The summer and autumn of 1737 remain a foggy patch in Handel biography owing to poor documentation and Handel’s absence from London. We do not know whether his illness led to a rapprochement with the ‘Nobility’ opera, how his visit to Aix-la-Chapel complicated the new opera season or, especially, whether these developments relate to Farinelli’s defection to Spain. This shaky factual ground also restricts our understanding of later events such as Handel’s lucrative benefit in March 1738 and the celebrated Roubiliac statue in Vauxhall Gardens. Thanks to surviving issues of the Daily Advertiser, however, we now can replenish the documentary pool and re-examine Handel’s affairs and their context during this period
