Handel and the Kippers
I have written elsewhere about the different choirmasters I have worked with. The most inspirational music teacher from my schooldays was undoubtedly Mr Fieldhouse at Alderman Richard Hallam Junior School in Leicester.
He played the violin, which meant that we could have proper music lessons in an ordinary classroom. He was clearly a very good player, and I saw him do something that I have never seen anyone else do. He was playing it one day when the part of the bow that holds the horse hairs to the far end came away so that the hairs were hanging loose. He wrapped the hairs over the strings and held them and the end of the bow with his right hand, while he fingered all four strings with his left hand. He then played four-part harmony.
He wrote words and music for school productions, and I particularly remember a play we did about the life of Robert Louis Stevenson. He found imaginative ways to teach subjects that could easily become dry, and there is one lesson from when I was about 8 that I particularly remember. It goes something like this.
The composer, Handel, had had a long day and was feeling very tired. He was looking forward to getting back home, where his landlady would serve up one of her delicious meals. His particular favourite was kippers.
Eventually he got home, to be greeted by his landlady who said to him: "You look tired. I've cooked you some kippers. That should make you feel better."
"Just what I need", said Handel, who went to his room. In no time at all, his landlady appeared with a plate of kippers."
"That looks delicious!", he said. "Please makie sure I am not disturbed while I enjoy this."
She went away, but he had hardly started on his kippers when there was a knock on the door and his landlady reappeared.
"I'm sorry". she said, "but there is a man who wants to see you. I told him you were not to be disturbed, but he was insistent.
"Alright then", Handel replied. "I suppose I will have to see him, but he had better not stay too long. I don't want my kippers to get cold."
So the landlady showed him in, but Handel clearly was not happy.
"What is it you want?", he asked grumpily.
The man replied: "I have an idea for a piece of music. It is about the life of Jesus Christ. I have selected passages from the Bible which tell the story from when he was born to when he goes to heaven. Please have a look at it and let me know what you think."
"I expect I could", said Handel. "Now let me get on and finish my kippers."
So the man left, and Handel was about to get back to his meal, when he decided to have a quick look at what the man had left him "Actually it looks quite interesting", he thought, and read a bit further. In no time at all, he had forgotten about the meal, and was writing music. About an hour later his landlady came in and was very cross.
"Why haven't you eaten your kippers?" she said. "I went to all this trouble and you have hardly touched them."
"I'm very sorry", said Handel. "The man gave me the idea for such a great piece of music that I had to start straightaway."
And that is how Handel's Messiah came to be written.
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