GEORGE FEDERIC HANDEL

Composer (1685-1759)

George Frederic Handel composed operas, oratorios and instrumentals. His 1741 work,
'Messiah,' is among the most famous oratorios in history.

SYNOPSIS
Baroque composer George Frederic Handel was born in Halle, Germany, in 1685. In 1705 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. Handel died in London, England, in 1759.

EARLY LIFE
Georg Frederic 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 free time, passing on what
he had learned from Zachow.

OPERA
Though working as a violinist, it was Handel's skill on the organ and harpsichord that began to
earn him attention and landed him more opportunities to perform in operas.

Handel also began to compose operas, making his debut in early 1705 with Almira. The opera
was instantly successful and achieved a 20-performance run. After composing several more
popular operas, in 1706 Handel decided to try his luck in Italy. While in there, Handel composed
the operas Rodrigo and Agrippina, which were produced in 1707 and 1709 respectively. He also
managed to write more than a few dramatic chamber works during this period.

Touring the major Italian cities over three opera seasons, Handel introduced himself to most of
Italy’s major musicians. Unexpectedly, while in Venice, he met multiple people who expressed
an interest in London’s music scene. Enticed to experiment with a freelance music career there,
in 1710 Handel left Venice and set out for London. In London, Handel met with the manager of
the King’s Theatre, who commissioned Handel to write an opera. Within just two weeks, Handel
composed Rinaldo. Released during the 1710–11 London opera season, Rinaldo was Handel’s
breakthrough. His most critically acclaimed work up to that date, it gained him the widespread
recognition that he would maintain throughout the rest of his musical career.

After the debut of Rinaldo, Handel spent the next few years writing and performing for English
royalty, including Queen Anne and King George I. Then, in 1719, Handel was invited to become
the Master of the Orchestra at the Royal Academy of Music, the first Italian opera company in
London. Handel eagerly accepted. He produced several operas with the Royal Academy of
Music that, while well liked, were not especially lucrative for the struggling academy.

In 1726 Handel decided to make London his home permanently, and became a British citizen.
(He also Anglicized his name at this time, to George Frideric.) In 1727, when Handel’s latest
opera, Alessandro, was being performed, Italian opera in London took a hard hit as the result of a
hostile rivalry between two female lead singers. Frustrated, Handel broke away from the Royal
Academy and formed his own new company, calling it the New Royal Academy of Music.
Under the New Royal Academy of Music, Handel produced two operas a year for the next
decade, but Italian opera fell increasingly out of style in London. Handel composed two more
Italian operas before finally deciding to abandon the failing genre.
 ORATORIOS
In place of operas, oratorios became Handel’s new format of choice. Oratorios, large-scale
concert pieces, immediately caught on with audiences and proved quite lucrative. The fact that
oratorios didn’t require elaborate costumes and sets, as operas did, also meant that they cost far
less to produce. Handel revised a number of Italian operas to fit this new format, translating them
into English for the London audience. His oratorios became the latest craze in London and were
soon made a regular feature of the opera season.

In 1735, during Lent alone, Handel produced more than 14 concerts made up primarily of
oratorios. In 1741 Dublin’s Lord Lieutenant commissioned Handel to write a new oratorio based
on a biblical libretto assembled by art patron Charles Jennens. As a result, Handel’s most famous
oratorio, Messiah, made its debut at the New Music Hall in Dublin in April 1742.

Back in London, Handel organized a subscription season for 1743 that consisted exclusively of
oratorios. The series opened with Handel’s composition Samson, to great audience acclaim.
Samson was eventually followed by a run of Handel’s beloved Messiah.

Handel continued to compose a long string of oratorios throughout the remainder of his life and
career. These included Semele (1744), Joseph and His Brethren (1744), Hercules (1745),
Belshazzar (1745), Occasional Oratorio (1746), Judas Maccabeus (1747), Joshua (1748),
Alexander Balus (1748), Susanna (1749), Solomon (1749), Theodora (1750), The Choice of
Hercules (1751), Jeptha (1752) and The Triumph of Time and Truth (1757).

In addition to his oratorios, Handel’s concerti grossi, anthems and orchestral pieces also
garnered him fame and success. Among the most noted were Water Music (1717), Coronation
Anthems (1727), Trio Sonatas op. 2 (1722–33), Trio Sonatas op. 5 (1739), Concerto Grosso op.
6 (1739) and Music for Royal Fireworks, completed a decade before his death.

HEALTH ISSUES
Over the course of his musical career, Handel, exhausted by stress, endured a number of
potentially debilitating problems with his physical health. He is also believed to have suffered
from anxiety and depression. Yet somehow, Handel, who was known to laugh in the face of
adversity, remained virtually undeterred in his determination to keep making music.

In the spring of 1737, Handel suffered a stroke that impaired the movement of his right hand. His
fans worried that he would never compose again. But after only six weeks of recuperation in
Aix-la-Chapelle, Handel was fully recovered. He went back to London and not only returned to
composing, but made a comeback at playing the organ as well.
Six years later, Handel suffered a second springtime stroke. However, he stunned audiences once
again with a speedy recovery, followed by a prolific stream of ambitious oratorios.

Handel’s three-act oratorio Samson, which premiered in London in 1743, reflected how Handel
related to the character’s blindness through his own firsthand experience with the progressive
degeneration of his sight:

Total eclipse! no sun, no moon. All dark amidst the blaze of noon. Oh glorious light! no
cheering ray To glad my eyes with welcome day.

By 1750, Handel had entirely lost sight in his left eye. He forged on, however, composing the
oratorio Jephtha, which also contained a reference to obscured vision. In 1752 Handel lost sight
in his other eye and was rendered completely blind. As always before, Handel’s passionate
pursuit of music propelled him forward. He kept on performing and composing, relying on his
sharp memory to compensate when necessary, and remained actively involved in productions of
his work until his dying day.

DEATH AND LEGACY

Handel was known for being a generous man, even in death. Having never married or fathered
children, his will divided his assets among his servants and several charities, including the
Foundling Hospital. He even donated the money to pay for his own funeral so that none of his
loved ones would bear the financial burden. Handel was buried in Westminster Abbey a week
after he died. Following his death, biographical documents began to circulate, and George
Handel soon took on legendary status posthumously.

During his lifetime, Handel composed nearly 30 oratorios and close to 50 operas. At least 30 of
those operas were written for the Royal Academy of Music, London’s very first Italian opera
company. He was also a prolific writer of orchestral pieces and concerti grossi. He is said to
have made significant contributions to all of the musical genres of his generation. His most
renowned work is the oratorio Messiah, written in 1741 and first performed in Dublin in 1742.

In 1784, 25 years after Handel’s death, three commemorative concerts were held in his honor at
the Parthenon and Westminster Abbey. In 2001 Handel’s home on Brook Street (from 1723 to
1759) became the site of the Handel House Museum, established in memory of his legendary life
and works.
 THE LIFE AND MUSICAL INFLUENCE OF GEORGE FRIDERIC
HANDEL

George Frederic Handel was born musically inclined. As a child he was deprived of musical
instruments because his father wanted him to pursue the law profession. However, George was
allowed to take music lessons from a local organist, by the name of Friedrich Wilhelm Zachau,
after Handel had impressed the Duke when he played the organ at the chapel. In his following
years, Handel would travel to many places, accepting many different musical occupations. As
Handel traveled, he was introduced to many of his musical influences. He wrote operas,
oratorios, anthems, secular cantatas, and also wrote scarred music. Throughout his life, Handel
would become famous for his compositions, particularly for his English Oratorios, however the
most popular ones today include: “Messiah”, “The Water Music”, and “Royal Fireworks.”
George Frideric Handel made an incredible impact on several other well known musical
composers. “He has generally been accorded high esteem by fellow composers, both in his own
time and since. Bach apparently stated, “ He is the only person I would wish to see before I die,
and the only person I would wish to be, were I not Bach.” Mozart is reputed to have said of him,
“Handel understands effect better than any of us. When he chooses, he strikes like a thunder
bolt,” and to Beethoven he was “the master of us all…the greatest composer that ever lived. I
would uncover my head and kneel before his tomb.” (Classic Cat, Legacy)
While he was taking lessons with Zachau

SETTLING IN ENGLAND

As London became Handel's permanent home, he proceeded to compose a large amount of music
for harpsichord, chamber ensembles, and orchestra, as well as various works for royal occasions.
Handel's compositions so impressed England's Queen Anne (1665–1714) that she awarded him
an annual salary of two hundred pounds. After Anne's death, George I (1660–1727) became king
of England. In 1715 Handel provided music for a royal pleasure cruise for the King, his
mistresses, and several barge-loads of courtiers (members of the royal court)—the famous Water
Music. In 1719 Handel accepted an invitation to join forces with the newly founded Royal
Academy of Music. Handel's operas were numerous and well-received, but despite their success
the academy did not prosper.
In 1726 Handel became a citizen of England and was appointed composer of music to the Chapel
Royal. The season of 1727 saw the production of Handel's Alessandro. This marked the
beginning of an intense rivalry between Faustina Bordoni and Francesca Cuzzoni, two prima
donnas (leading female opera singers) whose hostility greatly harmed the cause of Italian opera
in London. Other factors no doubt lent weight to the growing public disappointment, but this
single event seemed to have caused opposition to Italian opera in London and introduced a
succession of developments that led to its fall.

Apparently undismayed, Handel immediately formed the New Royal Academy of Music in
partnership with a Swiss entrepreneur. After a whirlwind trip to Germany to audition new singers
and to visit his mother, now blind and alone, Handel returned to London in time to open the new
season. Thereafter his operas flowed forth on the average of two per year. In spite of the quality
of these operas, Italian opera grew ever less popular in London. In April 1737 Handel suffered a
stroke. He recuperated during the summer at Aix-la-Chapelle, returning to London in time to
start the next season. Finally, with the miserable failure of Imeneo (1740) and Deidamia (1741),
he at last gave up and wrote no more new operas

HANDEL'S CREATIVE GENIUS

Surveying Handel's entire creative life, one gains a sense of spontaneous (instinctive) and
incredibly abundant creative flow. This is confirmed by the marvelous collections of his work
preserved at the Fitzwilliam and British museums in England, which reveal not only the
enormous bulk of his creative achievement but also something of his uncompromising critical
judgment. There is scarcely a page without deletions; frequently, he struck out whole passages.
He obviously knew the art of heavy pruning, and his works profited greatly from it.

Handel's propensity to "write like the very devil" proved invaluable, in view of the demands
imposed upon his time and energies in operatic composition throughout most of his career. Time
after time he found it necessary to meet crises without much time for creative gestation
(generation). Handel was at heart a dramatic composer for whom setting the scene and
atmosphere and depiction of character thrust all other considerations into the background