum @LHandelFestival @IAML_UK_IRL @RISM_music @CCMusicUK

Conspicuously absent from Handel's will is the artist Joseph Goupy, perhaps due to this unkind image of Handel which damaged their friendship. Find out more in our display 'Handel's will: love and legacy' @FoundlingMuseum @IAML_UK_IRL @RISM_music @ericajeal @RichmoMusic @MLAGuk

Happy Birthday Handel! Our display 'Handel's will: love and legacy' shows his generous support of the #FoundlingHospital, leaving a score and parts of #Messiah in his will, so benefit concerts could continue after his death @FoundlingMuseum @IAML_AIBM @PetrocTrelawny @CCMusicUK

In Dublin? Our portrait of the singer Richard Leveridge is at @dublincastleOPW until Feb 17 as part of an exhibition of works by Irish artist Thomas Frye dublincastle.ie/series/neglect… @FoundlingMuseum @IAML_AIBM @MLAGuk