Henry Franklin Hendrix House

Transcription

Handel House is a really special place. There isn't really anywhere else like it. It's incredible to think that in these four historic rooms, Handel lived here, composed here, ate, slept, and of course eventually died here. And just the thought he kind of crept on these floorboards really makes Handel House pretty special. When you come here you can expect to see eighteenth-century furniture, paintings, and also we have musicians who play and rehearse in the house, bring it to life as in the time of Handel. The great thing about the instruments here is that people play on them as much as possible. We try and have rehearsals happening during the day so when visitors come round they get to hear the instruments being played. And of course, it is music which brings the house to life, and we have a rolling programme of music that really is is tantamount to a year-long festival. We have regular Thursday evening concerts, the Thursday Live series, and then of course the masterclasses, the concerts, the special events such as the British Harpsichord Society, and really, it goes on and on and on. The other things you'll see in the house are fabulous portraits of people Handel would have known. Really, the seminal picture we have of Handel here is the wonderful Hudson portrait that we have on loan from the Royal Collection. It's a great picture. Some people feel you can see Handel's lost his sight and maybe there's a slight glazing around the eyes. I think it really shows Handel towards the end of his life, but he's suddenly made it by this stage. So when you visit Handel House, there are wonderful volunteers who can tell you about the rooms. There are also information sheets, but if you just want to kind of get the atmosphere, you can just wander through and let the imagination go wild. There's much more of an aura here, I think. The thing I find most special about visiting the house is just to think of the great works that were composed here. I've spent most of my musical life working on Handel's operas and oratorios, and some of my most moving musical moments have happened as a result of that, and to think that they were actually penned here is really a very moving thing. What I love most about it is it brings visitors from all around the world. Some of my favourite moments have been meeting visitors on their way out of the museum who are so enlivened an enriched by this experience of being in the presence, almost, of this great composer, and I think it's just a way of stepping into another world. The thing I probably love about Handel House is that it's quite unexpected. You come through the back door, you don't know what's going to be there, and you step into this wonderful Georgian interior with the beautiful panelling, with its beautiful grey walls, and the way the light falls in the building is wonderful. It's a very special place. It feels like you've found a little secret in London.