George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Frideric_Handel
George Frideric Handel

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel

(/hndl/;[1] born Georg Friedrich Hndel,[2]
German pronunciation: [hndl]; 23 February 1685
(O.S.) [(N.S.) 5 March] 14 April 1759)[3] was
a German, later British baroque composer who
spent the bulk of his career in London, becoming
well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems,
and organ concertos. Handel received critical
training in Halle, Hamburg and Italy before
settling in London in 1712; he became a
naturalised British subject in 1727.[4] He was
strongly influenced both by the great composers
of the Italian Baroque and the middle-German
polyphonic choral tradition.
Portrait of Handel, by Balthasar Denner
Within fifteen years, Handel had started three

(c.17261728)
commercial opera companies to supply the
Born
Georg Friedrich Hndel
English nobility with Italian opera. Musicologist
23 February 1685 (O.S.)
Winton Dean writes that his operas show that
Halle, Germany
"Handel was not only a great composer; he was a
Died
14 April 1759 (aged 74)
dramatic genius of the first order."[5] As
Alexander's Feast (1736) was well received,
London, England
Handel made a transition to English choral
Signature
works. After his success with Messiah (1742) he
never performed 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.
Born the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach and Domenico Scarlatti, Handel is regarded as one of
the greatest composers of the Baroque era, with works such as Water Music, Music for the Royal
Fireworks and Messiah remaining steadfastly popular.[6] 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. Handel composed
more than forty operas 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.
Contents
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1 Early years
2 From Halle to Italy
3 Move to London
3.1 Cannons (171718)
3.2 Royal Academy of Music (171934)
3.3 Opera at Covent Garden (173441)
3.4 Oratorio
4 Later years
5 Works
5.1 Catalogues
6 Legacy
6.1 Reception
6.2 Borrowings
6.3 Homages
6.4 Veneration
6.5 Film
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
Early years
Handel was born in 1685 in Halle, Duchy of Magdeburg, to
Georg Hndel and Dorothea Taust.[7] His father, 63 when
George Frideric was born, was an eminent barber-surgeon who
served the court of Saxe-Weissenfels and the Margraviate of
Brandenburg.[8] According to Handel's first biographer, John
Mainwaring, he "had discovered such a strong propensity to
Music, that his father who always intended him for the study of
the Civil Law, had reason to be alarmed. He strictly forbade him
to meddle with any musical instrument but Handel found means
to get a little clavichord privately convey'd to a room at the top
of the house. To this room he constantly stole when the family
was asleep".[9] At an early age Handel became a skilful
performer on the harpsichord and pipe organ.[10]
Handel's baptismal registration

(Marienbibliothek in Halle)
Handel and his father travelled to Weissenfels to visit either

Handel's half-brother, Carl, or nephew, Georg Christian,[11] who
was serving as valet to Duke Johann Adolf I.[12] On this trip,
young Handel was lifted onto an organ's stool, where he
surprised everyone with his playing.[13] This performance
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helped Handel and the duke to convince his father to allow him
to take lessons in musical composition and keyboard technique
from Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, the organist of Halle's
Marienkirche.[13] Zachow composed music for the Lutheran
services at the church, and from him Handel learned about
harmony and counterpoint, copying and analysing scores, and
gained instruction on the oboe, violin, harpsichord and
organ.[13] In 1698 Handel played for Frederick I of Prussia and
met Giovanni Bononcini in Berlin.
Hndel-Haus (2009), birthplace

of George Frideric Handel
From Halle to Italy

In 1702, following his father's
wishes, Handel started studying
law under Christian Thomasius at
the University of Halle.[14] He
earned an appointment for one year
as the organist in the former
cathedral, by then an evangelical
reformed church. Handel seems to
The Hamburg Opera am
have been dissatisfied, and in 1703
Gnsemarkt in 1726
he accepted a position as violinist
and harpsichordist in the orchestra
Entrance of Teatro del
[15]
Cocomero in Florence
of the Hamburg Oper am Gnsemarkt.
There he met the composers
Johann Mattheson, Christoph Graupner and Reinhard Keiser. His first
two operas, Almira and Nero, were produced in 1705.[16] 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 17031704 in Hamburg.[17] 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. His
famous Dixit Dominus (1707) is from this era. He also composed cantatas in pastoral style for
musical gatherings in the palaces of 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.[18] Agrippina was first produced in
1709 at Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo, owned by the Grimanis. The opera, with a libretto by
Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani, ran for 27 nights successively.[19] The audience, thunderstruck with
the grandeur and sublimity of his style,[20] applauded for Il caro Sassone ("the dear Saxon"
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referring to Handel's German origins).
Move to London
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.[21] He visited Anna
Maria Luisa de' Medici and her husband in Dsseldorf 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.[22]
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. In
Summer 1713 he lived at Mr Mathew Andrews in Barn Elms
Surrey.[23][24] He received a yearly income of 200 from Queen
Anne after composing for her the Utrecht Te Deum and
Jubilate, first performed in 1713.[25][26]
George Frideric Handel (left) and

King George I on the River
Thames, 17 July 1717, by
Edouard Hamman (181988)
One of his most important patrons was The 3rd Earl of Burlington and 4th Earl of Cork, a young
and incredibly wealthy member of an Anglo-Irish aristocratic family.[27] For the young Lord
Burlington, Handel wrote Amadigi di Gaula, a magical opera, about a damsel in distress, based on
the tragedy by Antoine Houdar de la Motte.
The conception of an opera as a coherent structure was slow to capture Handel's imagination[28]
and he composed no operas for five years. In July 1717 Handel's Water Music was performed more
than three times on the Thames for the King and his guests. It is said the compositions spurred
reconciliation between the King and Handel.[29]
Cannons (171718)
In 1717 Handel became house composer at Cannons in Middlesex, where he laid the cornerstone
for his future choral compositions in the twelve Chandos Anthems.[30] Romain Rolland stated that
these anthems were as important for his oratorios as the cantatas were for his operas.[31] 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".[32]
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
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financial cataclysms. Handel himself invested in South Sea stock in

1716, when prices were low[33] and sold before 1720.[34]
Royal Academy of Music (171934)

In May 1719, The 1st Duke of Newcastle, the Lord Chamberlain,
ordered Handel to look for new singers.[35] 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.[36] By
1723 he had moved into a Georgian house at 25 Brook Street, which
he rented for the rest of his life.[37] This house, where he rehearsed,
copied music and sold tickets, is now the Handel House Museum.[38]
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,[39] 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. One of these, Zadok the
Priest, has been played at every British coronation ceremony since.[40]
In 1728 John Gay's The Beggar's Opera premiered at Lincoln's Inn
Fields Theatre and ran for 62 consecutive performances, the longest
run in theatre history up to that time.[41] After nine years the Royal
Academy of Music ceased to function but Handel soon started a new
company.
"The Chandos portrait of

Georg Friedrich Hndel"
by James Thornhill, c.
1720
Handel House at 25
Brook Street, Mayfair,
London
The Queen's Theatre at the Haymarket (now Her Majesty's Theatre), established in 1705 by
architect and playwright John Vanbrugh, quickly became an opera house.[42] Between 1711 and
1739, more than 25 of Handel's operas premired there.[43] In 1729 Handel became joint manager
of the theatre with John James Heidegger.
Handel travelled to Italy to engage new singers and also composed seven more operas, among them
the comic masterpiece Partenope and the "magic" opera Orlando.[44] After two commercially
successful English oratorios Esther and Deborah, he was able to invest again in the South Sea
Company. Handel reworked his Acis and Galatea which then became his most successful work
ever. Handel failed to compete with the Opera of the Nobility, who engaged musicians such as
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Johann Adolph Hasse, Nicolo Porpora and the famous castrato

Farinelli. The strong support by Frederick, Prince of Wales
caused conflicts in the royal family. In March 1734 Handel
composed a wedding anthem This is the day which the Lord
hath made, and a serenata Parnasso in Festa for Anne of
Hanover.[45]
Despite the problems the Opera of the Nobility was causing him
at the time, Handel's neighbour in Brook Street, Mary Delany,
reported on a party she invited Handel to at her house on 12
April 1734 where he was in good spirits:
I had Lady Rich and her daughter, Lady Cath.
Hanmer and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Percival, Sir
John Stanley and my brother, Mrs. Donellan, Strada
[star soprano of Handel's operas] and Mr. Coot. Lord
Shaftesbury begged of Mr. Percival to bring him, and
being a profess'd friend of Mr. Handel (who was here
also) was admitted; I never was so well entertained
at an opera! Mr. Handel was in the best humour in
the world, and played lessons and accompanied
Strada and all the ladies that sang from seven o'clock
till eleven. I gave them tea and coffee, and about half
an hour after nine had a salver brought in of
chocolate, mulled white wine and biscuits.
Everybody was easy and seemed pleased.[46]
A musical portrait of Frederick,

Prince of Wales, and his sisters
by Philip Mercier, dated 1733,
using Kew Palace as its plein-air
backdrop
The Queen's Theatre in the

Haymarket in London by William
Capon
Opera at Covent Garden (173441)

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 Sall, 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.[47] Financially, Ariodante was a failure, although he introduced ballet suites
at the end of each act.[48] 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 P and
John Beard.
In April 1737, at age 52, Handel apparently suffered a stroke which disabled the use of four fingers
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on his right hand, preventing him from performing.[49] 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 .[50] 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.[51] It was
even possible for him to write one of his most popular operas, Serse (including the famous aria
Ombra mai f, better known as "Handel's largo", he wrote for the famous castrato Caffarelli), just
one year after his stroke.[52][53]
Deidamia, his last opera, a co-production with the Earl of Holderness,[54] was performed three
times in 1741. Handel gave up the opera business, while he enjoyed more success with his English
oratorios.[55]
Oratorio
Handel by Philip Mercier
Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno, an allegory, Handel's first

oratorio[56] 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.[57] Another 12 years had passed when an act of piracy caused
him to take up Esther once again.[58] 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[59] and Athaliah, his first English
Oratorio.[60] In these three oratorios Handel laid the foundation for the
traditional use of the chorus which marks his later oratorios.[61] Handel
became sure of himself, broader in his presentation, and more diverse
in his composition.[62]
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.[63] 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.[64] 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.[65]
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.[66] 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
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Tower of London), to be sure "...it will be most excessive

noisy".[67] 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.[68] 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.[69]
L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato has a rather diverting
character; the work is light and fresh.
During the summer of 1741, The 3rd Duke of Devonshire
invited Handel to Dublin, capital of the Kingdom of Ireland, to
give concerts for the benefit of local hospitals.[70] His Messiah
Caricature of Handel by Joseph
was first performed at the New Music Hall in Fishamble Street
Goupy (1754)
on 13 April 1742, with 26 boys and five men from the
combined choirs of St Patrick's and Christ Church cathedrals
participating.[71] Handel secured a balance between soloists and chorus which he never surpassed.
In 1747 Handel wrote his oratorio Alexander Balus. This work was produced at Covent Garden
Theatre, on March 23, 1748, and to the aria Hark! hark! He strikes the golden lyre, Handel wrote
the accompaniment for mandolin, harp, violin, viola, and violoncello.[13]
The use of English soloists reached its height at the first performance of Samson. The work is
highly theatrical. The role of the chorus became increasingly important in his later oratorios.
Jephtha was first performed on 26 February 1752; even though it was his last oratorio, it was no
less a masterpiece than his earlier works.[72]
Later years
In 1749 Handel composed Music for the Royal Fireworks; 12,000 people attended the first
performance.[73] 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.[74] 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. 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.[75] In 1751 one eye started
to fail. The cause was a cataract which was operated on by the great charlatan Chevalier Taylor.
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This did not improve his eyesight, but possibly made it worse.[55] 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.
Handel was buried in Westminster Abbey.[76] More than three
thousand mourners attended his funeral, which was given full state
honours.

in 1733, by Balthasar
Denner (16851749)
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.[77]
Handel owned an art collection that was auctioned posthumously in
1760.[78] The auction catalogue listed approximately seventy paintings
and ten prints (other paintings were bequeathed).[78]
Works
Main articles: List of compositions by George Frideric Handel
and List of operas by Handel.
Handel's compositions include 42 operas, 29 oratorios, more than 120
cantatas, trios and duets, numerous arias, chamber music, a large
number of ecumenical pieces, odes and serenatas, and 16 organ
concerti. 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. Also notable are his sixteen keyboard suites, especially The
Harmonious Blacksmith.
Senesino, the famous

castrato from Siena
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).[79]
Catalogues
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The first public catalogue of Handel's works appeared in John Mainwaring's Memoirs of the
composer (1760).[80] Between 1787 and 1797 Samuel Arnold compiled a 180-volume collection of
Handel's workshowever it was far from complete.[81] Also incomplete was the collection
produced between 1843 and 1858 by the English Handel Society (found by Sir George
Macfarren).[82]
The 105-volume Hndel-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.
The continuing Hallische Hndel-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. The
unification of Germany in 1990 removed communication problems, and the volumes issued have
since shown a significant improvement in standards.[55]
Between 1978 and 1986 the German academic Bernd Baselt catalogued Handel's works in his
Hndel-Werke-Verzeichnis publication. The catalogue has achieved wide acceptance and is used as
the modern numbering system, with each of Handel's works designated an "HWV" number, for
example Messiah is catalogued as "HWV 56".
Legacy
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,[83] and the
abolitionist Granville Sharp.[84] 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".[85]
A Masquerade at the King's
After his death, Handel's Italian operas fell into obscurity,

Theatre, Haymarket (c. 1724)
except for selections such as the aria from Serse, "Ombra mai
f". The oratorios continued to be performed but not long after
Handel's death they were thought to need some modernisation, and Mozart orchestrated a German
version of Messiah and other works. Throughout the 19th century and first half of the 20th century,
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particularly in the Anglophone countries, his reputation rested primarily on his English oratorios,
which were customarily performed by enormous 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.
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 performed onstage by
small chamber ensembles. 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 Hndel, is generally
used in Germany and elsewhere, but he is known as "Haendel" in
France. A different composer, Jacob Handl or Hndl (15501591) is
usually known by the Latin form Jacobus Gallus that appears in his
publications.
Reception
Handel has generally been accorded high esteem by fellow composers,
both in his own time and since.[86] Bach attempted, unsuccessfully, to
meet with Handel while he was visiting Halle.[87] Mozart is reputed to
A carved marble statue of
have said of him, "Handel understands affect better than any of us.
Handel, created in 1738
by Louis-Franois
When he chooses, he strikes like a thunder bolt."[88] To Beethoven he
was "the master of us all... the greatest composer that ever lived. I
Roubiliac
would uncover my head and kneel before his tomb."[88] 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."
Borrowings
Since 1831, when William Crotch raised the issue in his Substance of Several Lectures on Music,
scholars have extensively studied Handel's "borrowing" of music from other composers.
Summarising the field in 2005, Richard Taruskin wrote that Handel "seems to have been the
champion of all parodists, adapting both his own works and those of other composers in
unparalleled numbers and with unparalleled exactitude."[89] Among the composers whose music
has been shown to have been re-used by Handel are Alessandro Stradella, Gottlieb Muffat,
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Alessandro Scarlatti, Domenico Scarlatti[90] Giacomo Carissimi, Georg Philipp Telemann, Carl
Heinrich Graun, Leonardo Vinci, Jacobus Gallus, Francesco Antonio Urio, Reinhard Keiser,
Francesco Gasparini, Giovanni Bononcini, William Boyce, Agostino Steffani, Francesco Gasparini,
Franz Johann Habermann, and numerous others.[91]
In an essay published in 1985, John H. Roberts demonstrated that Handel's borrowings were
unusually frequent even for his own era, enough to have been criticised by contemporaries (notably
Johann Mattheson); Roberts suggested several reasons for Handel's practice, including Handel's
attempts to make certain works sound more up-to-date and more radically, his "basic lack of facility
in inventing original ideas" though Roberts took care to argue that this does not "diminish
Handel's stature", which should be "judged not by his methods, still less by his motives in
employing them, but solely by the effects he achieves."[92]
Homages
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 conquring 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. 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
Handel Commemoration
(praised by Richard Wagner). Several works by the French composer
in Westminster Abbey,
Flix-Alexandre Guilmant use Handel's themes, for example his March
1784
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. 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. 6/7.
Veneration
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Handel is honoured with a feast day on 28 July in the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church,
with Johann Sebastian Bach and Henry Purcell. In the Lutheran Calendar of Saints Handel and J.S.
Bach share that date with Heinrich Schtz, and Handel and Bach are commemorated in the calendar
of saints prepared by The Order of Saint Luke for the use of the United Methodist Church.[93]
Film
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 technicolour.
See also
Handel Reference Database
Letters and writings of George Frideric Handel
List of compositions by George Frideric Handel
List of operas by Handel
Publications by Friedrich Chrysander
Valentine Snow
Will of George Frideric Handel
Drexel 5856
References
Notes
1. "Handel" (http://www.collinsdictionary.com
/dictionary/english/handel) entry in Collins
English Dictionary, HarperCollins Publishers,
1998, which gives the common variant "George
Frederick" (used in his will and on his funeral
monument) alongside the pronunciation of his
last name. The spelling "Frideric" is used on his
1727 application for British citizenship.
2. In Italy he signed his name "Hendel", as the
German is pronounced. See: The life of Handel
by Victor Schoelcher, p. 1
(https://books.google.com
/books?id=iw8oAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1)
3. Hicks, in Grove 1998, p. 614
4. "British Citizen by Act of Parliament: George
Frideric Handel". Parliament.uk. 14 April 2009.
Retrieved 13 April 2012.
5. Dean, Winton (1969). Handel and the Opera

Seria. University of California Press. p. 19.
ISBN 978-0520014381.
6. George J. Buelow (2004). "A History of
Baroque Music". p. 476. Indiana University
Press, 2004
7. Deutsch 1955, p. 1
8. Adams Aileen, K., Hofestadt, B., "Georg
Handel (162297)
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez
/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&
list_uids=16059526&dopt=Abstract): the
barber-surgeon father of George Frideric
Handel (16851759)", Journal of Medical
Biography, 2005, Aug; 13(3):14249.
9. National Portrait Gallery, p. 51
10. Dent 2004, pp. 34
11. Friedrich Chrysander states it was not his
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half-brother but the 10-years older (!) nephew,

who had to address George Friedrich as his
uncle. zeno.org (http://www.zeno.org/Musik
/M/Chrysander,+Friedrich/G.F.+H
%C3%A4ndel/1.+Band
/1.+Buch+Jugendzeit+und+Lehrjahre+in+Deut
schland/2.+Kindheit)
12. Weissenfels is 34 km south of Halle; a one-way
trip on foot would have taken them about seven
hours. As they went by coach they travelled
faster. For more details see: The life of Handel
by Victor Schoelcher, books.google.com
/books?id=jFNAAAAAYAAJ&
printsec=frontcover&
source=gbs_book_other_versions_r&
cad=4#v=onepage&q=&f=false)
13. (https://archive.org/details
/guitarmandolinbi00bone)Philip J. Bone, The
Guitar and Mandolin, biographies of celebrated
players and composers for these instruments,
London: Schott and Co., 1914.
14. Keates 1985, pp. 1718
15. Burrows 1994, p. 18
16. Burrows 1994, p. 19
17. Handel as Orpheus: voice and desire in the
chamber cantatas by Ellen T. Harris,
books.google.com (https://books.google.com
/books?id=w1z2sDRi4NIC&pg=PA37&
lpg=PA37&dq=Handel+Gian+Gastone&
source=bl&ots=FX0gA8_1Tj&
sig=qTDH00c4hR7NhSuoF7x-R5cs_5w&
hl=nl&ei=Q10IS4GqCYSi4QbQ4pHECw&
sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&
ved=0CBIQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&
q=Handel%20Gian%20Gastone&f=false)
18. Burrows 1994, pp. 2930
19. Mainwaring, John (1760). Memoirs of the Life
of the Late George Frederic Handel
/books?id=dq2ev_ucbWkC). London: Printed
for R. and J. Dodsley. p. 52.
20. Dean & Knapp 1987, p. 129
21. Burrows 1994, p. 38
22. Dean & Knapp 1987, pp. 173, 180
23. Wikisource (https://en.wikisource.org
/wiki/Handel,_George_Frederick_%28DNB00
%29)
24. George Frideric Handel: Volume 1, 16091725:

Collected Documents edited by Donald
Burrows, Helen Coffey, John Greenacombe,
Anthony Hicks (https://books.google.nl
/books?id=D-ycAwAAQBAJ&lpg=PT678&
ots=e6uQ1ZEY4n&
dq=Barn%20Elms%20Matthew%20Andrews&
hl=nl&pg=PT678#v=onepage&
q=Barn%20Elms%20Matthew%20Andrews&
f=false)
26. There is a tantalising suggestion by Handel's
biographer, Jonathan Keates, that he may have
come to London in 1710 and settled in 1712 as
a spy for the eventual Hanoverian successor to
Queen Anne. news.bbc.co.uk
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business
/7992395.stm)
28. Dean & Knapp 1987, p. 286
29. Burrows 1994, p. 77
30. Bukofzer (2008), pp. 33335
31. Rolland, R. (1910) Hndel, p. 54. Beroemde
musici. Deel XVIII.
32. Dean & Knapp 1987, p. 209
33. Deutsch 1955, pp. 7071
34. "Handel's Finances" (http://www.bbc.co.uk
/programmes/b00jkt2z), on bbc.co.uk
35. Deutsch 1955, p. 89
36. Dean 2006, p. 226 According to Dean they
could not have reached London before 1716. In
1743, Smith wrote in a letter that he had been in
Handel's service for 24 years.
37. Burrows 1994, p. 387
38. In 2000, the upper stories of 25 Brook Street
were leased to the Handel House Trust, and
after extensive restoration, the Handel House
Museum opened to the public with an events
programme of baroque music.
39. Deutsch 1955, p. 194
40. Imogen Levy (2 June 1953). "Guide to the
Coronation Service". Westminster Abbey.
Retrieved 28 May 2012.
41. " "Longest running Plays in London and New
York", Stage Beauty".
42. theatrical monopoly in Banham, Martin The
Cambridge guide to theatre pp. 1105
(Cambridge University Press, 1995) ISBN
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0-521-43437-8
43. Handel's Compositions (http://gfhandel.org
/composition.htm) GFHandel.org, Retrieved 21
December 2007
44. Dent, Edward J., Handel, Hardpress Publishing,
(2010), ISBN 978-1407651415
(http://www.amazon.com/Handel-EdwardJ-Dent/dp/1407651412)
45. Dent 2004, p. 33
46. "Synopsis of Arianna in Creta".
Handelhouse.org. Handel House Museum.
Retrieved 23 July 2014.
47. Dean 2006, pp. 27484
48. Dean 2006, p. 288
49. Burrows 1994, p. 395
50. Dean 2006, p. 283
51. For new insights on this episode, see Ilias
Chrissochoidis: "Handel Recovering: Fresh
Light on his Affairs in 1737", EighteenthCentury Music 5/2 (2008): 23744.
52. Deutsche Oper am Rhein: "Xerxes", a book
issued in 2015, containing information
concerning the original opera, as well as a
contemporary production
53. Wikipedia page Serse
54. A New Chronology of Venetian Opera and
Related Genres, 16601760 by Eleanor
Selfridge-Field, p. 492
55. Hicks 2013.
56. Marx, J.H. (1998) Hndels Oratorien, Oden und
Serenaten, p. 243.
58. Larsen 1972, p. 15 Handels Messiah. A
distinguished authority on Handel discusses the
origins, composition, and sources of one of the
great choral works of western civilization.
59. Larsen 1972, p. 26
60. Marx, J.H. (1998) Hndels Oratorien, Oden und
Serenaten, p. 48.
61. Larsen 1972, p. 66
62. Larsen 1972, p. 49
63. Larsen 1972, p. 40
64. Larsen 1972, p. 33
65. Burrows, Donald (2012). Handel (Master
Musicians Series). Oxford University Press,
USA; 2 edition. p. 217. ISBN 978-0199737369.
66. Larsen 1972, p. 37
68. Larsen 1972, pp. 16, 3941

69. Larsen 1972, p. 78
70. Dent 2004, pp. 4041
71. Young 1966, p. 48
72. Burrows 1994, pp. 35455
73. Burrows 1994, pp. 29798
74. Young 1966, p. 56
75. Dent 2004, p. 63
76. Young 1966, p. 60
77. The Letters and Writings of George Frideric
Handel by Erich H. Mller, 1935
78. "Handel as art collector Thomas McGeary".
Em.oxfordjournals.org. 1 February 2012.
Retrieved 13 April 2012.
79. Textbook in CD Sacred Arias with Harp &
Harp Duets by Rachel Ann Morgan & Edward
Witsenburg.
80. John Mainwaring, Memoirs of the Life of the
late George Frederic Handel
(https://www.academia.edu/16503151/), ed.
Ilias Chrissochoidis (Stanford, 2015), pp.
8389.
81. Winton Dean, The New Grove Handel. NY:
Norton, 1982, p. 116. ISBN 0-393-30086-2.
82. The Halle Handel Edition. "A short history of
editing Handel". Retrieved 3 December 2011.
83. Best, Terence, ed. Handel collections and their
history, a collection of conference papers given
by the international panel of distinguished
Handel scholars. Clarendon Press, 1993
84. Prince Hoare, ed. (1820). Memoirs of Granville
Sharp. Colburn. p. XII. "...he had a voluminous
collection of Handel's scores..."
85. Jacob Simon (1985). Handel, a celebration of
his life and times, 16851759. p. 239. National
Portrait Gallery (Great Britain)
86. "BBC Press Release". Bbc.co.uk. 13 January
2009. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
87. Dent 2004, p. 23
88. Young, Percy Marshall (1 April 1975) [1947].
Handel (Master Musician series). J.M.Dent &
Sons. p. 254. ISBN 0-460-03161-9.
89. Richard Taruskin, The Oxford History of
Western Music, Oxford University Press, 2005,
vol. 2, chapter 26, p. 329, ISBN 0195222717
90. Alexander Silbiger, "Scarlatti Borrowings in
Handel's Grand Concertos", The Musical Times,
v. 125, 1984, pp. 9394
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91. A comprehensive bibliography through 2005

can be found in Mary Anne Parker, G. F.
Handel: A Guide to Research, Routledge, 2005,
ISBN 1136783598, pp. 114135
92. John H. Roberts, "Why Did Handel Borrow?",
in Handel: Tercentary Collection, edited by
Stanley Sadie and Anthony Hicks, Royal
Musical Association, 1985, pp. 8392, ISBN

0-8357-1833-6
93. For All the Saints: A Calendar of
Commemorations for United Methodists, ed. by
Clifton F. Guthrie (Order of Saint Luke
Publications, 1995, ISBN 1-878009-25-7) p.
161.
Sources
Burrows, Donald (1994). Handel. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-816470-X
Burrows, Donald (1997). The Cambridge Companion to Handel. Cambridge Companions to
Music. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-45613-4
Bukofzer, Manfred F., Music in the Baroque Era From Monteverdi To Bach, Read Books,
UK, 2008 ISBN 1443726192 ISBN 9781443726191
Chrissochoidis, Ilias. "Early Reception of Handel's Oratorios, 17321784: Narrative Studies
Documents" (PhD dissertation, Stanford University, 2004), available through UMI
(http://proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/).
Chrissochoidis, Ilias. "Handel at a Crossroads: His 17371738 and 17381739 Seasons
Re-Examined (http://ml.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/gcp070?)", Music & Letters 90/4
(November 2009), 599635.
Chrissochoidis, Ilias. "Handel, Hogarth, Goupy: Artistic intersections in Handelian biography
(http://em.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/cap106?i.jkey=Tz66pLM8Tg9PduD&
keytype=ref)", Early Music 37/4 (November 2009), 577596.
Chrissochoidis, Ilias. "'hee-haw ... llelujah': Handel among the Vauxhall Asses (1732)
(http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayIssue?jid=ECM&volumeId=7&issueId=02&
iid=7849452)", Eighteenth-Century Music 7/2 (September 2010), 221262.
Dean, Winton; Knapp, John Merrill (1987). Handel's Operas, 17041726. 1. Oxford:
Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-816441-6.
Dean, Winton (2006). Handel's Operas, 17261741. The Boydell Press.
Deutsch, Otto Erich (1955). Handel: A Documentary Biography.
Dent, Edward Joseph (2004). Handel. R A Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 1-4191-2275-4.
Frosch, W. A., The "case" of George Frideric Handel (http://gfhandel.org/frosch.htm), New
England Journal of Medicine, 1989; 321:765769, 14 September 1989. content.nejm.org
(http://content.nejm.org/content/vol321/issue11/index.shtml)
Harris, Ellen T. (general editor) The librettos of Handel's operas: a collection of seventy
librettos documenting Handel's operatic career New York: Garland, 1989. ISBN
0-8240-3862-2
Harris, Ellen T. Handel as Orpheus. Voice and Desire in the Chamber Cantatas Harvard
University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-674-00617-8
Hicks, Anthony (2013), "Handel, George Frideric", Grove Music Online, Oxford University
Press (subscription required)
Hicks, Anthony, (1998), "Handel, George Frederick" in Stanley Sadie, (Ed.), The New Grove
Dictionary of Opera, Vol. Two, pp. 614626. London: MacMillan Publishers, Inc. ISBN
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0-333-73432-7 ISBN 1-56159-228-5

Hogwood, Christopher. Handel. London: Thames and Hudson, 1984. ISBN 0-500-01355-1
Keates, Jonathan. Handel, the man and his music. London: V. Gollancz, 1985. ISBN
0-575-03573-0
Keates, Jonathan (1985). Handel: The Man and His Music. New York: St Martin's Press.
Larsen, J.P. (1972). Handel's Messiah. London: Adams and Charles Black Limited.
Leopold, Silke. Hndel die Opern Brenreiter 2009, ISBN 978-3-7618-1991-3
McGeary, Thomas (2013). The Politics of Opera in Handel's Britain. Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-00988-2.
Mainwaring, John (1760). Memoirs of the Life of the Late George Frederic Handel
(https://books.google.com/books?id=dq2ev_ucbWkC). London: Printed for R. and J. Dodsley.
Meynell, Hugo. The Art of Handel's Operas, The Edwin Mellen Press (1986) ISBN
0-88946-425-1
National Portrait Gallery. Handel. A Celebration of his Life and Times 16851759.
Young, Percy Marshall (1966). Handel. New York: David White Company.
External links
"Handel material". BBC Radio 3 archives.
Howell, Ian. "How to Handle Spelling Hndel". The Countertenor Voice (February 2011).
Howell, Ian. "Guiding Handel's Legacy: An Interview with Handel House Museum Director
Sarah Bardwell". The Countertenor Voice (May 2011).
Works by George Frideric Handel (http://www.gutenberg.org/author
/Handel,+George+Frideric) at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about George Frideric Handel (https://archive.org
/search.php?query=%28+%28Georg+OR+George%29+AND+%28Frideric+OR+Frederick+O
R+Friedrich%29+AND+%28Handel+OR+Hndel%29++%29) at Internet Archive
Works by George Frideric Handel (http://librivox.org/author/2630) at LibriVox (public
domain audiobooks)
Edward Dent's Handel biography (http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/9089) at Project Gutenberg
The second volume of Winton Dean for "Handel's Operas" covering the years 17261741
(http://www.boydell.co.uk/43832682.HTM)
Friedrich Chrysander's Handel biography (in German) (http://www.zeno.org/Musik
/M/Chrysander,+Friedrich/G.F.+H%C3%A4ndel)
Biographical details (http://www.haendel.haendelhaus.de/en/Biography/Biographic_Details/)
web site
Handel Houses:
The Hndel-Haus in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt (http://www.haendelhaus.de/en) Handel's
birthplace
The Handel House Museum (https://handelhendrix.org/) Handel's home in London
Handel Reference Database (http://ichriss.ccarh.org/HRD/)
Digitized images of Old English Songs (http://exploreuk.uky.edu/catalog/xt702v2c9n72_1),
containing works by Handel, housed at the University of Kentucky Libraries Special
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Collections
Scores and recordings
Free scores by George Frideric Handel (http://openmusiclibrary.org/person/37699/) in the
Open Music Library (http://openmusiclibrary.org)
Free scores by George Frideric Handel at the International Music Score Library Project:
includes Complete Works Edition (Ausgabe der Deutschen Hndelgesellschaft)
Free scores by George Frideric Handel in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
The Mutopia Project (http://www.mutopiaproject.org/cgibin/maketable.cgi?Composer=HandelGF&preview=1) provides free downloading of sheet music and
MIDI files for some of Handel's works.
Free typeset sheet music (http://cantorion.org/musicsearch/composer/handel/) of Handel's
works from Cantorion.org
Handel cylinder recordings (http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu
/search.php?query=Handel+George+Frideric&queryType=%40attr+1%3D1), from the
Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara
Library.
Handel's Sheet Music (http://www.free-scores.com/Download-PDF-Sheet-Music-GeorgeFrideric-Handel.htm) by free-scores.com
Kunst der Fuge: George Frideric Handel MIDI files (http://www.kunstderfuge.com
/handel.htm)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=George_Frideric_Handel&
oldid=742472430"
Categories: George Frideric Handel 1685 births 1759 deaths
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