George Frideric Handel: A Biography
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ScribdTranslationsBiography of George Frideric Handel
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Name in english George Frideric Handel
Birth February 23/March 5, 1685
Halle , Brandenburg-Prussia , Holy Roman Empire
Death April 14, 1759 (74 years old)
London, Kingdom of Great Britain
burial place Westminster Abbey
Home London, Halle and Rome
Nationality German, Holy Roman Empire and Kingdom
of Great Britain (since 1712)
Mother tongue German
Family: Father = Georg Händel
Student of = Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow
PROFESSIONAL INFORMATION
Occupation Composer, organist
Positions held Choirmaster
Motion Baroque
Genders Classical music, opera and Baroque music
Instruments Organ, oboe and harpsichord
Notable works
Esther
The Messiah
Alcina
Acis and Galatea
saul
aquatic music
Music for the royal fireworks
George Frideric Handel was a German-born British baroque music composer. His best-known
work is Messiah, an oratorio with texts from the King James Bible. It is usually done at
Christmas. He also had a great influence on many composers after him, such as Haydn, Mozart
and Beethoven.
Biography
Handel was born in Halle, Saxony. At the age of seven he was a skilled player on the
harpsichord and organ, and at nine he began composing music. In 1702, in obedience to his
father's wishes, he began the study of law at the University of Halle, but the following year he
abandoned law for music and accepted a position as a violinist in the Hamburg opera orchestra.
Here his first two operas, Almira and Nero, were produced in early 1705. Two other early
operas, Daphne and Florindo, were produced in Hamburg in 1708. During the years 1707-1709
Handel traveled and studied in Italy. His Rodrigo was produced in Florence in 1707, and his
Agrippina in Venice in 1708. Two oratorios, La Resurrezione and Il Trionfo del Tempo, were
produced in Rome in 1709 and 1710, respectively.
In 1710, Handel became Kapellmeister to George, Elector of Hanover, later George I of Great
Britain. He visited London in 1710 and settled there permanently in 1712, receiving an annual
income of £200 from Queen Anne. In 1927 Handel's opera Scipio (Scipione) was performed for
the first time, the march of which remains the slow march of the British Grenadier Guard
regiment.
In 1727 Handel was commissioned to write four hymns for the coronation ceremony of King
George II. One of these, Zadok the Priest, has been played at every coronation ceremony since.
Handel was director of the Royal Academy of Music 1720-1728 and partner of J. J. Heidegger
in the management of the King's Theater 1729-1734. Handel also had a long association with
the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, where many of his Italian operas were premiered.
Handel abandoned opera management completely in 1740, having lost a fortune in the business.
In 1751 he became blind and died in London. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Handel's compositions include some fifty operas, twenty-three oratorios, and a large amount of
church music, not to mention his magnificent instrumental pieces, such as the organ concertos,
Opus 6 Concerti Grossi, Water Music, and Fireworks Music.
After his death, Handel's Italian operas fell into obscurity, except for the odd fragment, such as
Serse's ubiquitous aria, 'Ombra mai fù'; His reputation throughout the 19th century and the first
half of the 20th century, particularly in English-speaking countries, rested mainly on his
English-language oratorios, which were often performed by huge choirs of amateur singers on
solemn occasions. These include Esther (1720); Saul (1739); Israel in Egypt (1739); Messiah
(1742); Samson (1743); Judas Maccabaeus (1747); and Jephthah (1752).
Since the 1960s, with the resurgence of interest in baroque music and original instrument
playing styles, interest has revived in Handel's Italian operas, and many have been recorded and
performed on stage. Of the fifty he wrote between 1705 and 1738, Alcina (1735), Ariodante
(1735), Orlando (1733), Rinaldo (1711,1731), Rodelinda (1725) and Serse (also known as
Xerxes) (1738) stand out. They are regularly performed in opera houses and concert halls.
Arguably the best, however, is Giulio Cesare (1724) who, thanks to his excellent orchestral and
vocal writing, has entered the mainstream opera repertoire.
He also revived in recent years a series of secular cantatas and what we might call secular
oratorios or concert operas, De la Primera, Ode for Saint, Cecilia's Day (1739) (in text by John
Dryden) and Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne (1713) are particularly notable. For his
secular oratorios, Handel turned to classical mythology for themes, producing works such as
Acis and Galatea (1719), Hercules (1745), and Semele (1744). In terms of musical style,
particularly in the vocal writing for the English texts, these works have a close kinship with the
aforementioned sacred oratorios, but they also share some of the lyrical and dramatic qualities
of Handel's Italian operas. As such, they are sometimes performed on stage by small chamber
ensembles.
With the rediscovery of his theatrical works, Handel, in addition to his renown as an
instrumentalist, orchestral writer and melodist, is now perceived as one of the great musical
dramatists of opera.
Handel adopted the spelling 'George Frideric Handel' upon his naturalization as a British citizen.
His name is spelled 'Händel' in Germany and 'Händel' in France, which causes no pain to
cataloguers everywhere. There was another composer with a similar name, Handl, who was
Slovenian (no umlaut, so not Händel). He was generally known as Jacobus Gallus.
Handel's works were edited by S. Arnold (40 vols., London, 1786), and by F. Chrysander, for
the German Händel-Gesellschaft (100 vols., Leipzig, 1859-1894).
Handel lived at 25 Brook Street, London from 1723 until his death in 1759. It was here that he
composed Messiah, Zadok the Priest and Fireworks Music. In 2000, the upper floors of 25
Brook Street were let to the Handel House Trust, and, after an extensive restoration programme,
the Handel House Museum opened to the public on 8 November 2001.
COMPOSER HANDEL'S
REPORT
Student: Hans Greco Moreno Garcia
Specialty: Trumpet
Teacher: Ariel Pelaez Burgos
Level: 3rd Year
Bimester: 2nd Bimester
Management: 2018
