Biography

Born February 23 1685 in Halle, Germany, he was christened "Georg Friederich Händel" but always signed his name "Georg Friedrich Händel". His father intended for him to go into law, but Händel studied music clandestinely and was eventually allowed to study under an organist. He achieved some success early on, and toured Italy in 1706. He briefly worked in Hannover before departing for London in 1711. While in England Händel composed a number of anthems, operas, and church music, and in 1723 he became a British citizen. He premiered "Messiah" in Ireland as a charity aid, and this quickly became his most famous work. He died early in the morning on 14 April 1759, and was buried in Westminster Abbey under a monument that reads: "George Frederic Handel". 3,000 people attended his funeral.

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Georg Friedrich Handel was taught the organ by Friedrich W. Zachow. He started studying law, but at the same time turned to music. In 1702, at the age of seventeen, he became organist at the cathedral and castle church in Halle. The following year Handel left Halle and moved to Hamburg. There he found a job as concertmaster at the opera house. In Hamburg in 1705 he wrote his first opera entitled "Almira". Two years later, Handel traveled to Italy and stayed in Florence and Rome for two years. During this time he created operas, sacred cantatas and oratorios. In 1709, the premiere of his fifth opera entitled "Agrippina" took place in Venice, which earned him considerable audience approval. Handel studied Italian opera and found many inspirations for his own work. The Italian nobility in particular was enthusiastic about the German's compositions.

In 1710, George Frideric Handel returned to Germany. He settled in Hanover and became the electoral bandmaster there. In the same year he traveled to London. There he composed his work "Rinaldo". Handel chose England as his place of residence and settled there. On the island, too, his work was recognized in aristocratic circles and by the royal family, which earned him an annual pension. His oratorio "Esther" was written in England and between 1717 and 1720 the eleven Chandos Anthems for soloists, choir and orchestra, which he dedicated to the Duke of Chandos. In 1719, George Frideric Handel founded the opera house "Royal Academie of Music" on royal commission, where his operas "Radamisto" (1920), "Guilio Cesare" (1724), "Tamerlo" (1724) and "Rodelina" (1725) were premiered became. There he was able to celebrate his most successful performances.

In 1727, Handel became a British citizen. At this time, a bourgeois movement was emerging on the island, which was in opposition to the aristocratic circles and their entire entertainment. This also affected Handel's Italian opera works, which nevertheless enjoyed unreserved sympathy in the rest of Europe. With the performance of "Beggar's opera" by John Gay, Handel reached the climax of this period. In 1728 the royal opera house was on the brink of economic failure and was closed. Even Handel's rescue attempts failed. The composer moved to a smaller theater. But his health collapse was accompanied by the final collapse of this company in 1737. In the 1930s, Handel concentrated on other genres, such as oratorio and instrumental music, without abandoning opera composition.

In 1733 and 1739 he created the oratorios "Athalia" and "Saul". In the field of instrumental music, pieces were created that set significant accents in this musical genre of the 18th century. The solo concertos from Opus 4 for organ and harp (1736) and the twelve conserti grossi Opus six (1739) are among his most important concert works. George Frideric Handel became world famous with his oratorio "The Messiah", written in 1742 and premiered in Dublin. It is one of the most important works of this genre. The titles "Samson" (1743) and "Solomon" (1749) are among Handel's most important oratorios. In 1717 he wrote his "Water Music", which he wrote for George I's accession to the throne. In the same year he created the fireworks music. Both instrumental pieces developed into the most played instrumental tracks of their time. The oratorio "Jephta" was written in 1751. Also in 1751, Handel suffered from blindness.

Handel's operas are characterized by a flexible and dramatic realization of recitative, aria, atioso and chorus. His work influenced subsequent generations of composers, such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Gioacchino Rossini. Handel rose to prominence as the perfector of Italian opera and oratorio in the Baroque period. Composers such as Joseph Haydn and Felix Mendelssohn particularly benefited from the oratorio genre.

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