Historical Figure
George Frideric Handel
1685–1759
German-British composer (1685–1759)
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Biography
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti.
In Their Own Words (5)
Handel is so great and so simple that no one but a professional musician is unable to understand him.
Samuel Butler Notebooks (2004) p. 153. , 2004
Händel is the unrivalled master of all masters. Go and learn from him how to achieve vast effects with simple means.
Beethoven, quoted by Ignaz von Seyfried. Published in Friedrich Kerst Beethoven der Mann und der Künstler, wie in seinen Eigenen Words enthüllt no. 111 ; Friedrich Kerst (trans. Henry Edward Krehbiel) Beethoven, the Man and the Artist, as Revealed in his own Words (1964), p. 54. , 1964
You have taken far too much trouble over your opera. Here in England that is mere waste of time. What the English like is something that they can beat time to, something that hits them straight on the drum of the ear.
Richard Alexander Streatfeild Handel (2005) p. 195, citing Anton Schmid Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck (1854) p. 29 , 2005
Every Englishman believes that Handel now occupies an important position in heaven. If so, le bon Dieu must feel toward him very much as Louis Treize felt toward Richelieu.
George Bernard Shaw in Ainslee's Magazine, May 1913. , 1913
Händel is the greatest and ablest of all composers; from him I can still learn.
Beethoven on his deathbed, speaking to Gerhard von Breuning. Published in Friedrich Kerst Beethoven der Mann und der Künstler, wie in seinen Eigenen Words enthüllt no. 111 ; Friedrich Kerst (trans. Henry Edward Krehbiel) Beethoven, the Man and the Artist, as Revealed in his own Words (1964), p. 54. , 1964
Timeline
The story of George Frideric Handel, told in moments.
Travels to Italy at 21 and spends four years absorbing Italian opera. Composes in Rome, Florence, Naples, and Venice. By the time he leaves, he's fluent in Italian, German, French, and English.
King George I sails down the Thames on a royal barge. A second barge carries 50 musicians performing Handel's Water Music. The king likes it so much he orders the entire suite played three times.
Composes Zadok the Priest for the coronation of George II. It has been performed at every British coronation since. He becomes a naturalized British subject the same year.
Composes Messiah in 24 days. The Dublin premiere in April 1742 draws a crowd so large that ladies are asked not to wear hoops and gentlemen to leave their swords at home. When George II hears the "Hallelujah" chorus in London, he stands. Everyone follows. The tradition persists.
Dies at home in Brook Street, London, at 74. Blind for the last seven years. His funeral at Westminster Abbey draws 3,000 mourners. He leaves 20,000 pounds to charity.
Artifacts (6)
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