Classical Notes: Music in Dublin before Handel

Also: Tragic death of silver-maned Russian icon

Egyptian soprano Fatma Said will perform with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra in Wexford, Dublin and Drogheda before Christmas

Everyone knows what happened when Handel landed in Dublin in November 1742, and how music in the city evolved after that. There is not that much known of what Dublin was like music-wise before the great Prussian huffed and puffed his way across the Irish Sea. However, he had a terribly stormy passage.

By all accounts, his early sojourn here immensely pleased him, particularly with the unexpected revenue it generated at a time ...