Introduction

This brief Introduction establishes the fact that in summer 1745 Baptist Noel, 4th Earl of Gainsborough, put on a production at his country seat – Exton Hall, Rutland – of the masque by John Milton that had recently been adapted as Comus by John Dalton, set to music by Thomas Arne and performed with great success on the London stage. At Exton Handel composed a finale and suggested some of the existing pieces by him that were included in the masque. The production was repeated there in 1748 and followed by a performance of Handel's oratorio Deborah. Secondary literature on the composer gives the impression that these performances were isolated events, but a different picture emerges from some of the Noel family papers deposited in the Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland. Based on twenty-one documents from this archive (which are presented in an Appendix), this book establishes the cultural background to Gainsborough's performances of Comus.