Handel composer biography

From Germany to England � via Italy.

Though his father had intended him for the law, Handel's own musical inclinations seem always to have been clear to him. At the age of 18, in 1703, he traveled to Hamburg, where he took a job as a violinist at the Hamburg Opera and gave private lessons to support himself. He became acquainted with Johann Mattheson (who later chronicled the known events of Handel's life during his stay there) and together they visited Buxtehude in L�beck in that first year. In the new year Handel's first two operas were produced, Almira and Nero.

Whilst in Hamburg, Handel made the acquaintance of Prince Ferdinando de' Medici, son and heir of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who invited Handel to visit Italy where he spent more than three years, in Florence, Rome, Naples and Venice. By 1706 he had reached Rome, where Marquis (later Prince) Francesco Ruspoli employed him as a household musician and where most of Handel's major Italian works were composed. This visit was significant; baroque music, like that of any period, has its musical clich�s, and much that is typical of baroque music can be traced back to Italy and particularly to Corelli, with whom Handel had studied. The influence of Italy was to show itself in Handel's lifetime preoccupation with opera � as well as Italian operatic "stars". His Concerti Grossi too, bear witness to the influence of Italy and Corelli.

Italy was a great center of musical activity particularly during the first 20 years of the 1700s, and Handel was to meet and exchange ideas with many of the leading composers, musicians and nobility of the time - and not only Italians, for it was obligatory for every cultural and music-loving person of any rank or nobility to do the Grand European Tour which naturally included the main Italian cultural centers. Th

George Frideric Handel (German: Georg Friedrich Händel) (23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was an German composer who went to live in England when he was a young man and later became a naturalised Briton.Johann Sebastian Bach and Handel were born in the same year. They were the greatest composers of their time, but they never met. Handel changed his name to George Frideric Handel when he became British; he removed the dots above the "a" and changed the spelling of Georg and Friedrich. The German spelling of his name (Georg Friedrich Händel) is still used by German writers.

Although they both lived in the late Baroque period, Bach and Handel’s music developed differently. Handel wrote many operas and oratorios and by them became very famous. He took many trips, including to Italy where he learned a lot about composition. Bach never left central Germany, and most of the time he was a church musician who was not well known by the general public.

Handel wrote over 42 operas. Later he wrote oratorios. His most famous oratorio is the Messiah. He wrote anthems, chamber music and orchestral music including the Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks.

Life

Early years

Handel was born in Halle in the northeast of Germany, in today's Saxony-Anhalt. His father was a barber and a surgeon. He started playing the harpsichord and the organ when he was very young. He was given a clavichord when he was seven and he used to practice it in the attic where his father could not hear him. At the age of nine he was already composing. He had a teacher called Friedrich

George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) was a German-British baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Most music lovers have encountered George Frideric Handel through holiday-time renditions of the Messiah's 'Hallelujah' chorus or his Music for the Royal Fireworks.

Life and Music
Handel was born in the German city of Halle on February 23, 1685.

As a child he studied music with Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, organist at the Liebfrauenkirche, and for a time he seemed destined for a career as a church organist himself.

In 1703 he took a post as violinist in the Hamburg opera orchestra, he fought a duel the following year with the composer Mattheson over the accompaniment to one of Mattheson's operas.

In 1706 Handel returned to Germany to become court composer in Hannover.

English audiences took to his 1711 opera Rinaldo, and several years later Handel moved to England permanently. He impressed King George early on with the Water Music of 1716, written as entertainment for a royal boat outing.

Through the 1720s Handel composed Italian operatic masterpieces for London stages: Ottone, Serse (Xerxes), and other works often based on classical stories.

In the 1730s and 1740s Handel turned to the oratorio which displayed to maximum effect Handel's melodic gift and the sense of timing he brought to big choral numbers.

In 1737 Handel suffered a stroke, which caused both temporary paralysis in his right arm and some loss of his mental faculties.

Blind in old age, Handel continued to compose. He died in London on April 14, 1759. Beethoven thought Handel the greatest of all his predecessors; he once said, "I would bare my head and kneel at his grave".

Did you know?
Handel's father did not approve of his son's love of music. His mother had to smuggle a small keyboard into the attic of their house. The young boy would play the instrument up there, in secret on his own, when his father w

(1685-1759)

Who Was George Frideric Handel?

In 1705, Baroque composer George Frideric Handel he made his debut as an opera composer with Almira. He produced several operas with the Royal Academy of Music in England before forming the New Royal Academy of Music in 1727. When Italian operas fell out of fashion, he started composing oratorios, including his most famous, Messiah.

Early Life

George Frideric Handel was born on February 23, 1685, to Georg and Dorothea Handel of Halle, Saxony, Germany. From an early age, Handel longed to study music, but his father objected, doubting that music would be a realistic source of income. In fact, his father would not even permit him to own a musical instrument. His mother, however, was supportive, and she encouraged him to develop his musical talent. With her cooperation, Handel took to practicing on the sly.

When Handel was still a young boy, he had the opportunity to play the organ for the duke’s court in Weissenfels. It was there that Handel met composer and organist Frideric Wilhelm Zachow. Zachow was impressed with Handel’s potential and invited Handel to become his pupil. Under Zachow's tutelage, Handel mastered composing for the organ, the oboe and the violin alike by the time he was 10 years old. From the age of 11 to the time he was 16 or 17, Handel composed church cantatas and chamber music that, being written for a small audience, failed to garner much attention and have since been lost to time.

Despite his dedication to his music, at his father’s insistence, Handel initially agreed to study law at the University of Halle. Not surprisingly, he did not remain enrolled for long. His passion for music would not be suppressed.

In 1703, when Handel was 18 years old, he decided to commit himself completely to music, accepting a violinist’s position at the Hamburg Opera’s Goose Market Theater. During this time, he supplemented his income by teaching private music lessons in his fre