Handel in Leicester
Handel’s Top Secret – a musical entertainment combining costume, acting and music was in the in the elegant and intimate surroundings of Castle House. It was stylishly performed by the versatile Geoffrey Thomas, harpsichordist, actor and creator of the Theatre of Music, which he devised “to help audiences make a more intense, vivid connections with great composers.”
He brought Handel to live in a series of short vignettes of the composers and those who were associated with him, which was no mean feat, as he had to declaim into two sitting rooms and up a staircase!
We met amongst others, Mr. Handel senior; composers Bononcini and Scarlatti: Handel’s manservant Francoise; the Irishman Mr. McGillicuddy; a snooty American opera fan and two squabbling prima donnas – all presented with appropriate accents and mannerisms.
These scenes were interspersed with harpsichord pieces including two Scarlatti sonatas and Handel’s Harmonious Blacksmith Variations, Gigue in E minor and Overture in the Messiah, where were superbly played on a splendid Robert Deegan instrument.
