Charles Burney, in his 1789 History of Music, appears to have been the first person to make note of Handel's borrowings. This, in turn, inspired William Crotch, in Substance of Several Courses of Lectures on Music (1831), to identify some twenty-nine composers from whom Handel borrowed. After reviewing the literature to date on the subject, examples are cited for all but six of the composers listed by Crotch. In several cases, the borrowings were not from specific composers but rather from a common repertory of familiar figures used by many composers. For the most part, Crotch feels that Handel's borrowings constitute "improvements" over the originals.

Works: George Frideric Handel: Agrippina, "L'alma mia frà le tempeste ritrover spera il suo porto" (596), Solomon, "Music spread thy voice around" (597), Solomon, "From the censer" (598), Chaconne in G (597), Susanna, "Virtue shall never long be oppressed" (598), Triumph of Time and Truth, "Comfort them, O Lord" (598), Suite in F (598).

Sources: Antonio Cesti: "Cara dolce libertà" (596); Agostino Steffani: Qui diligit Mariam (597); Henry Purcell: "Saul and the Witch of Endor" (597); Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations (597); Johann Kuhnau: Frische Clavier Früchte, Sonata I (598), Neue Clavier-‹bung (598); Antonio Lotti: Mass (Latrobe, No. 16), "Qui tollis peccata mundi" (598); Antonio Caldara: Mass a 5, "Qui tollis peccata mundi" (598); Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer: Fugue (598); William Croft: Musicus Apparatus Academicus, "Laurus cruentas" (598).

Index Classifications: 1700s

Contributed by: Felix Cox