It is 1742 and the famous composer George Frideric Handel is in Dublin for the premiere of his new musical work Messiah. Once a famous opera composer in London, praised by aristocracy and royalty, he is now in a precarious situation and recovering from illness. His exile in Dublin is a sign of his decline.
In this reading, Eibhear Walshe recounts George Frideric Handel's stay in Dublin, looking back at his golden youth in Rome, his first unsuccessful love, his sometimes ambiguous role as an emissary and spy for the Elector of Hanover – who in 1714 became George I of Great Britain and Ireland – and the influence that his sexuality could have had on his music and his life.
With energy and insight, Eibhear Walshe’s novel The Trumpet Shall Sound looks back over the creation of a masterpiece of sacred music composed from the pains and failures of its composer's life.
Eibhear Walshe (Ireland) is a recipient of the Cité internationale des arts Writing Committee.