Did Haydn attend the Handel Commemoration in Westminster Abbey? RICE, John A.

RESUMEN: The story, told by several biographers, of Joseph Haydn weeping at a performance of Handel´s Messiah at Westminster Abbey in 1791 is a product of the conflation of several enecdotal traditions, all of them going back to the early 19th century. Yet in rejecting this story, we should not reject the possibility that Haydn did indeed attend a Handel perfomance in the Abbey, where his presence was attested to (albeit many years after the fact) by an eyewitness, William Gardiner. Nor should we reject the idea, proposed by Giusepppe Carpani, that Haydn´s exposure to handel´s music London played a crucial role in persuading him to devote much of this musical energy during his last years to the composition of oratorio. Keywords: Hayden, handel, william Gardiner, Giuseppe Carpani, Westminster Abbey, commemoration