This paper surveys the life and career of George Frideric Handel (1685–1759), tracing his journey from a childhood in Halle, Germany, through musical studies in Hamburg and Italy, to his permanent home in London. The paper examines how shifting social and political conditions in England led Handel to abandon Italian opera in favor of the English oratorio, culminating in the composition and tumultuous reception of Messiah (1741). It discusses the libretto, compositional process, charitable productions, and the enduring legacy of Messiah as one of the most celebrated works in Western music history.
The paper effectively uses multiple secondary sources to corroborate and enrich claims, drawing on music historians such as Burrows, Barber, Keates, and Jacobi. Quotations are deployed sparingly and purposefully — used to validate specific claims about Handel's compositional habits and the reception of his work — rather than as substitutes for original analysis.
The paper follows a broadly chronological structure: it opens with Handel's reputation and birth, moves through his education and early travels, explains the social forces that redirected his career, and concludes with the composition, reception, and enduring legacy of Messiah. This narrative arc allows readers to understand not just what Handel accomplished, but why and how the circumstances of his life made those accomplishments possible.
Described as "the greatest oratorio composer in the English language" by music historian Stanley Sadie, Handel's Messiah continues to receive lavish and popular praise (Barber, 1994, p. 2). The English oratorio remains one of the most recognizable works of music, and earned its composer considerable fame and fortune during his lifetime. Born on the 23rd of February, 1685, Georg Friederich Handel was the son of German barber-doctor Georg and his second wife, Dorothea. The Handel family resided in Halle, a small Saxony town on a tributary of the Elbe River.
His musical prowess and sense of purpose drove the composer to travel widely: in addition to many parts of Germany, Handel also lived in Italy, Ireland, and England. All the places in which he lived offered him inspiration for his music. Starting with a humble career as a church organist, Handel eventually tackled the demanding tasks of writing operas, anthems, psalms, arias, cantatas, and his signature English oratorios, of which Messiah is one. In spite of a few — mostly financial — ups and downs in his career, Handel enjoyed a healthy following, and most of his works were met with popular and critical acclaim.
He made London his most permanent home and eventually became a naturalized Englishman, Anglicizing the spelling of his name from Georg Friederich to George Frideric. The musician died in London in 1759. Testimony to the respect he earned, Handel is interred in Westminster Abbey.
The personal life of George Frideric Handel seems not to have been as colorful as his musical career. He never married, and there are few stories of romantic dalliances. He was known to be a corpulent man, especially during the later years of his life, and enjoyed drinking. He did not have a reputation for aggression, however. In general, his life appears to have been consumed by a passion for music and the dramatic arts. He was nonetheless generous with the money he earned from his successes, giving much of it away to charities.
Handel's childhood was happy despite his father's strict attitude regarding his son's future. Handel's father, a noted doctor in the town of Halle, strongly encouraged his son to practice law, undoubtedly considering it a more worthy profession than music — which the elder Georg Handel despised. Young Georg would sneak into the attic to play the clavichord, a portable keyboard instrument similar to the harpsichord. Fortunately, his mother, Dorothea, encouraged her son to pursue his musical hobby.
By the time he was nine years old, the young boy was already recognized as a prodigy. One day at church, a local duke heard him playing the organ and immediately urged his father to provide the boy with formal lessons. His father relented under the obvious pressure, and young Handel began studying with a respected composer and performer named Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow. Zachow's influence on young Handel was profound: he taught the boy musical theory as well as German and Italian styles of music and opera. Zachow also taught Handel several instruments, including the organ, harpsichord, and violin. Not long after his lessons began, the young boy would substitute for Zachow on the church organ during services, and by the age of twelve, Handel was already composing music.
Already in his sixties when Handel was born, Georg senior passed away in 1697. To honor his father's wishes, Handel enrolled in the University of Halle to study law. His efforts were half-hearted and he never completed his degree; music was his sole interest and he pursued it with enthusiasm. In 1702, Handel — who had been baptized a Lutheran — was appointed organist at a Calvinist church. He earned a salary plus room and board, and thus launched his professional career.
In the spring of 1703, Handel left the small town of Halle for the larger city of Hamburg, drawn by the plentiful opportunities available to aspiring musicians there. He soon made two important friends and fellow musicians: Georg Philipp Telemann and Johann Mattheson. Ironically, although Handel was born in the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach, in a town only fifty miles away, the two masters never crossed paths.
Handel and Mattheson quickly became close, and the two were soon performing on stage together. A notable incident occurred during a performance of Mattheson's opera Cleopatra that nearly destroyed their friendship and almost cost Handel his life. Mattheson had composed Cleopatra and also played in the orchestra while performing the role of Antony. Because Antony dies partway through the opera, Mattheson preferred to return to the orchestra pit for the remainder of the performance. One December night in 1704, Handel flatly refused to give up his spot in the orchestra. Mattheson grew furious and, after a shouting match, challenged his friend to a duel. Handel was no trained fighter and had little chance. Mattheson drew his sword and struck — but his blade hit a strong brass button on Handel's coat, saving his life. The two men quickly reconciled, and their friendship survived the incident no worse for wear.
After several years in Hamburg, Handel decided to try his luck in Italy. In 1706 he moved there, spending time in Florence and Venice before proceeding to Rome. While in Italy, Handel learned how to properly conduct an orchestra and, by 1707, produced a series of cantatas set to Italian texts. During his stay, he composed nearly 100 cantatas, demonstrating his mastery of the genre and his skill in "capturing a range of different moods" (Keates, 1985, p. 35). He also wrote church anthems and love duets in Italian, reflecting his multilingual abilities. Beyond opera, Handel was exposed to Italian folk music: he heard the haunting melodies of the pifferari, Italian shepherds who played tunes on small bagpipes, and particular notes of the pifferari can be heard in certain passages of Messiah (Barber, 1994, p. 25).
In 1711, Handel returned to Germany, where he became Kapellmeister — court composer — for Georg Ludwig, the Elector of Hanover. Georg Ludwig would go on to become King George I of England, making him Handel's patron in both countries. Between stints as Kapellmeister, Handel visited England, where he composed operas. England clearly inspired him, and he moved there permanently in 1712. In 1714, his former patron became King of England, providing Handel with a ready-made post playing for nobility.
Unfortunately, the social climate in London at the time was not favorable to continental opera. Partly due to negative sentiment toward the Catholic Church, Italian opera fell out of favor among the emerging English middle classes — the so-called beau monde. Although Handel was recognized as the "leading composer in London's operatic world," he was forced to adapt his art form (Burrows, 1997, p. 45). It was in this context that Handel gave birth to the English oratorio, an outlet that would lead to his extraordinary fame and enduring creative legacy.
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