Handel's Testament

When most people hit 65 they’re spending their first social security check, but today in 1750, when George Frederick Handel turned 65, he was making out his will.

To John Christopher Smith Senior, Handel left, “my large harpsichord, my little house organ, my musick books, and 500 pounds sterling.” John Christopher Smith, born Johann Christoph Schmidt, was an old friend of Handel’s from his university days in Germany. Handel persuaded Schmidt to give up the wool trade and come to England. As Mr. Smith, he and his son established a famous copyists’ shop in London, became Handel’s business partners and remained among the composer’s closest friends. Handel left the rest of his estate to a favorite niece back in Germany.

Seven years later, Handel modified his will, leaving his larger theater organ to John Rich, whose Covent Garden Theater had staged Handel’s most recent operas and oratorios. To Charles Jennens, who had arranged the Biblical verses for Handel’s “Messiah,” the composer beq