George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) was a Baroque composer originally from Germany who later became a naturalised English citizen. He is best known for his works such as Messiah, Water Music, and his contributions to Baroque Italian operas and English oratorios.
Handel
George Frideric Handel was born on February 23, 1685, in Halle, Germany. Initially, his parents did not encourage his musical pursuits, and his formal education focused on law. He enrolled at the University of Halle in 1701 but continued to nurture his passion for music by serving as the deputy organist at the city’s cathedral.
In 1703, he moved to Hamburg, the heart of opera in Germany, where he secured a position as the second violinist in the city’s opera house orchestra. Handel soon began composing his own operas, premiering Almira and Nero in 1705. Though offered a permanent position at the Hamburg opera house, he chose to travel to Italy to further refine his opera-writing skills. During this period, he wrote numerous cantatas and his first oratorio, Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno.
In 1710, Handel left Italy to accept the position of Kapellmeister at the court of George Ludwig, Elector of Hanover, who would later become George I of Great Britain. In this role, he oversaw all musical affairs at the court and was expected to compose regularly. However, he did not stay long, having secured permission to take a year off in London.
In 1713, Handel composed the opera Il pastor fido, which was not well-received due to its brevity. In response, he composed Teseo, a five-act opera based on the legend of the Greek hero Theseus. When Queen Anne of Great Britain died in 1714, Handel’s former employer in Hanover ascended the British throne, allowing Handel to remain in England permanently.
In 1717, King George I commissioned Handel to compose what would later be known as the Water Music suite, which was performed by a 50-piece orchestra as the royal party sailed the Thames. The king’s support extended to founding Handel’s Royal Academy of Music in 1719, where Handel composed 14 Italian operas featuring Europe’s finest singers. However, the Academy eventually faced financial difficulties due to the high costs of production and the exorbitant salaries of star performers.
Royal patronage continued under George II of Great Britain, who played Handel’s new works, including the anthem Zadok the Priest, at his coronation on October 11, 1727. This anthem has been a staple of every British coronation since. Throughout the 1730s, Handel composed many successful operas, including Ariodante, Alcina, and Atalanta, though he also faced failures, and the strain began to take a toll. In April 1737, he suffered a minor stroke and recuperated in the spa town of Aachen in Germany. He recovered sufficiently to compose music for the funeral of Queen Caroline, wife of George II, in November, including the anthem The Ways of Zion Do Mourn.
The Messiah
Handel’s organ concertos were immensely popular, leading him to focus more on instrumental music rather than opera during the 1740s. He also developed the English oratorio, a form of opera with a religious focus, culminating in his masterpiece Messiah (1742). In this work, Handel incorporated operatic elements like the recitative aria and shifted greater emphasis toward the orchestra and choir, reducing the prominence of soloists. Remarkably, Handel composed Messiah in just three weeks, setting text adapted by Charles Jennens from the Bible and Prayer Book Psalter.
Although Messiah shares structural similarities with opera, it does not follow a dramatic form. There are no impersonations of characters or direct dialogue. Instead, Charles Jennens’s libretto is an extended meditation on Jesus as the Messiah. The text begins in Part I with prophecies from Isaiah and other biblical figures, leading to the annunciation to the shepherds—the only "scene" drawn directly from the Gospels. Part II focuses on the Passion of Christ and culminates with the famous “Hallelujah” chorus. Part III reflects on Paul’s teachings about the resurrection of the dead and Christ’s glorification in heaven.
The oratorio premiered in Dublin in April 1742, and later performances, such as those at the Foundling Hospital in the 1750s, featured increasingly large ensembles. The famous "Hallelujah" chorus became synonymous with the Resurrection and is celebrated for its use in both religious and secular occasions.
Handel's Death & Legacy
In 1751, Handel began to lose his eyesight, and by the end of 1752, he was completely blind. Although unable to compose new works, he continued to edit his earlier pieces and played the organ, relying on his remarkable memory. Handel passed away in London on 14 April 1759, aged 74, after a series of fainting spells. A memorial was erected in Westminster Abbey, where he was buried, with an epitaph that honoured him as “The most Excellent Musician any age ever produced”.
Thanks to King George III's collection of Handel’s autograph scores, which were later donated to the British Library, Handel’s legacy endured. Works like Water Music and Messiah remain iconic pieces of the baroque era, and Handel is now celebrated as one of the most powerful of eighteenth-century musical personalities.
