23 February 1685 A.D. George Friedrich Handel Born
23 February 1685 A.D. George Friedrich Handel Born
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5jeelU1Vb4
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George Handel composed operas, oratorios and instrumentals. His 1741 work, Messiah, is the most famous oratorio.
Baroque composer George Handel was born February 23, 1685, in Halle, Germany. In 1704 Handel made his debut as an opera composer with Almira. He produced several operas with the Royal Academy of Music before forming the New Royal Academy of Music in 1727. When Italian operas fell out of fashion, he started composing oratorios, including The Messiah. George Handel died April 14, 1759, in London, England.
Baroque composer George Handel was born George Frederick Handel 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 was a realistic source of income. In fact, his father would not even permit him to own a musical instrument. His mother was, however, supportive, and encouraged him to develop his musical talent. With her cooperation, Handel took to practicing on the sly.
A
wonderful rendition by the King’s College, Cambridge is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZTZRtRFkvk . It is 2 hours and about 40 minutes.
http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/birthdays/02-23.html
George Frederick Handel (1685 to 1795)
Church of England
Composer of Christmas Choral Masterpiece
Birth of George Frederick Handel, composer of the
famed oratorio, Messiah. Probably more people have joined in singing this
masterwork at Christmas than any other piece of concert music. The benefit
concerts he gave with it helped many a struggling musician.
The story is told at the following site.
"George Handel," The Biography.com website, http://www.biography.com/people/george-handel-9327378
(accessed Apr 07 2014).George Handel composed operas, oratorios and instrumentals. His 1741 work, Messiah, is the most famous oratorio.
Baroque composer George Handel was born February 23, 1685, in Halle, Germany. In 1704 Handel made his debut as an opera composer with Almira. He produced several operas with the Royal Academy of Music before forming the New Royal Academy of Music in 1727. When Italian operas fell out of fashion, he started composing oratorios, including The Messiah. George Handel died April 14, 1759, in London, England.
Baroque composer George Handel was born George Frederick Handel 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 was a realistic source of income. In fact, his father would not even permit him to own a musical instrument. His mother was, however, supportive, and encouraged him to develop his musical talent. With her cooperation, Handel took to practicing on the sly.
When Handel was
seven years old, he had the opportunity to play the organ for the duke’s court
in Weissenfels. It was there that Handel met composer and organist Friedrich
Wilhelm Zachow. Zachow was impressed with Handel’s potential, and invited
Handel to become his pupil. Under the tutelage of Zachow, 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 years old,
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. Not surprisingly, he did not remain enrolled in law courses for
long. His passion for music would not be suppressed.
In 1703, when
Handel was 18 years old, he decided to pursue music in full force, by accepting
a violinist’s position at the Hamburg Opera’s Goosemarket Theater. During this
time, he supplemented his income by teaching private music lessons in his free time,
passing on what he had learned from his own mentor, Zachow.
Opera
While working as a
violinist, Handel ironically earned attention for his skill on the organ. In
fact, it was Handel’s organ playing that landed him more opportunities to
perform in operas.
In 1704 Handel made
his debut as an opera composer, writing his very first opera,
<em>Almira</em>. The opera was successful and achieved a
20-performance run. After composing several more successful operas, in 1706
Handel decided to try his hand in Italy. While in Italy, Handel composed the
operas Rodrigo and Agrippina, which were produced in 1701 and
1709 respectively. He also managed to write more than a few dramatic chamber
works during his trip to Italy.
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, Handel left Venice and set out for London. In
London, Handel met with the manager of the King’s Theatre. The manager gladly
agreed to let Handel write an opera for the theater. Within just two weeks,
Handel composed Rinaldo. Released during the 1710–1711 London opera season,
Rinaldo was Handel’s breakthrough work. His most critically acclaimed
work up to that date, it gained him the widespread recognition he would
maintain throughout the rest of his musical career.
After Handel
released Rinaldo, he spent the next few years writing and performing for
English royalty, including Queen Anne and King George I. 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. In
1727, when Handel’s latest opera, Alessandro, was being performed,
Italian opera in London took a hard hit as a 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 he decided 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 the new format, translating them into English for the
London audience. Handel’s 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 over 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, The 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
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
(1722–1733), 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 had 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. 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 the sight in his left eye. He forged on, 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. Handel relied on his sharp memory to compensate when necessary, and
remained actively involved in productions of his work until his dying day.
On April 14, 1759,
George Handel died in bed at his rented house at 25 Brook Street, in the
Mayfair district of London. The Baroque composer and organist was 74 years old.
Handel was known
for being a generous man, even in death. 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
The 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.
He died at 25 Brook
Street in the Mayfair Section of London in rented quarters. He died here.
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