ABSTRACT
George Frideric Handel and John Jacob Heidegger ran the opera at the King's Theatre, Haymarket, for five seasons, starting in 1729: some two hundred and fifty such reports must have been made in that time, and no reason for the preservation of these six fair copies. Handel arrived in London in late 1710, aged 25. Handel's oratorio Deborah proved unpopular in March, after his attempt to raise prices and refuse opera subscribers free admission the first night provoked angry responses from the audience and a flurry of comments in the papers likening Handel to Sir Robert Walpole. At the end of the performance on 9 June Signor Senesino made a speech to the audience, announcing the end of his connection with Handel's opera. The libretto was dedicated to the wife of the Spanish Ambassador, whose ticket was used five of the six nights for which the authors have box office reports.
