A. You’re going to listen to an audio guide to the Handel & Hendrix in London museum. Listen and look at extracts 1-8. Who do you think each extract is about, Handel or Hendrix? Write Han or Hen.
___ 1 However, after becoming a British citizen five years later, he decided to continue renting the house.
___ 2 He moved in briefly in July, before returning to the United States for an extensive tour.
___ 3 There was a basement containing the kitchens, and on the first floor, there was a room at the front for receiving visitors.
___ 4 In the largest room, he kept his instruments (a harpsichord and a little house organ), and he occasionally rehearsed there.
___ 5 He bought curtains and cushions from the nearby John Lewis department store, as well as ornaments from Portobello Road market and elsewhere.
___ 6 In January of the following year, he gave a series of press and media interviews and photo shoots in the apartment.
___ 7 Over the years, his apartment was used as an office, until it was taken over in 2000 by the Handel House Trust.
___ 8 He was buried in Westminster Abbey, and more than 3,000 people attended his funeral.
B. Listen again and answer the questions.
1 Who lived in 25 Brook Street before Handel?
2 Why was he not allowed to buy the house?
3 What did Handel use the rooms on the second floor for?
4 What rooms were there on the third floor?
5 Who lived in the attic?
6 How long did Hendrix’s career last?
7 Who was Kathy Etchingham?
8 When did Hendrix leave the apartment?
9 Where did he die?
10 What was the apartment used for before it became a museum?
Answers
A
1 Han 2 Hen 3 Han 4 Han 5 Hen 6 Hen
7 Hen 8 Han
B
1 Nobody
2 Because he was a foreigner.
3 Entertaining and working
4 A bedroom and a dressing room
5 The servants
6 Four years
7 Hendrix’s girlfriend
8 In March 1969
9 In a London hotel
10 As an office
Audioscripts
Welcome to the Handel Hendrix house
Handel’s House
In 1712, the German composer George Frideric Handel decided to settle permanently in England, where he was employed as musician to the English court. After living in Surrey for some years, he moved to London, and during the summer of 1723, he rented a house at 25 Brook Street. He was the first occupant of the house, but as a foreigner, he was not allowed to buy it. However, after becoming a British citizen five years later, he decided to continue renting the house. In 1742, his annual rent for Brook Street was £50.
The plan of the house in Brook Street was usual for a modest London townhouse of the period. There was a basement containing the kitchens and on the first floor there was a room at the front for receiving visitors. On the second floor there were bigger rooms where Handel entertained and worked. In the largest room, he kept his instruments (a harpsichord and a little house organ) and he occasionally rehearsed there. The room next to it is where he composed many of his most famous works, including the Messiah. The third floor contained the bedroom at the front, with a dressing room at the back, where he kept his clothes. In the attic at the top of the house, the servants had their rooms.
During the last decade of his life, Handel’s eyesight got worse, and by 1754 he was completely blind. He died at his Brook Street house on April 14, 1759. He was buried in Westminster Abbey and more than three thousand people attended his funeral.
Hendrix’s Apartment
Although Jimi Hendrix’s career only lasted four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most influential electric guitarists in the history of rock music.
The apartment on the upper floors of 23 Brook Street was found by Jimi’s girlfriend, Kathy Etchingham, when she saw an ad in one of the London evening newspapers in June 1968, while he was in New York. He moved in briefly in July before returning to the United States for an extensive tour. He spent some time decorating the apartment to his own taste. He bought curtains and cushions from the nearby John Lewis department store, as well as ornaments from Portobello Road market and elsewhere. He told Kathy that this was “my first real home of my own.”
In January of the following year, he gave a series of press and media interviews and photo shoots in the apartment. He also appeared on the BBC and gave two concerts in February at the Royal Albert Hall. In March 1969, he went back to New York again, and although Kathy stayed at Brook Street for a while longer, Jimi did not live there again. He died in London in 1970, at the age of 27, but in a hotel, not in the Brook Street apartment.
Over the years, his apartment was used as an office, until it was taken over in 2000 by the Handel House Trust. It opened to the public on Wednesday, February 10, 2016.
The whole house is now a museum and a concert venue where both men’s music can be heard in live performances.
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