A new exhibition titled Hallelujah House: Inside Handel’s HQ opens at
Handel Hendrix House, the museum on Brook Street in Mayfair, London and
home to composer G.F Handel from 1732-1759 from Thursday, September
17, 2026 and runs until Sunday, March 14, 2027.
It tells the unique stories of music that Handel wrote within its walls and
performed as he became Georgian London’s go-to composer and most
celebrated musical personality. The exhibition which, will take place
throughout the historic rooms of the house, is included in the ticket price.
Bringing together loans from the National Portrait Gallery, The Royal
Collection Trust, Foundling Museum, V & A, The College of Optometrists,
private collectors and rarely seen items from the museum’s own collection,
Hallelujah House will show how his music reached every corner of London
from theatres to taverns, coronations to coffeehouses, grand palaces to
gardens, and filled many a music-lover’s home. Items on display bring the
variety of people and places that surrounded Handel’s performances to life
through manuscripts, letters, portraits, personal possessions, and musical
instruments.
Background
Handel worked furiously hard as a composer, musical director and host to
make ends meet. In all this, his terraced house on Brook Street, Mayfair –
then the fringes of London, now just five minutes from Bond Street
underground station – was much more than a home. It was his rehearsal
studio, study, office, entertaining suite and much more.
In his ground floor parlours he would meet patrons, sell tickets and
subscriptions to his new compositions, such as his grand concertos; on the
first floor he wrote his music, from the celebrated opera Giulio Cesare to his
last great oratorio Jephtha, the composition of which was movingly altered
by the loss of the 67-year-old composer’s eyesight. Zadok the Priest and the
other Coronation Anthems were all written here at lightning speed, with
Messiah famously written in just 24 days. Handel would wow his friends and
supporters with dazzling displays of his virtuosity at the keyboard as he
gave them previews of his latest music, including his wonderful magical
opera Alcina. Downstairs in the basement kitchen his servants, perhaps
alongside his singer-cook Gustavus Waltz, would prepare a never-ending
succession of meals for Handel, visiting musicians and his guests. Despite
the hard work, food and drink were never far from Handel’s mind, leading
him to write on the score of his opera Faramondo a shopping list beginning
with ‘12 gallons port’!
Highlights of the exhibition
Everyone needs feedback, and items on display include a letter in Handel’s
own hand to his collaborator on Messiah Charles Jennens asking him to
detail the parts of the newly-composed oratorio which he thought needed
improving (Handel Hendrix House). Objects on display depict Handel’s
musical London life, including a leaf from the score of a revival of Handel’s
Esther in Handel’s own hand (Handel Hendrix House), a unique manuscript
quilled by Handel for his friend Elizabeth Legh (Foundling Museum) and The
Music Party, a painting by Philip Mercier gloriously depicting Handel’s
students, the musical children of Queen Caroline (National Portrait Gallery).
A portrait of Thomas Britton who ran popular concerts from his coal shop
(National Portrait Gallery), a violin believed to have been played in Britton’s
band (Private Collection) and engravings of London’s many musical events
bring to life the social world which Handel’s music touched every corner of.
A book by notorious quack John Taylor (The College of Optometrists) who
performed unsuccessful eye surgery on both Handel and J.S. Bach hints at
transitions that Handel made as he lived his life at Brook Street – always
whilst performing his immeasurably wonderful music.
Olwen Foulkes, exhibition curator said ‘Handel was not just a creative
genius, but someone who could organise, entertain, network and work
ferociously hard to produce his brilliant music. The story of a creative
entrepreneur working hard from home feels very relevant to today, and we
are thrilled to be bringing together so many inspiring works of art and
objects from museums and our own collections to bring this story vividly to
life. We hope visitors will enjoy exploring Handel’s house, seeing these
works of art and fascinating objects and relating them to Handel’s music
which they can hear in the house itself and in their homes with our playlist.’