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Inspired by the recent Sky Arts documentary, 'The Handel Scandal', this playlist brings together music by 16th- to 18th-century composers and performers whose lives were touched by controversy. From Handel and Bach to Gesualdo and more, explore the music of artists whose stories of public affairs, plagiarism, imprisonment and murder have intrigued audiences for centuries. Listen on Spotify.

TRACK LIST

1-3. Handel Messiah: 22. 'He Shall Feed His Flock'; 25. 'He Was Despised'; 53. 'If God Be For Us' | Clare Wilkinson, Dunedin Consort & John Butt
Handel’s Messiah gets personal in the marital predicament of the singer-actress Susannah Cibber, explored in the new Sky Arts documentary, 'The Handel Scandal'. Cibber’s private life had become painfully public at the time she performed in Handel's Messiah in its Dublin premiere. Her husband, the actor Theophilus Cibber, had encouraged her relationship with the wealthy William Sloper, then sued Sloper for damages. Read more here...

4. Lotti Duetti, terzetti, e madrigali a più voci: No. 18 'La vita caduca' | Il Complesso Barocco & Alan Curtis
Composer Giovanni Bononcini's popularity in London in the 1720s for a time rivalled Handel's. He left London under a cloud, however, after being found guilty of plagiarism when he attempted to pass off this madrigal by Antonio Lotti as his own.

5. Gesualdo Moro lasso al mio duolo | Monteverdi Choir & John Eliot Gardiner
Carlo Gesualdo is infamous for having murdered his wife and her lover in 1590. He faced no charges, however, due to his aristocratic status. Today, Gesualdo is known for his astonishingly inventive music and progressive harmonic writing.

6-8. Leclair Violin Concerto in A Minor, Op. 7, No. 5 | Adrian Butterfield & London Handel Players
In another case of murder, French violinist and composer Jean-Marie Leclair was found dead in 1764 with three stab wounds in his back. Despite an extensive investigation, the case was never resolved.

9-10. Handel Admeto, HWV 22: 'Se'n vola lo sparvier' (Antigona) & 'Vedrò fra poco, se l'idol mio' (Alceste) | Il Complesso Barocco, Alan Curtis, Rachel Yakar & Rita Dams
Susannah Cibber was not the only singer in Handel’s world who found her public image hard to control. The sopranos Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni attracted competing factions during their London appearances in the 1720s. Their rivalry became a public spectacle, culminating in a notorious confrontation at the King’s Theatre 1727, when their supporters disrupted a performance of Bononcini’s Astianatte. Accounts of the singers fighting and pulling each other’s hair have survived, though there is no reliable evidence for this.

11. Weelkes As Vesta was from Latmos hill descending | I Fagiolini & Robert Hollingworth
In 1613, the English composer Thomas Weelkes became embroiled in scandal after purportedly urinating in the Dean of Chichester’s presence during a service at the cathedral. Already notorious for drunkenness and disruptive behaviour, Weelkes faced disciplinary action from church authorities.

12-14. JS Bach Orgelbüchlein: 'Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland' (BWV 599); 'Christ lag in Todesbanden' (BWV 625); 'In dir ist Freude' (BWV 615) | Stephen Farr
In 1717, Johann Sebastian Bach was imprisoned by his employer, Duke Wilhelm Ernst in Weimar, for 'insubordination', having taken up a new position as Kapellmeister for Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen without Duke Wilhelm's consent. During his month in prison, Bach is sometimes said to have begun work on the Orgelbüchlein.

15. Strozzi Cantate, ariette, e duetti, Op. 2: No. 22 'Amor dormiglione' | Lucine Musaelian & Bellot Ensemble
16. Strozzi Arie, Op. 8: No. 6 'Che si può fare' | Lucine Musaelian & Bellot Ensemble
While there is no scandal attached to any concrete event in Barbara Strozzi’s life, she was subject to considerable public intrigue. The daughter of poet Giulio Strozzi, she was raised within Venice’s literary and musical circles, where her status as an unmarried woman performing publicly invited speculation. Her association with the Accademia degli Unisoni and the circulation of suggestive portraits further fuelled gossip about her reputation and private life.

17-18. Rebel Ulysse Suite: Overture & Sarabande | Loris Barrucand & Clément Geoffroy
In 1675, Jean-Baptiste Lully accused librettist Henri Guichard of attempting to poison him - most likely a well-timed ploy to remove a rival from the Paris opera scene over which Lully held the monopoly. Guichard wrote the libretto for this tragédie en musique by Rebel.

19. Handel Floridante, HWV 14: 'Ah mia cara, se tu resti' | Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Alan Curtis, Nancy Argenta & Catherine Robbin
20. Handel Radamisto, HWV 12: 'Se teco vive il cor' | Freiburger Barockorchester, Nicholas McGegan, Ralf Popken & Juliana Gondek
One final scandal involving the opera singers of Handel's world: In 1724, English mezzo-soprano Anastasia Robinson became embroiled in a public scandal with Italian castrato Senesino. Robinson accused him of behaving too intimately during an operatic performance. He was confronted by her secret husband, the Earl of Peterborough. The incident sparked widespread gossip, Jonathan Swift’s satire and years of sexually provocative, misogynistic pamphlets.