For the greater part of the nineteenth century the handelian type of opera was the laughingstock of musical critics; they wondered how any audiences could have endured to sit through it, and why the fashionable society of London should have neglected native music for what Dr. Johnson defined as "an exotic and irrational entertainment."
"Handel"
Edward J. Dent
handelian opera has often been described as a concert in costume, and Dr. Burney, writing as late as 1789, both admits this description and defends it.
"Handel"
Edward J. Dent
In the autumn of 1748 a company of Italian comic-opera singers came over to London; they brought an entirely new type of entertainment, and after their success handelian opera was buried for ever.
"Handel"
Edward J. Dent