engaged by Mr. John Wyche, the English Envoy, as music-master to his small
son Cyril.

Early in 1704 Mattheson went to Holland, where he had some success in
organising concerts at Amsterdam, and was offered the post of organist at
Haarlem. He seems to have had some idea of seeking his fortune in England;
he spoke English well, and may have had useful connexions in England
through Mr. John Wyche. But in March Handel wrote to him that the Hamburg
opera could not get on without him, and to Hamburg he returned. It soon
must have become clear to him that Handel was rapidly outgrowing any need
of his condescending patronage. A _Passion according to St. John_, the
words of which had been written by Postel, an opera-poet turned pietist,
had been set to music by Handel, and performed on Good Friday with marked
success. Mattheson arrived too late to hear it, but it is significant that
twenty years later he published a scathing criticism of it, although it is
a work of little importance in relation to Handel's complete career, and
can seldom have been performed. A Passion oratorio by Keiser was produced
at the same time, it may well have been that Handel's work, youthful and
conventional as it is, was enough to arouse the jealousy of both Keiser and
Mattheson.

Shortly after Easter, Keiser began the composition of a new opera,
_Almira_, on a libretto by the local poet Feustking, but for some reason or
other he found it necessary to call in Handel's assistance, and eventually
left the whole work to Handel to compose. It was to be produced in the
autumn. Handel seems to have consulted Mattheson over every detail of the
opera; there exists a complete score in Mattheson's handwriting, with
corrections and additions by Handel. Mattheson spent the summer enjoying a
country holiday in Mecklenburg; Handel probably went on with his opera,
at Hamburg. In October, just as the opera season was reopening, Mattheson