Handel on Purcell

An account by R. L. Stevens (1775):

When Handel was blind, and attending a performance of the Oratorio Jephtha, Mr [William] Savage, my master, who sat next to him said, “This movement, sir, reminds of me of some of old Purcell’s music.” “G got te teffel”, said Handel, “if Purcell had lived, he would have composed better music than this.”

Cited in: Dean, Winton (1995) “George Friederic Handel”, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. London: Macmillan, vol. 8, p.104.

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