disputes going on between Wagner and the Italian school.
Bononcini's career in England came to an end very suddenly. It was
discovered that a madrigal brought out by him was pirated from another
Italian composer; whereupon Bononcini left England, humiliated to the
dust, and finally died obscure and alone, the victim of a charlatan
alchemist, who succeeded in obtaining all his savings.

Another powerful rival of Handel was Porpora, or, as Handel used to
call him, "old Borbora." Without Bononcini's fire or Handel's daring
originality, he represented the dry contrapuntal school of Italian
music. He was also a great singing-master, famous throughout Europe,
and upon this his reputation had hitherto principally rested. He came to
London in 1733, under the patronage of the Italian faction, especially
to serve as a thorn in the side of Handel. His first opera, "Ariadne,"
was a great success; but when he had the audacity to challenge the great
German in the field of oratorio, his defeat was so overwhelming that
he candidly admitted his rival's superiority. But he believed that no
operas in the world were equal to his own, and he composed fifty of them
during his life, extending to the days of Haydn, whom he had the honor
of teaching, while the father of the symphony, on the other hand,
cleaned Por-pora's boots and powdered his wig for him.

Another Italian opponent was Hasse, a man of true genius, who in his old
age instructed some of the most splendid singers in the history of the
lyric stage. He also married one of the most gifted and most beautiful
divas of Europe, Faustina Bordoni. The following anecdote does equal
credit to Hasse's heart and penetration: In after-years, when he had
left England, he was again sent for to take Handel's place as conductor
of opera and oratorio. Hasse inquired, "What! is Handel dead?" On
being told no, he indignantly refused, saying he was not worthy to tie
Handel's shoe-latchets.

There are also Dr. Pepusch, the Anglicized Prussian, and Dr. Greene,
both names well known in English music. Pepusch had had the leading
place, before Handel's arrival, as organist and conductor, and made a
distinct place for himself even after the sun of Handel had obscured all
of his contemporaries. He wrote the music of the "Beggar's Opera," which
was the great sensation of the times, and which still keeps possession
of the stage. Pepusch was chiefly notable for his skill in arranging the
popular songs of the d