HANDEL, George Frederick

February 23rd 1685 - April 14th 1759

When Handel was 18 years old, he took a job at the Hamburg Opera as a violinist, and to support himself, gave private lessons. His first two operas (Almira and Nero) were composed during this year.

This was where he met Prince Ferdinando de’Medici, who invited Handel to spend some time in Italy. For the next three years, Handel lived in Italy, where he met the future prince of Italy, who employed him as a household musician. Much of Handel’s work contains influences of Italy and also of Corelli, who he had studied with.

In 1710, Handel went to England and soon found himself a favourite of the queen’s. Even after she died, her successor, George I, asked Handel to compose many pieces of music for various purposes. But soon, Handel was drawn away from the court music, and he turned his eye to opera. In the winter of 1718, an opera company was formed in London, called ‘The Royal Academy of Music’. Handel composed almost half the performances given here. The public of London, however, changed their tastes, and turned away from Italian opera, and towards English oratorios. Handel refused to change his style of composing, and gradually found that his works were becoming less and less popular. In 1737, he suffered an injury, which damaged his right hand, and his friends were doubtful he would ever write again. Fortunately, after a break from England and the stresses of life, Handel came back completely restored, and with a new outlook on composing. He began to compose more and more English oratorios and he also tried his hand at more orchestral music. These were great successes and Handel became popular once again.

Sadly, whilst Handel was composing one of his works (Jephtha) in 1750, he went blind in one eye. He eventually became completely blind in 1752, but he kept playing the organ, using his memory and improvisation skills to impress all audiences. Once Handel died, he became a legend. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, and his grave marked by a monument.

Best known works: Water Music Suite

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