Handel and the New Society

Moved by the plight of impoverished and ailing colleagues, a group of London’s foremost musicians, including Handel, Boyce, Arne and Greene, came together in 1738 to establish a new society: the Fund for Decay’d Musicians. A charity that still exists today, now known as the Royal Society of Musicians, this nearly 300-year-old organisation remains the UK’s oldest musical charity.

Regarded as one of the most exciting ensembles to emerge in recent years, Spiritato makes its London Handel Festival debut with a programme of joyful and evocative instrumental treasures by key members of the Fund, alongside music by Pietro Castrucci, the virtuoso leader of Handel’s orchestra. Himself a ‘Decay’d Musician’, Castrucci has largely been forgotten by history, though not by his friends.

This special debut performance offers audiences the opportunity to deepen their understanding of Handel, his peers, and the musical world they shaped together.