I never thought of financial logs as an angle for history, very interesting.

Funny to think that in the future this might be done with the default-public Venmo transaction feeds. "Here we see Handel paid his friend with the message ";)". The meaning is unknown."

Handel's 'Alcina', which he wrote in 1735 while slowly drawing down the cash he'd got by selling his annuities, is on at Glyndebourne next year:

https://www.glyndebourne.com/events/alcina/

I gave this recording from Vienna a listen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VdHwrLgjxI

You'd probably have to pay me £200 to sit through the whole thing.