The Gerald Coke Handel Collection at the Foundling Museum

The Gerald Coke Handel Collection at the Foundling Museum comprises over 12,000 items from the eighteenth century to the present, and is a major research resource for the study of Handel and his contemporaries. Handel was a major benefactor of the Foundling Hospital, a home for children founded in 1739 by Thomas Coram, which counted…

New acquisition by the Gerald Coke Handel Collection

The Gerald Coke Handel Collection, housed in the Foundling Museum, has acquired a letter describing the first Handel Commemoration Concerts. Taking place at Westminster Abbey in 1784, this series of concerts commemorated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the composer’s death. The acquired letter is written by Mrs Henry Bates, sister of Joah Bates who led the Commemoration…

Countdown to Christmas – Day 23

Examine the manuscript of Handel’s Messiah. Although the full score hasn’t been digitised yet, much of the Christmas music has been photographed, and you can listen to the festive chorus For unto us a child is born. Courtesy of the British Library. http://www.bl.uk/turning-the-pages/?id=38fd72b2-5b98-4fc2-aaae-98e717e8d512&type=book