Moses Mendez, orMendes, (1690? – 4 February 1758) was a British poet and playwright. It has been suggested that he wrote the anonymous texts forHandel's dramatic EnglishoratoriosSolomon andSusanna.[1]
Moses Mendez was born to aJewish family in London. The physicianFernando Mendes was his grandfather. After studies at theUniversity of Oxford he followed his father's choice of career as a stockbroker and became prosperous.[2] Mendez owned an estate called St Andrew’s atOld Buckenham inNorfolk. He wrote numerous poems and stage pieces, including thelibretti forballad operas, among themThe Double Disappointment andThe Chaplet, produced at leading London theatresCovent Garden andDrury Lane in the 1740s.[3] He also wrote the text for the 1750 ballad operaRobin Hood with music byCharles Burney. It has recently been suggested that Moses Mendez wrote the unattributed texts for Handel's oratoriosSusanna andSolomon, both of which had their first performances in 1749.
Mendez was afreemason, having joined thePremier Grand Lodge of England and helped organise their Grand Festival in 1738.[4]
Mendez is mentioned by the writerWilliam Maginn (1794–1842) in hisMiscellanies (published posthumously in 1885):
Vain, quite vain, the toil you spend is,
When your time in verse you pass;
For, good Mr. Moses Mendes,
You are nothing but ass[5]
Mendez married Anna Gabriella Head in 1753, but their children (James Roper Mendes Head and Francis Head) would take on the Head surname, after Anna's father died in 1768. His grandson was SirFrancis Bond Head, son of James Roper.
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