Georg Friedrich Haendel

A cosmopolitan composer in 18th-century Europe, Georg Friedrich Handel was born in Germany and settled in England, where he found fame with his operas and oratorios in Italian. Author of the famous "Hallelujah " chorus from both Messiah and Water Music, the Saxon was born in Halle, in the Holy Roman Empire, on February 23, 1685. A contemporary of Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, Georg Philipp Telemann and Jean-Philippe Rameau, the young Handel (Händel in Germany, Handel in England) secretly played the clavichord in the attic while his father, a physician in the service of the local duke, intended him to become a lawyer. His talents did not remain hidden for long, and his virtuosity on the ducal chapel organ was so appreciated that he eventually received a complete musical education from Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, who trained him not only on organ and harpsichord, but also on violin, oboe, theory and the subtleties of counterpoint. After composing his first pieces, Handel was still in his teens when he was offered a job as a musician in Berlin by Prince-Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg, the future Frederick I King of Prussia, but on his return to Halle he learned that his father had died four days earlier. He enrolled at university in 1702, but soon abandoned his law studies in favor of the position of cathedral organist, which he held for a year, before moving to Hamburg, where musical activity was more developed. Admitted as second violinist and harpsichordist to the Oper am Gänsemarkt through Johann Mattheson, he also gave harpsichord lessons and composed a number of pieces, including sonatas and the famous Oboe Concerto No. 3. His first opera, Almira, performed in 1705, proved a success, unlike his next, Nero, whose failure led Handel to leave for Italy. Arriving in Florence, he visited the local princes and attended opera performances, finding inspiration for Rodrigo, commissioned by Ferdinand de' Medici. In Rome, he was challenged to a joust against Alessandro Scarlatti on harpsichord and organ, where he proved superior. His stay in Rome gave rise to numerous religious works, including Dixit Dominus (1707), the oratorio La Resurrezione (1708), secular cantatas such as Aci, Galatea e Polifemo and the opera Agrippina (1709), premiered at the Venice Carnival. Although he received several job offers, already for England, Handel settled in Hanover, where he was appointed Kapellmeister for two years. This did not prevent him from staying in London for the first time, however, and meeting theater director Aaron Hill, with whom he collaborated on the opera Rinaldo, premiered at the Queen's Theatre in 1711 and featuring well-known arias such as "Laschia ch'io pianga", in addition to a staging packed with visual effects. Returning the following year, the composer settled there permanently. From then on, opera after opera followed: Il pastor fido in 1712, Teseo on a libretto adapted from Lully in 1713 and Silla the same year. Invited to compose an ode for Queen Anne's birthday, which was cancelled, he celebrated the Peace of Utrecht with a Te Deum and jubilate at St. Paul's Cathedral. Having become the unofficial composer to the English court, he received the support of the new King George I, whom he accompanied on a trip to Hanover, during which he composed the oratorio Passion according to Brockes. On their return to London, he began work on a commission to write the ceremonial music for the royal night party on the Thames on July 17, 1717, which gave rise to the famous Water Music. Handel also worked for Count James Brydge of Carnarvon, for whom he composed the Chandos Anthems, the semi-opera Acis and Galatea, the oratorio Esther, a Te Deum and Baroque concertos. In 1719, he became one of the appointed composers of the Royal Academy of Music, a newly founded company that hosted the premiere of fourteen of his operas, including Radamisto (1720), Floridante (1721), Ottone (1723), Giulio Cesare and Tamerlano (1724), Rodelinda (1725), Scipione and Alessandro (1726), Siroe and Tolomeo (1728). The composer, in charge of recruiting singers, engaged the castrato Senesino, then in Dresden. He did not, however, abandon instrumental pieces, as evidenced by the eight Suites for harpsichord of 1720. Competing with Attilio Ariosti and Giovanni Bononcini, Handel challenged the latter on his own melodic terrain and soon surpassed him. Appointed Master of the Chapel Royal, he gave music lessons to the princesses, bought a house on Brook Street and became an English citizen in 1727. On the death of the King that same year, he composed the Coronation Anthems for his successor George II, including the famous Zadok the Priest, which was later adapted for the official anthem of the UEFA Champions League. In 1729, the Royal Academy underwent a facelift and, after a trip to Italy and Germany with director John James Heidegger, Handel returned with a revamped cast for the opera Lotario, followed by the lighter Partenope (1730), Poro (1731) and Ezio (1732), after Metastasius, the revival ofEsther and, in the final season, one of his masterpieces, Orlando (1733), which returned to the fairytale world of his early days. However, his hegemonic position in English opera was challenged by the creation of the Opera of the Nobility, a company founded by the King's own son, whose composer was the Italian Nicola Porpora, but which went bankrupt despite the presence of star castrato Farinelli, who had previously turned down an offer from Handel. Estranged from Heidegger, who had rented out his theater to the rival party, he set up the third academy on his own, including Giovanni Carestini, and joined forces with John Rich, director of John Gay's hit Beggar's Opera and owner of the Theatre Royal Covent Garden, where in 1734 he premiered the opera-ballet Terpsichore with the Frenchwoman Marie Sallé. The following year saw the premiere of two of his most successful works, Ariodante with its lamento "Scherza infida", and Alcina, in which his light-hearted style won over audiences. During a sabbatical from opera due to health problems, Handel composed the ode Alexander's Feast (1736), then returned with Atalanta and other lesser productions such as Berenice. This prolific period saw the operas Farramondo and Serse with castrato Gaetano Caffarelli in 1738, six Concertos for organ op. 4, the oratorio Israel in Egypt and twelve Concerti grossi op. 6 in 1739, as well as the magnificent Ode for St. Cecilia's Day and L'Allegro, Il Pensero ed il Moderato, followed by the last operas Imeneo (1740) and Deidamia (1741). The last decade, troubled by declining health, was devoted to English oratorio, with the best-known of all, the immortal Le Messie, premiered at a festival in his honor in Dublin on April 13, 1742, and Samson, completed later but premiered earlier in October 1741. In 1749, he was again called upon to celebrate the peace treaty ending the War of the Austrian Succession, composing Music for the Royal Fireworks for the occasion. His last oratorio, Jephta, followed two years later. Stricken by paralysis and blind, Georg Friedrich Handel died on April 14, 1759 at the age of 74, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. His works, comprising 612 opus numbers including 42 operas, were catalogued between 1978 and 1986 by Bernd Baselt in the catalog Händel-Werke-Verzeichnis, which gave rise to the abbreviation HMV.