For the first-time Dublin tourist, there are the touchstone attractions - the Viking tour, Kilmainham Gaol, the inevitable pints… and there's no knocking any of the above.
But during those rare oul’ times, Dublin also played host to one of the great events in Baroque arts: the 1742 world premiere of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah.
Arguably the world’s best known oratorio, Messiah proved a turning point in the composer’s own career, igniting a "Handel-mania" which endured for the rest of his days.
"Well- that’s a bit random…" the tourist may think, as they turn the page over to Temple Bar adverts. But is it? Was Messiah a once-off, a freak event in Dublin’s fair city?
It was a question that struck Peter Whelan, artistic director of the Irish Baroque Orchestra, as a youngster in Dublin - and one he’s since explored with this multi-award winning ensemble, through performance, recordings and latterly, their annual HandelFest.
Held over three days, HandelFest offers a celebration of the startlingly cosmopolitan city and culture that Handel visited during the 1740s. Aliye Cornish Moore is CEO of the Irish Baroque Orchestra; violist and impresario, she relates the ensemble’s exploration of this era in terms of a thrilling adventure, with colourful characters, strange tales, and forgotten masterworks.
"The most striking thing, when I listen to Peter talk about the context into which Handel arrived, was how vibrant and thriving Dublin’s classical music scene was," Aliye explains. "Handel had had a bad time in London; a lot of his operas had flopped, he’d lost a lot of money, and his health was terrible."
Watch: Handel's Water Music arranged by John Walsh (Allegro)
She continues with the tale of an invitation to Dublin - where there was scope for Handel to make some cash - and a pitstop he made in Chester on his journey, where a few Messiah choruses received an ad hoc sing-through. "So, we know he had some rudimentary work done, and had time to reflect on it while he was travelling," remarks Aliye. "I think he was nearly shipwrecked as well! He had a really bad time of it. Anyway, he arrived in Dublin, and he was taken out by the Surgeon General, and nearly died - he had a small stroke, because he consumed so many rich things. So, we may have nearly finished off Handel before we even heard the Messiah!" she laughs.
Passion, precision, and a hefty dose of detective work: the crafting of HandelFest, and the Irish Baroque Orchestra's wider reclaiming of Dublin’s musical legacy, offers an enrichment to Irish heritage, and to our cultural cachet abroad.
HandelFest, and the Irish Baroque Orchestra’s larger vision, is to restore this thriving, multi-cultural Dublin of the 18th century in its music: home to a wealth of immigré artists and composers, who traded ideas and inspiration with Handel. "He took lodgings in Abbey Street," Aliye continues, "I gather he had pretty much an open door policy for passing musicians to come in; they’d play sonatas, and he’d play with them - and there was a sense of a real melting pot at the time," she grins. "And, I guess, a real sense of entrepreneurship, as you had all these like-minded people with all these ideas - pieces they were working on, pieces from other people they’d heard, and they were sharing their ideas and their music making".
HandelFest shares this open-door aesthetic, with a programme of events designed to welcome any and all listeners with a curiosity for the past. "From the moment you arrive, you’ll find people beaming at you, because we’re so excited at running the Festival!" laughs Aliye. "There’re no snobbery, there’s no nonsense - just come in and listen. The way we like to phrase it is 'time travel'," she continues, "because that takes away any preconceptions. So, you’re coming to a concert to time travel, and be transported, you just need to bring your ears".
Watch: Mr Charles the Hungarian - Handel's Rival in Dublin
This year's HandelFest kicks off by throwing down the gauntlet, with Peter Whelan directing the Irish Baroque Orchestra in a magnificently titled programme, Mr. Charles the Hungarian: Handel’s Rival in Dublin. Who he, you ask? Mr. Charles was a famed French hornist, an opportunist who tried to cash in on Handel’s popularity by staging a concert of (mostly) his works at Dublin’s Smock Alley Theatre. Mr. Charles the Hungarian is the latest figure immortalised in the Irish Baroque Orchestra’s recording cycle of 18th century Dublin on the Linn Records Label: it follows characters such as violinist Matthew Dubourg and castrato Giusto Tenducci, who had their own picaresque tales, and masterworks which they wrote or inspired. The festival’s closing concert sees the pairing of two pre-eminent Irish period masters: violinst Claire Duff and harpsichordist Malcolm Proud, as they present Baroque Gems of London - pairing works by Handel with those of his contemporary, Italian violinist Nicola Matteis.
"I like to think that in time, in years to come, that in the same way we think of Vivaldi's Venice, of Purcell’s London and Lully’s Versailles, that we may think of Handel’s Dublin".
A special feature of the Fest is its programming for children, a boon for parents looking to entertain the kids during school holidays. These are Cushion Concerts, during which youngsters dance, clap and sing through music from Handel’s time, in a playful and inventive setting. Presenting these sessions are the IBO Apprentices: emerging baroque musicians, who benefit from instrumental and professional development tuition from IBO mentors. The Apprentices also present a concert showcase of works, which range from Vivaldi to Dublin-based master Matthew Dubourg.
And they’re set to engage in a special interactive workshop geared especially for refugee families living in Dublin. Titled Journeys through Time and Space, director Jenna Raggett and the IBO Apprentices explore the sounds, people and experiences Handel would have met with on his own journey to Dublin. This particular initiative grew as a response to elements of anti-refugee sentiment in the capital today, Aliye explains. "Looking at that just made me question: What could we do, as an organisation, to show that Dublin is welcome, and that it is open - as it has been for centuries - to musicians who passed through. Okay, they weren’t refugees, but there’s always been a sense of openness in the city - that I wanted to subtly reinforce. So, we’re creating a soundscape with them, of Handel’s journey from London to Dublin. And I wanted to explore that resonance, and to offer the space to create something together".
To re-create this forgotten world takes research and imagination - qualities Aliye firmly credits to Artistic Director Peter Whelan. "It’s often a case of Peter coming to me, very excited, with a new programme or a new person that he’s discovered… The challenge is, how do we keep up with all these ideas, and how feasible is it to deliver them all?" she observes. Unexpectedly, the conversation turns forensic: what repertoire would have been performed back then, and how would it have been played? "It’s a very granular level," Aliye elucidates. "Occasionally in rehearsal, I’ll hear Peter go into detail about ornaments, and articulation - and for Peter, it’s a language that he speaks. It’s not anything as simple as dynamics (louds and softs), or anything like that, but more subtle interpretation of what’s there."
Watch: Mr. Charles the Hungarian - Ingenious Innovations
"Sometimes there'll be an exchange between him and the musicians, trying to work towards a deeper understanding of what's there on the page," she continues. "And when we were putting the programme together for Mr. Charles, there are some elements of the programme, where we weren’t exactly clear which piece was performed. It might just say 'A concerto grosso by Handel’ or a ‘Short piece by Telemann’, or whatever it is. That’s when Peter’s gone away and spoken to our instrumentalists, who have their own research interests, and are able to suggest: 'Well, it might have been this - we think he wrote this at around this time…' There’s that sort of conversation, which helps fill in the blanks, when we just don’t have the information."
Passion, precision, and a hefty dose of detective work: the crafting of HandelFest, and the Irish Baroque Orchestra’s wider reclaiming of Dublin’s musical legacy, offers an enrichment to Irish heritage, and to our cultural cachet abroad. Says Aliye, "I’m very conscious when I’m writing to promoters, that we are offering something completely unique - no one else is doing this work in Ireland, or abroad. It’s an unusual opportunity for audiences," she observes, "to get to explore a chapter that not a lot of people are really aware of. And the advocacy piece that we take great pride in, is that it puts Ireland’s classical music chapter on the agenda, internationally, it’s very exciting, and completely unique."
Works such as the first symphony written in Ireland, by one Pierre van Maldere. "It’s a belter!" Aliye grins. Looking ahead, at the wider impact of the Irish Baroque Orchestra’s 18th century adventures in Dublin, she asserts: "I like to think that in time, in years to come, that in the same way we think of Vivaldi’s Venice, of Purcell’s London and Lully’s Versailles, that we may think of Handel’s Dublin".
Dublin HandelFest runs from July 14th - 16th 2023 - find out more here.
