205.—HÄNDEL—BUONONCINI.
Musical history furnishes some notable instances of contest for public favor. Such rivalries have not been confined to the petted favorites of the footlights, the operatic stars; we find the strongest antagonisms between some of the prominent composers, or rather, their followers; the principals did not, as a general thing, share in the anger and denunciations of their partisans.
The first notable rivalry in the history of modern music was that between Händel and Buononcini, in 1720. The latter was an Italian composer, who had been invited to England to give prestige to the Royal Academy of Music, of which Händel was at the head. Händel was patronized by King George I, and for this reason his rival was taken up and supported by the titled houses of England; for the German Elector who had inherited the British throne did not meet a warm reception at the hands of the English aristocracy. Though the nobility favored Buononcini, the people favored him who gave them the best music, and in spite of the titled opposition, Händel was for some time in the ascendancy.
Finally it was arranged that these two composers, together with a third, Ariosti, should conjointly compose an opera, and from it the public was to decide which was the greater composer. As it happened Händel had met both of his opponents before, when he was a mere boy. At that time, Buononcini, fearing a dangerous rival in the talented youth, had treated him with supercilious contempt; but Ariosti had warmly recognized his genius and had extended to him the courtesies that one artist should award another.
In this competition each wrote one act and an overture. Händel was on all sides proclaimed the victor. But he had, by his independence, made so many enemies among the aristocracy and even among his own adherents, that, some years later, popular tide had turned against him so completely as to drive him into bankruptcy. Many were the squibs and lampoons that were issued during this rivalry. One of the epigrammatic verses ran as follows:—
"Some say, compared to Buononcini,
That Mynheer Händel's but a Ninny;
Others aver that he to Händel
Is scarcely fit to hold a Candle;
Strange all this Difference should be
'Twixt Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee!"