cellos and basses. There is usually a separate part for an oboe, and one for organ. Bassoons occasionally join the cellos and basses. The number of singers at Handel's disposition is unknown. Although Daniel Defoe referred to the duke having a "full choir" at a slightly later period, it seems that altos were missing from the choir at the start of Handel's tenure at Cannons (see As pants the hart for details of the scoring of one of the earlier anthems). Dramatic music Handel's Esther (HWV 50a), which is now recognised as the first English oratorio, was performed by the Cannons musicians as early as 1718. The libretto, based on a tragedy by Jean Racine, was by John Arbuthnot and Alexander Pope, and according to Winton Dean appears to have been given in a semi-staged version although this is not definitively proven in any known document. Handel used several parts of his Brockes Passion in "Esther." Another premiere in May 1718 is without doubt the masque Acis and Galatea. The libretto was by John Gay, who was to collaborate with Pepusch in "The Beggar's Opera" in 1728. According to tradition, Acis and Galatea was performed in the garden. Appropriately for Cannons, which had expensive water features, the pastoral hero Acis is transformed into a fountain at the end. Instrumental music Handel published eight keyboard suites in 1720. It is possible, though unproven, that some of them were written at Cannons. Dating the music is difficult because it was written over a period of years and the composer had been happy to leave it in manuscript until he got wind of a forthcoming unauthorised publication. The Harmonious Blacksmith variations (concluding the 5th suite, in E major) is said to have been written at Cannons. See also As Pants the Hart (Handel) The Harmonious Blacksmith North London Collegiate School References George Frideric Handel 1710s in music 1710s in England 1710s in London History of Middlesex