Scan 31
Handbook of Musical Biography: Short Notices of the Various Schools of …, 1886
2 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1who was a physician, gave him no encouragement, as he had made up his mind to educate his son for the bar. He kept all musical instruments away from him, and would allow him to attend no entertainments of a musical kind; but the little fellow would steal away secretly whenever he could get an opportunity, and practise diligently on an old clavichord that was hidden away in the garret of his father's house. When he was seven years old, he accompanied his father to Weissenfels on a visit to his brother, a page in the service of the Grand Duke. There he was attracted by the sight of the magnificent organ in the chapel, and with such force that he was tempted, notwithstanding the fear of his father's anger, to play on the instrument. The Duke's attention was riveted by the extraordinary beauty of the extempore strains, and, on discovering who the youthful performer was, he earnestly exhorted Dr. Handel to place no more obstacles in the path of a genius, which would, sooner or later, burst the trammels of restraint. Thus urged, the father reluctantly gave up the idea of training his son for the law, and placed him under the instruction of Zachau, the organist of Halle Cathedral. Under him Handel's talents daily unfolded; his compositions were considered worthy to be played in the less important parts of the cathedral service, and he became a proficient on the organ, violin, and his ever-favourite instrument the hautboy. Altogether, he became too clever for his master, who, declaring he could teach him nothing more, advised that he should be sent to continue his studies in Berlin.
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