Handel, George Frideric

Handel, George Frideric [ Händel, Georg Friedrich] (b Halle, 1685; d London, 1759). Ger.-born composer and organist (Eng. cit. 1726). Son of a barber-surgeon who opposed mus. as his son's career though he permitted lessons from Zachau, composer and org. of Liebfrauenkirche, Halle. Handel studied law at Halle Univ., turning to full-time mus. when his father died. He went to Hamburg in 1703 where he joined the opera house under the composer Reinhard Keiser, playing 2nd vn. in the orch. His first opera Almira, written because Keiser lost interest in the lib., which Handel took over, was prod. there in 1705, being followed by 3 others. In 1706 Handel went to Italy in a prince's retinue, meeting Corelli, the Scarlattis, and other leading figures, and rapidly attaining mastery of It. style in opera, chamber mus., and vocal mus. He was acclaimed as a genius, the rival of his It. contemporaries. His opera Rodrigo was perf. in Florence in 1707 and Agrippina in Venice in 1709. The following year he was appointed court cond. in Hanover and was also invited to write an opera (Rinaldo) for London, where he quickly realized the possibilities for his own success and, after settling his affairs in Hanover, settled there permanently.

For the next 35 years Handel was immersed in the ups and downs of operatic activity in London where the It. opera seria was the dominant force. In 1712 he received a pension of £200 a year for life from Queen Anne, this being increased to £600 by King George I, his former ruler in Hanover, for whom in 1717 he comp. the famous Water Music suite. From 1717 to 1720 Handel was resident comp. to the Earl of Carnarvon (Duke of Chandos from April 1719) at his palace of Cannons in Edgware. The 11 Chandos Anthems were the chief fruit of this appointment. In 1719 Handel, in assoc. with G. Bononcini and Ariosti, was a mus. dir. of the so-called Royal Acad. of Mus. (not a coll. but a business venture to produce It. opera). Handel travelled abroad to engage singers and in the 8 years until the acad. closed because of lack of support he comp. 14 operas, among them Radamisto, Rodelinda, Admeto, and Tolomeo. In 1727, for the coronation of George II, Handel wrote 4 anthems, incl. Zadok the Priest, which has been sung at every Brit. coronation since then.

The success of Gay's The Beggar's Opera and imitative works was the prin. cause of the falling-away of support for Handel's co. He went to It. to hear operas by composers such as Porpora and Pergolesi and to engage the leading It. singers. Back in London in partnership with Heidegger at the King's Theatre, Handel wrote Lotario (1729), Partenope (1730), and Orlando (1733). In 1734 he moved to the new CG Th., for which he wrote two of his greatest operas, Ariodante (prod. Jan. 1735) and Alcina (prod. Ap. 1735), but he recognized that the popularity of It. opera was declining and began, somewhat unwillingly, to develop the genre of dramatic oratorios which is perhaps his most orig. contribution to the art of mus. Esther (1732 in rev. form) and Acis and Galatea are typical examples. Ironically, released from the conventions of opera seria, Handel's dramatic gifts found wider and more expressive outlets in the oratorio form. Scores contain stage directions and the use of ch. and orch. became more dramatic and rich. He cond. several oratorio perf. in London, 1735, playing his own org. concs. as entr'actes. Nevertheless he continued to write operas and between 1737 and 1740 comp. Berenice, Serse, Imeneo, and Deidamia.

In 1737 Handel's health cracked under the strain of his operatic labours and he had a stroke. Following his recovery, he wrote a series of oratorios, incl. Messiah, prod. Dublin, 1742. By this work his name is known throughout the world, yet it is something of an oddity in Handel's work since he was not a religious composer in the accepted sense. But its power, lyricism, sincerity, and profundity make it one of the supreme mus. creations as well as an outstanding example of devotional art. It was followed by Samson, Judas Maccabaeus, and Solomon. The success of these works made Handel the idol of the Eng., and that popularity dominated Eng. mus. for nearly 150 years after his death. Not until Handel's operas were revived in Ger. in the 1920s was the perspective corrected and the importance of that branch of his art restored. Superb as are Handel's instr. comps. such as the concerti grossi, sonatas, and suites, it is in the operas and oratorios that the nobility, expressiveness, invention, and captivation of his art are found at their highest degree of development. He did not revolutionize operatic form but he brought the novelty of his genius to the genre as he found it. The scene-painting and illustrative qualities of his orchestration are remarkable even at a period when naive and realistic effects were common currency.

For the last 7 years of his life Handel was blind, but he continued to conduct oratorio perfs. and to revise his scores with assistance from his devoted friend John Christopher Smith. His works were pubd. by the Ger. Handel Gesellschaft in a complete edn. (1859–94) of 100 vols., ed. Chrysander, and a new edn., the Hallische Handel-Ausgabe, is in progress. Prin. comps.:OPERAS: Hamburg: Almira, Nero (lost) (both 1705), Florindo e Dafne (lost) (1707); Florence: Rodrigo (1707); Venice: Agrippina (1709); London: Rinaldo (1711, rev. 1731), Il pastor fido (1712; 2nd version with ballet Terpsicore, 1734); Teseo (1712); Silla (1714); Amadigi di Gaula (1715); Radamisto (1720, rev. 1720, 1721, 1728); Muzio Scevola, Floridante (both 1721); Ottone (1722); Flavio (1723); Giulio Cesare in Egitto (1723–4); Tamerlano (1724, rev. 1731); Rodelinda, regina de'Longobardi (1725); Scipione, Alessandro (both 1726); Admeto, Riccardo I (both 1727); Siroe, Tolomeo (both 1728); Lotario (1729); Partenope (1729–30, rev. 1730, 1736); Poro (1731); Ezio, Sosarme (both 1732); Orlando (1733); Arianna (1734); Ariodante, Alcina (both 1735); Atalanta (1736); Arminio, Giustino, Berenice (all 1737); Faramondo, Serse (both 1738); Imeneo (1738–40); Deidamia (1740).ORCH.: Water Music (c.1717); Music for Royal Fireworks (1749).DRAMATIC ORATORIOS: Rome: La Resurrezione, Trionfo del Tempo (1708); Naples: Aci, Galatea e Polifemo (1709); Hamburg: Der für die Sünde der Welt gemartete und sterbende Jesus (Brockes Passion) (?1716); London: Haman and Mordecai (masque 1720, later rev. as Esther in 1732); Acis and Galatea (1718; rev. 1732 incorporating part of 1708 cantata on same subject, and 1743); Deborah (1733); Athalia (1733); Alexander's Feast (1736); Israel in Egypt (1738); Saul, Ode for St Cecilia's Day (1739); L'Allegro, il Pensieroso ed il Moderato (1740); Messiah (1741); Samson (1741–2); Joseph and his Brethren, Semele (1743); Belshazzar, Hercules (1744); Occasional Oratorio, Judas Maccabaeus (1746); Alexander Balus, Joshua (1747); Solomon, Susanna (1748); Theodora, Alceste (1749); Choice of Hercules (1750); Jephtha (1751); Triumph of Time and Truth (1757).CANTATAS AND CHAMBER DUETS: Handel comp. 100 of the former and 20 of the latter. Among the best known are Silete Venti, sop., instr. (1729); La terra è liberata (Apollo e Dafne), sop., bass, instr. (c.1708); and O numi eterni (La Lucrezia), sop., continuo (1709).CHURCH MUSIC: Gloria Patri (1707); Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate (1712–13); Dettingen Te Deum (1743); 11 Chandos Anthems (1717–18); 4 Coronation Anthems (1727: The King Shall Rejoice; Let thy hand be strengthened; My heart is inditing; Zadok the Priest); The Ways of Zion do Mourn, funeral anthem for Queen Caroline (1737).VOCAL: Birthday Ode for Queen Anne (1713); 9 German Arias (1729).INSTRUMENTAL AND CHAMBER MUSIC: 6 Concerti Grossi, str., ww., continuo, Op.3 (1734); 12 Concerti Grossi, str., optional wind, Op.6 (1739); 5 Concerti, orch. (1741); 6 organ concerti, Op.4 (1738); 6 organ concerti, Op.7 (1760); 6 organ concerti (1740); 15 chamber sonatas (fls., recorders), Op.1 (1724); 3 concerti a due cori; 2 ob. sonatas; 12 fl. sonatas; 6 trio sonatas; 9 trio sonatas, Op.2 (1722–33); 7 trio sonatas, Op.5 (1739); va. da gamba sonata; 8 suites de pièces, hpd. (1720); 8 suites de pièces (1733, these incl. the well-known Chaconne in G); 6 Fugues (1736). See also Harmonious Blacksmith.