Handel Hendrix House, Mayfair

I grew up with George Fredric Handel's music as my parents belonged to a choral society and The Messiah was one of the works they sang. I can't say I was keen back then because I was into pop music, though I ventured a little into classical orchestral music. My dad's favourite radio programme was Your Hundred Best Tunes and he had the albums too, from which I taped my favourites.

The move to more classical music took time. I joined a choir in my fifties. Not that they sang classical, but it introduced me to listening to other choirs who did. One of the first classical albums I bought as a teenager (after The Planets Suite by Gustav Holst) was Handel's Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks. Earlier this year I read a book about Handel's time in London, the house he lived in, his music and performances and his patronage to The Foundling Hospital.The hospital has a whole room upstairs dedicated to Handel where you can sit in chairs and listen to some of his music.

25 Brook Street, Mayfair (Handel's house)

Jimi Hendrix is the extreme in musical terms to Handel, and I knew less about him and his time in England. My favourite songs of his are Hey Joe and All Along the Watchtower. I knew he was American and that he died young, played at Woodstock, but that's about it.

23 Brook Street, Mayfair (Jimi Hendrix's flat)

To have a place to visit where these two icons lived is amazing. My friend and I turned up without booking, taking our chance, and got in, entering through the front door which was Handel's. We entered the parlours, now one room, but back then would have been two. One of these rooms is where Handel sold tickets for his performances. He held private performances in the house as well as ones in large theatres. Maids of the well-to-do, or the well to-do themselves, would come to secure a ticket. Sometimes these performances would be for a preview of a new work. Handel's was a working as well as a living space, and he used the rooms the way he wanted to, so not always traditionally used.

Front and back parlours

Downstairs is the kitchen. Due to inventories left behind, the space was recreated, including the water tank in the corner with Handel's initials on it.

Kitchen

The staircase is ornate leading to the floors above. On the first floor is the dining room, not only used for feasting (Handel did love his food), but it is suggested he also performed here. Around him are the instruments he would have composed and played on. Behind this room is the drawing room where Handel would have worked. He wrote over two hundred and fifty works here, dashing off pieces in quick succession. He was a prolific composer. Handel's bedroom is quite plain. though his bed is draped in gorgeous red fabric with blankets and quilt to keep out the cold. Then there is the dressing room with his wig (which looks rather like Brian May's hair!) and washstand. Having seen a painting of Handel without his wig, he looks much better, but wigs were the order of the day back then.

Oringal book case

Bedroom

Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens where Handel performed

In Handel's own hand

Dining Room

Dining room and performance space

Along the corridor are the exhibition rooms. Here you can meet the Divas of the day, a sometimes cantankerous collection with their own demands. Here, you can also listen to parts of Handel's pieces through headphones. Once you have had your fill, you then enter the flat that once belonged to Jimi Hendrix's in the house next door. 

The Divas!

Here there is an audio running telling Hendrix's story with music to accompany. There is lots of information on the walls and his world has been recreated from photos taken during interviews (a lot were done here) and his then girlfriend Kathy Etchingham who lived here with him. A room has been given over to Jimi's clothes, the iconic hat and colourful outfits he was known for. The bedroom has been recreated again from photos - the record player, cassette player (I still own one of those!), Melody Maker paper, vinyl records, a scarf draped over a lampshade and the full ash trays. 

Hendrix exhibition space

Part of an original staircase

Downstairs there are further exhibits belonging to both Hendrix and Handel, including Hendrix's sofa. The area in which both composers lived here was vibrant, close to where everything happened, though so many years apart.

Handel, as he became older, suffered from many problems, including gout. He also began to lose his sight and needed an assistant to help him. Handel died in 1759, leaving behind a legacy of work that is still played and sung today.

Hendrix died in 1970 of asphyxiation after an drug overdose while at the apartment of his new girlfriend. He was just thirty-two. He also leaves a legacy behind and influenced many people. Musicians such as Prince did cover versions of some of his tracks. The strangest thing is that Hendrix was left-handed, but played a right handed guitar upside down. I cannot imagine doing that!

If you only like one of these musicians, it is work seeing the houses. I learned more about Hendrix beyond on his music. The house holds music nights too, so you can go along and have an authentic experience. If you are an Art Fund member it is free to view the houses.