Handel in Tallaght in 1742 ?
George Frideric Handel in Tallaght (and the Master of Ceremonies to Nobility’s Balls) Several times over many years I have heard a story, that when the composer George Frideric Handel was in Dublin in the 1740’s for the world premiere of his “Messiah”, after prolonged professional and personal exertions, he decided to take a break from the big smoke and so decamped out to Tallaght to recuperate. It is an intriguing and unlikely tale made all the more fascinating by virtue of it, in more recent years, having assumed the status of historical fact. In a column in what is generally considered Ireland’s national paper of record you can find the following: "In the spring of 1742, when Handel was in Dublin prior to the first performance of the Messiah, he stayed in Abbey Street, but it isn't so well known that he also went to stay in Tallaght, to recover from the excesses of food and drink he'd been enjoying in the city centre".