Handel's compositions include 42 operas, 25 oratorios, more than 120 cantatas, trios and duets, numerous arias, chamber music, a large number of ecumenical pieces, odes and serenatas, 18 concerti grossi and 12 organ concertos. His most famous work, the oratorio "Messiah" with its "Hallelujah" chorus, is among the most popular works in choral music and has become the centrepiece of the Christmas season. The Lobkowicz Palace in Prague holds Mozart's copy of "Messiah", complete with handwritten annotations. Among the works with opus numbers published and popularised in his lifetime are the Organ concertos Op. 4 and Op. 7, together with the Opus 3 and Opus 6 Concerti grossi; the latter incorporate an earlier organ concerto "The Cuckoo and the Nightingale" in which birdsong is imitated in the upper registers of the organ.
Works
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel | Works
The Lobkowicz Palace, Organ concertos Op. 4 and Op. 7 are few to mention Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context. Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context. Organ concertos Op. 4 and Op. 7, together with the Opus 3 and Opus 6 Concerti grossi; "The Harmonious Blacksmith"; "The Cuckoo and the Nightingale"
who wrote the hallelujah chorus from handel messiah
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George Frideric Handel
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what is it?
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It is an English-language oratorio, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible, and from the Coverdale Psalter, the version of the "Psalms" included with the "Book of Common Prayer".
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when was it composed?
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1741
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how many parts does it have?
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3 parts
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was it ever recorded?
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In 1926
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by whom?
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Sir Henry Wood
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on what was it recorded?
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Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context.
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do you know the full name of the knight you just mentioned?
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Sir Henry Joseph Wood
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were there live performances of the original work?
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No, they are based on one of three 20th-century performing editions
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where was the writer born?
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Oxford Street, London
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name a few of his other works
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The following table lists the known letters and writings of Handel. Note that where quotes have been supplied from the letters, the original spelling, punctuation and capitalisations have been reproduced.
Letters and writings of George Frideric Handel | Letters and writings
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; born ; 23 February 1685 (O.S.) [(N.S.) 5 March] – 14 April 1759) was a German, later British, Baroque composer who spent the bulk of his career in London, becoming well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi and organ concertos. Handel received important training in Halle and worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London in 1712; he became a naturalised British subject in 1727. He was strongly influenced both by the great composers of the Italian Baroque and by the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition. He would become a huge influence on classical composers such as Mozart and Beethoven.
George Frideric Handel | Introduction
With the rediscovery of his theatrical works, Handel, in addition to his renown as instrumentalist, orchestral writer, and melodist, is now perceived as being one of opera's great musical dramatists. The original form of his name, Georg Friedrich Händel, is generally used in Germany and elsewhere, but he is known as "Haendel" in France. A different composer, Jacob Handl or Händl (1550–1591) is usually known by the Latin form Jacobus Gallus that appears in his publications.
George Frideric Handel | Legacy
The letter dated 30 September 1749 is reproduced in the pdf document cited at its entry below.
Letters and writings of George Frideric Handel | Introduction
6/7.
George Frideric Handel | Homages
"Israel in Egypt" consists of little else but choruses, borrowing from the "Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline". In his next works Handel changed his course. In these works he laid greater stress on the effects of orchestra and soloists; the chorus retired into the background. "L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato" has a rather diverting character; the work is light and fresh.
George Frideric Handel | Oratorio
George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) was a German/British Baroque composer. Handel may also refer to:
Handel (disambiguation) | Introduction
The composer George Frideric Handel, born in Halle, Germany in 1685, took up permanent residence in London in 1712, and became a naturalised British subject in 1727. By 1741 his pre-eminence in British music was evident from the honours he had accumulated, including a pension from the court of King George II, the office of Composer of Musick for the Chapel Royal, and—most unusually for a living person—a statue erected in his honour in Vauxhall Gardens. Within a large and varied musical output, Handel was a vigorous champion of Italian opera, which he had introduced to London in 1711 with "Rinaldo".
Messiah (Handel) | Background
The following works are no longer thought to have been composed by Handel:
List of compositions by George Frideric Handel | Previously attributed
In the summer of 1713 he lived at Mr Mathew Andrews' estate in Barn Elms, Surrey. He received a yearly income of £200 from Queen Anne after composing for her the "Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate", first performed in 1713. One of his most important patrons was The 3rd Earl of Burlington and 4th Earl of Cork, a young and extremely wealthy member of an Anglo-Irish aristocratic family. While living in the mansion of Lord Burlington, Handel wrote "Amadigi di Gaula", a "magic" opera, about a damsel in distress, based on the tragedy by Antoine Houdar de la Motte.
George Frideric Handel | Move to London
Handel's works were collected and preserved by two men: Sir Samuel Hellier, a country squire whose musical acquisitions form the nucleus of the Shaw-Hellier Collection, and the abolitionist Granville Sharp. The catalogue accompanying the National Portrait Gallery exhibition marking the tercentenary of the composer's birth calls them two men of the late eighteenth century "who have left us solid evidence of the means by which they indulged their enthusiasm". With his English oratorios, such as "Messiah" and "Solomon", the coronation anthems, and other works including "Water Music" and "Music for the Royal Fireworks", Handel became a national icon in Britain, and featured in the BBC series, "The Birth of British Music: Handel – The Conquering Hero".
George Frideric Handel | Legacy
All works in London during the 1732-1733 season composed by George Frideric Handel unless otherwise noted: date of first performance noted only. All works in the 1733-1734 season composed by Nicola Porpora unless otherwise noted.
Celeste Gismondi | London
Within fifteen years, Handel had started three commercial opera companies to supply the English nobility with Italian opera. Musicologist Winton Dean writes that his operas show that "Handel was not only a great composer; he was a dramatic genius of the first order." As "Alexander's Feast" (1736) was well received, Handel made a transition to English choral works. After his success with "Messiah" (1742) he never composed an Italian opera again. Almost blind, and having lived in England for nearly fifty years, he died in 1759, a respected and rich man. His funeral was given full state honours, and he was buried in Westminster Abbey in London.
George Frideric Handel | Introduction
In 1710, Handel became "Kapellmeister" to German prince George, the Elector of Hanover, who in 1714 would become King George I of Great Britain and Ireland. He visited Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici and her husband in Düsseldorf on his way to London in 1710. With his opera "Rinaldo", based on "La Gerusalemme Liberata" by the Italian poet Torquato Tasso, Handel enjoyed great success, although it was composed quickly, with many borrowings from his older Italian works. This work contains one of Handel's favourite arias, "Cara sposa, amante cara", and the famous Lascia ch'io pianga. In 1712, Handel decided to settle permanently in England.
George Frideric Handel | Move to London
The opera, with a libretto by Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani, ran for 27 nights successively. The audience, thunderstruck with the grandeur and sublimity of his style, applauded for "Il caro Sassone" ("the dear Saxon" – referring to Handel's German origins).
George Frideric Handel | From Halle to Italy
The contents of each part of Handel's will are detailed in the following table. Note that where quotes have been supplied from the will, the original spelling, punctuation and capitalisations have been reproduced. The Item column gives the precise ordering of each bequest in Handel's will.
Will of George Frideric Handel | Handel's will
All his known surviving works were executed in Britain. He specialised in portrait busts and funerary monuments, and was renowned for his handling of marble, particularly his creation of subtle surface textures.
George Frederick Handel (Roubiliac) | Introduction
Few of the letters and writings of George Frideric Handel remain today—certainly far fewer than remain for other major composers. Handel wrote relatively few letters and kept no diary, yet those letters that do remain provide insight into the various aspects of Handel's life. One reason for the small number of surviving letters is that Handel did not hold any office that would require the collecting and saving of his records and writings. All remaining letters and writings maintain a uniformly polite tone. A typical complimentary closing (used in many letters) was: ""Sr, Your most obliged and most humble servant, GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL"".
Letters and writings of George Frideric Handel | Introduction
Handel was buried in Westminster Abbey. More than three thousand mourners attended his funeral, which was given full state honours. Handel never married, and kept his personal life private. His initial will bequeathed the bulk of his estate to his niece Johanna, however four codicils distributed much of his estate to other relations, servants, friends and charities.
George Frideric Handel | Later years
Louis-François Roubiliac's statue of George Frideric Handel is a work of 1738 in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. It was commissioned by the impresario Jonathan Tyers for his famous pleasure gardens in London, Vauxhall Gardens. The composer is shown in the guise of Orpheus, holding a lyre. Despite the classical allusion, he wears informal contemporary dress: a soft cap, a long shirt open at the neck, a full loose gown, and slippers, one of which lies beneath his right foot. His pose is also casual. He is seated cross-legged, leaning on a pile of bound scores of his works, including "Alexander's Feast", which was completed the same month the statue was finished.
George Frederick Handel (Roubiliac) | Introduction
In old age, the German composer George Frideric Handel reflects over his life and musical career.
God Rot Tunbridge Wells! | Plot
George Frideric Handel (23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) composed works including 42 operas; 25 oratorios; more than 120 cantatas, trios and duets; numerous arias; chamber music; a large number of ecclesiastical pieces; odes and serenatas; 18 concerti grossi; and 12 organ concertos. Collected editions of Handel's works include the Händel-Gesellschaft (HG) and the Hallische Händel-Ausgabe (HHA), however the more recent Händel-Werke-Verzeichnis (HWV) publication is now commonly used to number his works. For example, Handel's "Messiah" can be referred to as: HG xlv, HHA i/17, or HWV 56. Some of Handel's music is also numbered based on initial publications, for example a 1741 publication by Walsh labelled twelve of Handel's concerti grossi as "Opus 6".
List of compositions by George Frideric Handel | Introduction
Modern biographers either accept the year as 1698, since most reliable older authorities agree with it, and discount what Mainwaring says about what took place during the trip or assume that Mainwaring conflated two or more visits to Berlin, as he did with Handel's later trips to Venice.
George Frideric Handel | After the death of Handel's father
In 1942, Handel was the subject of the British biopic "The Great Mr. Handel" directed by Norman Walker and starring Wilfrid Lawson. It was made at Denham Studios by the Rank Organisation, and shot in Technicolor. He is also the central character in the television films "God Rot Tunbridge Wells!" (1985) and "Handel's Last Chance" (1996) and the stage play "All the Angels" (2015). Handel was portrayed by Jeroen Krabbé as the antagonist in the film "Farinelli" (1994).
George Frideric Handel | Fictional depictions
Recent decades have revived his secular cantatas and what one might call 'secular oratorios' or 'concert operas'. Of the former, "Ode for St. Cecilia's Day" (1739) (set to texts by John Dryden) and "Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne" (1713) are noteworthy. For his secular oratorios, Handel turned to classical mythology for subjects, producing such works as "Acis and Galatea" (1719), "Hercules" (1745) and "Semele" (1744). These works have a close kinship with the sacred oratorios, particularly in the vocal writing for the English-language texts. They also share the lyrical and dramatic qualities of Handel's Italian operas. As such, they are sometimes fully staged as operas.
George Frideric Handel | Legacy
The following table documents the dates of the original will and the four codicils, as well as the witness statements at the conclusion of each part of the will.
Will of George Frideric Handel | Parts of the will
To aid his recovery, Handel had travelled to Aachen, a spa in Germany. During six weeks he took long hot baths, and ended up playing the organ for a surprised audience. He wrote " Faramondo" in December 1737 and "Serse" in January 1738. "Deidamia", his last opera, a co-production with the Earl of Holderness, was performed three times in 1741. Handel gave up the opera business, while he enjoyed more success with his English oratorios. In 1738 he composed music for a musical clock with a pipe organ built by Charles Clay; it was bought by Gerrit Braamcamp and was in 2016 acquired by the Museum Speelklok in Utrecht.
George Frideric Handel | Opera at Covent Garden (1734–41)
The paintings and prints in Handel's collection (that weren't bequeathed in his will) were auctioned by Abraham Langford a little over ten months after his death (the auction catalogue was dated 27–28 February 1760).
George Frideric Handel's art collection | Artworks
Anna died in 1682. Within a year Georg married again, this time to the daughter of a Lutheran minister, Pastor Georg Taust of the Church of St. Bartholomew in Giebichenstein, who himself came from a long line of Lutheran pastors. Handel was the second child of this marriage; the first son was stillborn. Two younger sisters were born after the birth of George Frideric: Dorthea Sophia, born 6 October 1687, and Johanna Christiana, born 10 January 1690.
George Frideric Handel | Family
In 1733 the Earl of Essex received a letter with the following sentence: "Handel became so arbitrary a prince, that the Town murmurs." The board of chief investors expected Handel to retire when his contract ended, but Handel immediately looked for another theatre. In cooperation with John Rich he started his third company at Covent Garden Theatre. Rich was renowned for his spectacular productions. He suggested Handel use his small chorus and introduce the dancing of Marie Sallé, for whom Handel composed "Terpsicore". In 1735 he introduced organ concertos between the acts. For the first time Handel allowed Gioacchino Conti, who had no time to learn his part, to substitute arias.
George Frideric Handel | Opera at Covent Garden (1734–41)
George Frideric Handel (23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) wrote his will over a number of years and with a number of codicils. Handel created the first version of his will with nine years to live, and completed his will (with the final codicil) three days before his death. Handel's will begins with the following text:
Will of George Frideric Handel | Introduction
Handel became sure of himself, broader in his presentation, and more diverse in his composition. It is evident how much he learned from Arcangelo Corelli about writing for instruments, and from Alessandro Scarlatti about writing for the solo voice; but there is no single composer who taught him how to write for chorus. Handel tended more and more to replace Italian soloists by English ones. The most significant reason for this change was the dwindling financial returns from his operas. Thus a tradition was created for oratorios which was to govern their future performance. The performances were given without costumes and action; the singers appeared in their own clothes.
George Frideric Handel | Oratorio
The auction of Handel's art collection occurred on 28 February 1760. The sale catalogue listed the following items:
George Frideric Handel's art collection | Auction
Handel is regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Baroque era, with works such as "Messiah", "Water Music", and "Music for the Royal Fireworks" remaining steadfastly popular. One of his four coronation anthems, "Zadok the Priest" (1727), composed for the coronation of George II, has been performed at every subsequent British coronation, traditionally during the sovereign's anointing. Another of his English oratorios, "Solomon" (1748), has also remained popular, with the Sinfonia that opens act 3 (known more commonly as "The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba") featuring at the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony. Handel composed more than forty opera serias in over thirty years, and since the late 1960s, with the revival of baroque music and historically informed musical performance, interest in Handel's operas has grown.
George Frideric Handel | Introduction
Early in his life Handel is reported to have attended the "Gymnasium" in Halle, where the headmaster, , was reputed to be an ardent musician. Whether Handel remained there, and if he did for how long, is unknown, but many biographers suggest that he was withdrawn from school by his father, based on the characterization of him by Handel's first biographer, John Mainwaring. Mainwaring is the source for almost all information (little as it is) of Handel's childhood, and much of that information came from J.C. Smith, Jr., Handel's confidant and copyist. Whether it came from Smith or elsewhere, Mainwaring frequently relates misinformation.
George Frideric Handel | Early education
"What Handel craved was personal freedom to raise himself out of his provincial milieu to a life of culture." Burrows notes that like his father, Handel was able to accept royal (and aristocratic) favours without considering himself a court servant. And so given the embarrassed financial condition of his mother, Handel set off for Hamburg to obtain experience while supporting himself. In 1703 he accepted a position as violinist and harpsichordist in the orchestra of the Hamburg Oper am Gänsemarkt. There he met the composers Johann Mattheson, Christoph Graupner and Reinhard Keiser. His first two operas, "Almira" and "Nero", were produced in 1705.
George Frideric Handel | From Halle to Italy
This house, where he rehearsed, copied music and sold tickets, is now the Handel House Museum. During twelve months between 1724 and 1725, Handel wrote three outstanding and successful operas, "Giulio Cesare", "Tamerlano" and "Rodelinda". Handel's operas are filled with da capo arias, such as "Svegliatevi nel core". After composing "Silete venti", he concentrated on opera and stopped writing cantatas. "Scipio", from which the regimental slow march of the British Grenadier Guards is derived, was performed as a stopgap, waiting for the arrival of Faustina Bordoni. In 1727 Handel was commissioned to write four anthems for the Coronation ceremony of King George II.
George Frideric Handel | Royal Academy of Music (1719–34)
After Handel's death, many composers wrote works based on or inspired by his music. The first movement from Louis Spohr's "Symphony No. 6", Op. 116, "The Age of Bach and Handel", resembles two melodies from Handel's "Messiah". In 1797 Ludwig van Beethoven published the "12 Variations in G major on ‘See the conqu’ring hero comes’ from Judas Maccabaeus by Handel", for cello and piano. In 1822 Beethoven composed "The Consecration of the House" overture, which also bears the influence of Handel. Guitar virtuoso Mauro Giuliani composed his "Variations on a Theme by Handel, Op. 107" for guitar, based on Handel's Suite No.
George Frideric Handel | Homages
He was also a playwright and the author of three books, including a biography of the composer George Frideric Handel.
John Ringham | Playwright and author
The Georgian era saw a German-born monarch and German-born composer define the English oratorio. George Frideric Handel, most famous today for his "Messiah" (1741), also wrote other oratorios based on themes from Greek and Roman mythology and Biblical topics. He is also credited with writing the first English language oratorio, "Esther". Handel's imitators included the Italian Lidarti who was employed by the Amsterdam Jewish community to compose a Hebrew version of "Esther".
Oratorio | Georgian Britain
before eventually fleeing to the United States. George Frideric Handel stayed in Abbey Street while in Dublin producing "Messiah" at Fishamble Street in 1742.
Abbey Street | Notable addresses
George Frideric Handel reused Urio's work, including parts of the "Te Deum," in works such as "Saul", "Israel in Egypt", "L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato", and the "Dettingen Te Deum".
Francesco Antonio Urio | Legacy
The leading figure in British music of the early 18th century was a naturalized Briton, George Frideric Handel (1685–1759). Although he was born in Germany, he first visited England in 1710, later moving there and becoming a naturalised citizen, playing a defining role in the music of the British Isles. Handel drew heavily on the continental, particularly Italian, Baroque style, but was also highly influenced by English composers such as Purcell. He was a prolific composer, producing major orchestral works such as the "Water Music", and the "Music for the Royal Fireworks". His opera, including "Rinaldo" (1711, 1731), "Orlando" (1733), "Ariodante" (1735), "Alcina" (1735) and "Serse" (1738, also known as "Xerxes"), helped make Britain second only to Italy as a centre of operatic production.
Baroque music of the British Isles | George Frideric Handel
Handel's compositions include 42 operas, 25 oratorios, more than 120 cantatas, trios and duets, numerous arias, chamber music, a large number of ecumenical pieces, odes and serenatas, 18 concerti grossi and 12 organ concertos. His most famous work, the oratorio "Messiah" with its "Hallelujah" chorus, is among the most popular works in choral music and has become the centrepiece of the Christmas season. The Lobkowicz Palace in Prague holds Mozart's copy of "Messiah", complete with handwritten annotations. Among the works with opus numbers published and popularised in his lifetime are the Organ concertos Op. 4 and Op. 7, together with the Opus 3 and Opus 6 Concerti grossi; the latter incorporate an earlier organ concerto "The Cuckoo and the Nightingale" in which birdsong is imitated in the upper registers of the organ.
George Frideric Handel | Works
Cossham was born in High Street, Thornbury, in a house where his father, grandfather and great-grandfather were also born. His father Jesse Cossham, a carpenter and builder, named his son after the composer of "Messiah", George Frederic Handel. A plaque at his birthplace describes him as a "non-conformist Preacher, Industrialist, Geologist, Politician, Educationalist and Public Benefactor".
Handel Cossham | Early life
Handel was born in 1685 in Halle, Duchy of Magdeburg (then part of Brandenburg-Prussia), to Georg Händel and Dorothea Taust. His father, aged sixty-three when George Frideric was born, was an eminent barber-surgeon who served the court of Saxe-Weissenfels and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. Georg Händel (senior) was the son of a coppersmith, Valentin Händel (1582–1636), who had emigrated from Eisleben in 1608 with his first wife Anna Belching, the daughter of a master coppersmith. They were Protestants and chose reliably Protestant Saxony over Silesia, a Habsburg possession, as religious tensions mounted in the years before the Thirty Years War.
George Frideric Handel | Family
And since he was attracted to secular, dramatic music (by meeting the Italians Bononcini and Attilio Ariosti and through the influence of Telemann), Hamburg, a free city with an established opera company, was the logical choice. The question remains, however, why Handel rejected the King's offer, given that Italy was the centre of opera. Lang suggests that, influenced by the teachings of Thomasius, Handel's character was such that he was unable to make himself subservient to anyone, even a king. Lang sees Handel as someone who could not accept class distinctions that required him to regard himself as a social inferior.
George Frideric Handel | From Halle to Italy
As listed and described in Burrows "et al.": " George Frideric Handel: Volume 1, 1609–1725: Collected Documents" (2011).
Handel's lost Hamburg operas | Characters
Handel's probationary appointment to Domkirche expired in March 1703. By July Handel was in Hamburg. Since he left no explanation for the move biographers have offered their own speculation. Burrows believes that the answer can be found by untangling Mainwaring's confused chronology of the trip to Berlin. Burrows dates this trip to 1702 or 1703 (after his father's death) and concluded that since Handel (through a "friend and relation" at the Berlin court) turned down Frederick's offer to subsidise his musical education in Italy (with the implicit understanding that he would become a court musician on his return), Handel was no longer able to expect preferment (whether as musician, lawyer or otherwise) within Brandenburg-Prussia.
George Frideric Handel | From Halle to Italy
Handel has generally been accorded high esteem by fellow composers, both in his own time and since. Johann Sebastian Bach attempted, unsuccessfully, to meet Handel while he was visiting Halle. (Handel was born in the same year as Bach and Domenico Scarlatti.) Mozart is reputed to have said of him, "Handel understands affect better than any of us. When he chooses, he strikes like a thunder bolt." To Beethoven he was "the master of us all... the greatest composer that ever lived. I would uncover my head and kneel before his tomb." Beethoven emphasised above all the simplicity and popular appeal of Handel's music when he said, "Go to him to learn how to achieve great effects, by such simple means."
George Frideric Handel | Reception
Dalley-Scarlett amassed a valuable library of some 5,000 items, including nearly 150 priceless first editions of George Frideric Handel and other eighteenth-century composers, which he used to inform his arrangements, now held by the Fisher Library, University of Sydney. He was a prolific writer for musical journals, and acted as music critic for the Australian Musical News 1934–1937 and the Brisbane "Courier Mail" 1945–1946 and 1952–1959, but his most lasting literary contributions were the article on Australia for Grove's Dictionary (5th edition) and an article on eighteenth century performance entitled "Handel's 'Messiah': How Can We Realise the Composer's Intentions?"
Robert Dalley-Scarlett | Scholarship
The continuing "Hallische Händel-Ausgabe" edition was first inaugurated in 1955 in the Halle region in Saxony-Anhalt, Eastern Germany. It did not start as a critical edition, but after heavy criticism of the first volumes, which were performing editions without a critical apparatus (for example, the opera "Serse" was published with the title character recast as a tenor, reflecting pre-war German practice), it repositioned itself as a critical edition. Influenced in part by cold-war realities, editorial work was inconsistent: misprints are found in abundance and editors failed to consult important sources. In 1985 a committee was formed to establish better standards for the edition.
George Frideric Handel | Catalogues
Handel & Hendrix in London (previously Handel House Museum) is a museum in Mayfair, London, dedicated to the lives and works of the German-born British baroque composer George Frideric Handel and the American rock singer-guitarist Jimi Hendrix, who lived at 25 and 23 Brook Street respectively. Handel made his home in London in 1712 and eventually became a British citizen in 1727. Handel was the first occupant of 25 Brook Street, which he rented from 1723 until his death there in 1759. Almost all his works after 1723, amongst them many of his best-known operas, oratorios and ceremonial music, were composed and partially rehearsed in the house, which contained a variety of keyboard instruments, including harpsichords, a clavichord and a small chamber organ.
Handel &amp; Hendrix in London | Introduction
In 1749 Handel composed "Music for the Royal Fireworks"; 12,000 people attended the first performance. In 1750 he arranged a performance of "Messiah" to benefit the Foundling Hospital. The performance was considered a great success and was followed by annual concerts that continued throughout his life. In recognition of his patronage, Handel was made a governor of the Hospital the day after his initial concert. He bequeathed a copy of "Messiah" to the institution upon his death. His involvement with the Foundling Hospital is today commemorated with a permanent exhibition in London's Foundling Museum, which also holds the "Gerald Coke Handel Collection".
George Frideric Handel | Later years
Drexel 5856 is a music manuscript containing works composed by George Frideric Handel. It is a significant primary source of the composer's work, having been copied by one of Handel's frequent copyists, John Christopher Smith, possibly as a presentation copy. Belonging to the New York Public Library, it forms part of the Music Division's Drexel Collection, located at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Following traditional library practice, its name is derived from its call number.
Drexel 5856 | Introduction
His sacred drama and choral music, particularly the coronation anthem "Zadok the Priest" (written for the inauguration of George II in 1727) which has remained part of the ceremony for British monarchs, and above all, the "Messiah", helped set the British taste in music for the next 200 years. He was a major influence on future classical composers including Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.
Baroque music of the British Isles | George Frideric Handel
After his death, Handel's Italian operas fell into obscurity, except for selections such as the aria from "Serse", "Ombra mai fu". The oratorios continued to be performed but not long after Handel's death they were thought to need some modernisation, and Mozart orchestrated German versions of "Messiah" and other works. Throughout the 19th century and first half of the 20th century, particularly in the Anglophone countries, his reputation rested primarily on his English oratorios, which were customarily performed by choruses of amateur singers on solemn occasions. The centenary of his death, in 1859, was celebrated by a performance of "Messiah" at The Crystal Palace, involving 2,765 singers and 460 instrumentalists, who played for an audience of about 10,000 people.
George Frideric Handel | Legacy
It is from Mainwaring that the portrait comes of Handel's father as implacably opposed to any musical education. Mainwaring writes that Georg Händel was "alarmed" at Handel's very early propensity for music, "took every measure to oppose it", including forbidding any musical instrument in the house and preventing Handel from going to any house where they might be found. This did nothing to dampen young Handel's inclination; in fact, it did the reverse. Mainwaring tells the story of Handel's secret attic spinet: Handel "found means to get a little clavichord privately convey'd to a room at the top of the house.
George Frideric Handel | Early education
Lang doubts the dating based on a handwritten date of a copy (1700) and stylistic considerations. Lang writes that the works "show thorough acquaintance with the distilled sonata style of the Corelli school" and are notable for "the formal security and the cleanness of the texture." Hogwood considers all of the oboe trio sonatas spurious and even suggests that some parts cannot be performed on oboe. That authentic manuscript sources do not exist and that Handel never recycled any material from these works make their authenticity doubtful. Other early chamber works were printed in Amsterdam in 1724 as opus 1, but it is impossible to tell which are early works in their original form, rather than later re-workings by Handel, a frequent practice of his.
George Frideric Handel | Halle compositions
In 1717 Handel became house composer at Cannons in Middlesex, where he laid the cornerstone for his future choral compositions in the "Chandos Anthems". Romain Rolland wrote that these anthems (or Psalms) stood in relation to Handel's oratorios, much the same way that the Italian cantatas stood to his operas: "splendid sketches of the more monumental works." Another work, which he wrote for The 1st Duke of Chandos, the owner of Cannons, was "Acis and Galatea": during Handel's lifetime it was his most performed work. Winton Dean wrote, "the music catches breath and disturbs the memory". In 1719 the Duke of Chandos became one of the composer's important patrons and main subscribers to his new opera company, the Royal Academy of Music, but his patronage declined after Chandos lost money in the South Sea bubble, which burst in 1720 in one of history's greatest financial cataclysms.
George Frideric Handel | Cannons (1717–19)
Handel's father died on 11 February 1697. It was German custom for friends and family to compose funeral odes for a substantial burgher like Georg, and young Handel discharged his duty with a poem dated 18 February and signed with his name and (in deference to his father's wishes) "dedicated to the liberal arts." At the time Handel was studying either at Halle's Lutheran Gymnasium or the Latin School. Mainwaring has Handel traveling to Berlin the next year, 1698. The problem with Mainwaring as an authority for this date, however, is that he tells of how Handel's father communicated with the "king" during Handel's stay, declining the Court's offer to send Handel to Italy on a stipend and that his father died "after his return from Berlin." But since Georg Händel died in 1697, either the date of the trip or Mainwaring's statements about Handel's father must be in error.
George Frideric Handel | After the death of Handel's father
Also notable are his 16 keyboard suites, especially "The Harmonious Blacksmith". Handel introduced previously uncommon musical instruments in his works: the viola d'amore and violetta marina ("Orlando"), the lute ("Ode for St. Cecilia's Day"), three trombones ("Saul"), clarinets or small high cornetts ("Tamerlano"), theorbo, French horn ("Water Music"), lyrichord, double bassoon, viola da gamba, carillon (bell chimes), positive organ, and harp ("Giulio Cesare", "Alexander's Feast").
George Frideric Handel | Works
In addition to the Foundling Hospital, Handel also gave to a charity that assisted impoverished musicians and their families. In August 1750, on a journey back from Germany to London, Handel was seriously injured in a carriage accident between The Hague and Haarlem in the Netherlands. In 1751 one eye started to fail. The cause was a cataract which was operated on by the great charlatan Chevalier Taylor. This did not improve his eyesight, but possibly made it worse. He was completely blind by 1752. He died in 1759 at home in Brook Street, at age 74. The last performance he attended was of "Messiah".
George Frideric Handel | Later years
The first published catalogue of Handel's works appeared as an appendix to Mainwaring's "Memoirs". Between 1787 and 1797 Samuel Arnold compiled a 180-volume collection of Handel's works—however, it was far from complete. Also incomplete was the collection produced between 1843 and 1858 by the English Handel Society (founded by Sir George Macfarren). The 105-volume "Händel-Gesellschaft" ("Handel Society") edition was published between 1858 and 1902 – mainly due to the efforts of Friedrich Chrysander. For modern performance, the realisation of the basso continuo reflects 19th century practice. Vocal scores drawn from the edition were published by Novello in London, but some scores, such as the vocal score to "Samson", are incomplete.
George Frideric Handel | Catalogues
Edward George Handel Lucas was born in Croydon on 4 May 1861. He was the eldest of five children of a Croydon tailor with a passion for music who named him Handel after his favourite composer. The family had limited means and Lucas attended the Whitgift Middle School, now called Trinity School of John Whitgift, which at that time provided education from age 7 to 14 for sons of the poor of the parish. So Lucas did not benefit from a classical or advanced education, but there is evidence of him drawing and painting from age 6 or 7 and receiving some encouragement from the school.
Edward George Handel Lucas | Upbringing
Charles Jennens was born around 1700, into a prosperous landowning family whose lands and properties in Warwickshire and Leicestershire he eventually inherited. His religious and political views—he opposed the Act of Settlement of 1701 which secured the accession to the British throne for the House of Hanover—prevented him from receiving his degree from Balliol College, Oxford, or from pursuing any form of public career. His family's wealth enabled him to live a life of leisure while devoting himself to his literary and musical interests. Although the musicologist Watkins Shaw dismisses Jennens as "a conceited figure of no special ability", Donald Burrows has written: "of Jennens's musical literacy there can be no doubt".
Messiah (Handel) | Libretto
The arts and music, however, flourished only among the higher strata (not only in Halle but throughout Germany), of which Handel's family was not a member. Georg Händel (senior) was born at the beginning of the war, and was apprenticed to a barber in Halle at the age of 14, after his father died. When he was 20, he married the widow of the official barber-surgeon of a suburb of Halle, inheriting his practice. With this, Georg determinedly began the process of becoming self-made; by dint of his "conservative, steady, thrifty, unadventurous" lifestyle, he guided the five children he had with Anna who reached adulthood into the medical profession (except his youngest daughter, who married a government official).
George Frideric Handel | Family
Between 1711 and 1739, more than 25 of Handel's operas premièred there. In 1729 Handel became joint manager of the theatre with John James Heidegger.
George Frideric Handel | Royal Academy of Music (1719–34)
George Frideric Handel's operas comprise 42 musical dramas that were written between 1705 and 1741 in various genres. Though his large scale English language works written for the theatre are technically oratorios and not operas, several of them, such as "Semele" (1743), have become an important part of the opera repertoire. Other English language oratorios which are sometimes fully staged as operas include "Saul", "Samson", "Hercules", "Belshazzar", "Theodora" and "Jephtha". "Parnasso in festa", a festa teatrale composed by Handel to an Italian text and performed in London to celebrate the royal wedding of Anne, Princess Royal and Prince William of Orange in 1734, has many characteristics of an opera.
List of operas by George Frideric Handel | Introduction
In May 1719, The 1st Duke of Newcastle, the Lord Chamberlain, ordered Handel to look for new singers. Handel travelled to Dresden to attend the newly built opera. He saw "Teofane" by Antonio Lotti, and engaged members of the cast for the Royal Academy of Music, founded by a group of aristocrats to assure themselves a constant supply of baroque opera or opera seria. Handel may have invited John Smith, his fellow student in Halle, and his son Johann Christoph Schmidt, to become his secretary and amanuensis. By 1723 he had moved into a Georgian house at 25 Brook Street, which he rented for the rest of his life.
George Frideric Handel | Royal Academy of Music (1719–34)
He produced two other operas, "Daphne" and "Florindo", in 1708. It is unclear whether Handel directed these performances. According to Mainwaring, in 1706 Handel travelled to Italy at the invitation of Ferdinando de' Medici. Other sources say Handel was invited by Gian Gastone de' Medici, whom Handel had met in 1703–1704 in Hamburg. De' Medici , who had a keen interest in opera, was trying to make Florence Italy's musical capital by attracting the leading talents of his day. In Italy Handel met librettist Antonio Salvi, with whom he later collaborated. Handel left for Rome and, since opera was (temporarily) banned in the Papal States, composed sacred music for the Roman clergy.
George Frideric Handel | From Halle to Italy
George Frideric Handel was born on 23 February 1685 in the German city of Halle. It is unclear what initial musical education he received; his father, Georg Händel, was not a music lover, and did not at first appreciate or encourage his son's precocious talents. Nevertheless, by the age of ten Handel had become an accomplished organist; his playing in the royal chapel at Weißenfels, where his half-brother Karl was in the service of the Duke of Saxe-Weißenfels, impressed the duke, who persuaded Händel senior that the boy should have a proper musical education. As a result, Handel began formal study under Friedrich Zachow, the organist of the Lutheran church at Halle.
Handel's lost Hamburg operas | Halle
George Frideric Handel is reported to have had a great love for painting, and until his eyesight failed him, he enjoyed viewing collections of pictures that were for sale. He owned a large art collection consisting of at least seventy paintings and ten prints, including landscapes; ruins; hunting, historical, marine and battle scenes; erotica; and a few Biblical paintings and portraits.
George Frideric Handel's art collection | Introduction
His famous "Dixit Dominus" (1707) is from this era. He also composed cantatas in pastoral style for musical gatherings in the palaces of duchess Aurora Sanseverino (whom Mainwaring called "Donna Laura") one of the most influential patrons from the Kingdom of Naples, and cardinals Pietro Ottoboni, Benedetto Pamphili and Carlo Colonna. Two oratorios, "La resurrezione" and "Il trionfo del tempo", were produced in a private setting for Ruspoli and Ottoboni in 1709 and 1710, respectively. "Rodrigo", his first all-Italian opera, was produced in the Cocomero theatre in Florence in 1707. "Agrippina" was first produced in 1709 at Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo in Venice, owned by the Grimanis.
George Frideric Handel | From Halle to Italy
Handel House (German: "Händel-Haus") is a cultural site in Halle in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The composer George Frideric Handel was born here in 1685; it is now a museum, and houses a collection relating to the composer and to the musical history of Halle.
Handel House | Introduction
Thomas Broughton (1704–1774), was an English clergyman, biographer, and miscellaneous writer, whose works include the libretto to Handel's "Hercules".
Thomas Broughton (writer) | Introduction
To this room he constantly stole when the family was asleep". Although both John Hawkins and Charles Burney credited this tale, Schoelcher found it nearly "incredible" and a feat of "poetic imagination" and Lang considers it one of the unproven "romantic stories" that surrounded Handel's childhood. But Handel had to have had some experience with the keyboard to have made the impression in Weissenfels that resulted in his receiving formal musical training.
George Frideric Handel | Early education
The Handel Reference Database (HRD) is the largest documentary collection on George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) and his times. It was launched in January 2008 on the server of the Center for Computer Assisted Research in the Humanities (CCARH) at Stanford University. Originally assembled by Ilias Chrissochoidis to support his PhD dissertation "Early Reception of Handel's Oratorios, 1732–1784: Narrative-Studies-Documents" (Stanford University, 2004), it now includes about 4,000 items and 800,000 words. HRD is organized chronologically, covering the period from 1685 to 1784 and focusing on Handel's British career and reception. It includes transcriptions of printed and manuscript sources, some of which remain unpublished ("The Academy of Vocal Music", British Library, Add.
Handel Reference Database | Introduction
Torri wrote more oratorios than any composer before George Frideric Handel (see also several dramatic oratorios mentioned above among Torri's dramatic works):
Pietro Torri | Oratorios
In the final codicil to his will (item 39 in the above table), Handel expressed a desire to be buried in the following manner: Handel was buried in the south wing of Westminster Abbey, and his funeral took place on Friday 20 April 1759. The funeral service was performed by Dr. Zachary Pearce (Bishop of Rochester), and took place in the presence of more than 3,000 visitors. The choirs of the Chapel Royal, St. Paul's Cathedral, and Westminster Abbey sang the Funeral Anthem of William Croft.
Will of George Frideric Handel | Handel's funeral
Remaining unmarried, he was considered melancholic and extravagant, his neighbours calling him Suleyman the Magnificent. As a non-juror, Jennens was ineligible for any public appointment, and he devoted himself to the arts, both as a collector of fine art (his collection was one of the best in Britain at the time) and a music patron. George Frideric Handel's compositions were very much to his musical taste and they became close friends. Handel visited him frequently at Gopsall Hall and in 1749 provided the specification for an organ for his home. Thomas Hudson's portrait of Handel was commissioned by Jennens – and the same artist's portrait of Charles Jennens is now in the Handel House Museum in London.
Charles Jennens | Life
In 1911, Australian-born composer and pianist Percy Grainger based one of his most famous works on the final movement of Handel's Suite No. 5 in E major (just like Giuliani). He first wrote some variations on the theme, which he titled "Variations on Handel's 'The Harmonious Blacksmith' ". Then he used the first sixteen bars of his set of variations to create "Handel in the Strand", one of his most beloved pieces, of which he made several versions (for example, the piano solo version from 1930). Arnold Schoenberg's Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra in B-flat major (1933) was composed after Handel's Concerto Grosso, Op.
George Frideric Handel | Homages
Financially, "Ariodante" was a failure, although he introduced ballet suites at the end of each act. "Alcina", his last opera with a magic content, and "Alexander's Feast or the Power of Music" based on John Dryden's "Alexander's Feast" starred Anna Maria Strada del Pò and John Beard. In April 1737, at age 52, Handel apparently suffered a stroke which disabled the use of four fingers on his right hand, preventing him from performing. In summer the disorder seemed at times to affect his understanding. Nobody expected that Handel would ever be able to perform again. But whether the affliction was rheumatism, a stroke or a nervous breakdown, he recovered remarkably quickly .
George Frideric Handel | Opera at Covent Garden (1734–41)
Donald James Burrows (born 28 December 1945, in London) is Professor of Music at the Open University, and a leading scholar of the music of George Frideric Handel. He read History and Music at Trinity Hall, Cambridge (BA 1968; PGCE 1969; MA 1971). He completed his PhD at the Open University in 1981. He is Vice-President of the Händel-Gesellschaft, and Chairman of the Handel Institute.
Donald Burrows (musicologist) | Introduction
In 1736 Handel produced "Alexander's Feast". John Beard appeared for the first time as one of Handel's principal singers and became Handel's permanent tenor soloist for the rest of Handel's life. The piece was a great success and it encouraged Handel to make the transition from writing Italian operas to English choral works. In "Saul", Handel was collaborating with Charles Jennens and experimenting with three trombones, a carillon and extra-large military kettledrums (from the Tower of London), to be sure "...it will be most excessive noisy". "Saul" and "Israel in Egypt" both from 1739 head the list of great, mature oratorios, in which the da capo aria became the exception and not the rule.
George Frideric Handel | Oratorio
The work has the following movements:
The Choice of Hercules (Handel) | Movements
Among his other works are: See HJ Matthews, in "Memoriam", reprinted from the "Brighton College Magazine", 1879.
George Long (scholar) | Works
"Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno", an allegory, Handel's first oratorio was composed in Italy in 1707, followed by "La resurrezione" in 1708 which uses material from the Bible. The circumstances of "Esther" and its first performance, possibly in 1718, are obscure. Another 12 years had passed when an act of piracy caused him to take up "Esther" once again. Three earlier performances aroused such interest that they naturally prompted the idea of introducing it to a larger public. Next came "Deborah", strongly coloured by the coronation anthems and "Athaliah", his first English Oratorio. In these three oratorios Handel laid the foundation for the traditional use of the chorus which marks his later oratorios.
George Frideric Handel | Oratorio
On the first floor at the back of the house, this is believed to be the room in which Handel composed some of his most celebrated works, including "Messiah". It contains portraits of Handel and Charles Jennens, Handel's friend and librettist of "Messiah".
Handel &amp; Hendrix in London | Composition room
5 in E major, HWV 430, for harpsichord. In 1861, using a theme from the second of Handel's harpsichord suites, Johannes Brahms wrote the "Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel", Op. 24, one of his most successful works (praised by Richard Wagner). Several works by the French composer Félix-Alexandre Guilmant use Handel's themes, for example his "March on a Theme by Handel" uses a theme from "Messiah". French composer and flautist Philippe Gaubert wrote his "Petite marche" for flute and piano based on the fourth movement of Handel's Trio Sonata, Op. 5, No. 2, HWV 397. Argentine composer Luis Gianneo composed his "Variations on a Theme by Handel" for piano.
George Frideric Handel | Homages
He wrote: All these works were printed in one volume, London, 1603.
George Estye | Works
Handel wrote organ concertos as interludes for his oratorios—playing the organ part himself while directing the orchestra. Some are arrangements of his earlier works, or of works by other composers. For more details see the list of Handel's concertos. Many alternatives exist, so it is difficult to precisely number his organ concertos, however it is generally accepted that he wrote 16: Organ concertos arranged from Concerti Grossi, Op.6:
Organ concerto | George Frideric Handel (1685–1759)
Frodsham was born in Sale Moor, Cheshire, England on 14 September 1863. He was educated at Birkenhead School and University College, Durham.
George Frodsham | Early life
The German-born Handel had been resident in London since 1712 and had there enjoyed great success as a composer of Italian operas. His opportunities to set English texts to music had been more limited. He had spent the years 1717 to 1719 as composer in residence to the wealthy Duke of Chandos, where he had written church anthems and two stage works, "Acis and Galatea" and "Esther". He had composed vocal music to English words for various royal occasions, including a set of Coronation anthems for George II in 1727, which had made a huge impact. In 1731, a performance of the 1718 version of "Esther", a work in English based on a Biblical drama by Jean Racine, was given in London without Handel's participation and had proved popular.
Samson (Handel) | Background and Composition
A complete edition can be found on the IMSLP site. Five copies survive in the British Isles: in the British Museum, the Oxford University Faculty Library, the Euing Library at Glasgow University, the Gerald Finzi Collection at St. Andrews University, and the Shaw – Hellier Collection, The Wodehouse near Wombourne (Staffordshire). The British Museum and the collection at Oxford contain the subscription list which lists no less than 227 names including Boyce, Stanley and George Fredrick Handel.
John Bennett (composer) | Works
The Händel-Werke-Verzeichnis (abbreviated as HWV) is the Catalogue of Handel's Works. It was published in three volumes (in German) by Bernd Baselt between 1978 and 1986, and lists every piece of music known to have been written by George Frideric Handel. The catalogue also includes the first few bars of each piece and large amounts of factual information including manuscript sources, early prints, photographs, spurious works, etc. The catalogue does not include the full scores of Handel's works (for the full scores, see Händel-Gesellschaft and Hallische Händel-Ausgabe).
Händel-Werke-Verzeichnis | Introduction
Bernd Baselt (13 September 1934 – 18 October 1993) was a German musicologist noted for his works on the Baroque composer George Frideric Handel. He was born in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt and died in Hanover. From 1953 to 1955 Baselt studied at the Academy for Music and Theater, and at the Martin Luther University in Halle from 1953 to 1958. He gained professorial rank in music at the university in 1975. Although writing widely on composers (such as Telemann), Baselt's most notable work was the Händel-Werke-Verzeichnis (abbreviated as HWV). The HWV is considered to be the modern-day catalogue of Handel's works, and was published in three volumes (in German) between 1978 and 1986.
Bernd Baselt | Introduction
"Alcina" – George Frideric Handel
Richard Divall | DVD
Early biographers solved the problem by making the year of the trip 1696, then noting that at the age of 11 Handel would need a guardian, so they have Handel's father or a friend of the family accompany him, all the while puzzling over why the elder Handel, who wanted Handel to become a lawyer, would spend the sum to lead his son further into the temptation of music as a career. Schoelcher for example has Handel traveling to Berlin at 11, meeting both Bononcini and Attilio Ariosti in Berlin and then returning at the direction of his father. But Ariosti was not in Berlin before the death of Handel's father, and Handel could not have met Bononcini in Berlin before 1702.
George Frideric Handel | After the death of Handel's father
A temporary book exhibition at the palace from 2 July to 30 November 2014 presented rare early editions of English oratorios by George Frideric Handel. The Lobkowicz Library houses a collection of more than twenty volumes of first London editions of Handel's grand oratorios, including a printed score of "Esther", regarded as the first large oratorio in English, and a score of the oratorio "Deborah", composed in 1733 in response to the success of "Esther". Though first editions of the works, both volumes were published posthumously, in 1783 and 1784 respectively. The editions printed by Wright & Wilkinson include a copperplate portrait of Handel by renowned Dutch engraver Jacob Houbraken.
Roudnice Lobkowicz Library | Recent history