Today happens to be the birthday of this maestro who would have been 332 years if he were alive. A summarized history about him would do. Join me as we take a tour through time.
HIS EARLY LIFE
Georg Friedrich Handel was born to a court surgeon called Georg Händel and Dorothea Taust in Halle, Germany on 23rd February, 1685.
Handel's birthplace
When he was 8 years, Duke Johann Adolf I saw his talent and proposed to Handel's father that he played at Marktkirche in Halle under the training and instruction of Friedrich Wilhem Zachow who himself was an organist and composer.
Marktkirche in Halle where Zachow and Handel performed as organists
It was there Handel composed his first pieces mostly services at age 9. Surprised? Yeah. Age 9! By then he had replaced Zachow since Zachow was not regular in church. After his father died, he moved to Hamburg in July 1703 in order to experience secular music and the fact that Hamburg had an established opera company. He then became a violinist and harpsichordist in the orchestra of the Hamburg Oper am Gansemarkt at age 18. He wrote his first two operas Almira and Nero which were produced while he was at age 20.
HIS MUSICAL CAREER
He was invited by Gian Gastone de Medici to Florence, Italy. The teamed up with the famous librettist, Antonio Salvi.
Handel left for Rome but opera was banned there by the clergy hence composed the Dixit Dominus (1707). It was here too he invented what came to be known as oratorio and the first oratorio waassss...
WRONG!
I knew you would say Messiah. And if you said Hallelujah Chorus, go and drown yourself in a lake now. His first oratorio was La resurrezione (The resurrection) which he composed in 1709. He composed another oratorio entitled Il trionfo del tempo(The triumph of truth and time) in 1710 for Ottoboni. He also composed an opera entitled Agrippina which was produced in 1709. It run successively for 27 nights and it's magnificence and beauty captured the audience who nicknamed Handel as Il caro Sassone (The dear Saxon).
PERMANENT SETTLEMENT IN LONDON
When he was 27 years old, Handel moved permanently to London. There he composed for Queen Anne the Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate which was performed in 1713. In the year 1717, Handel composed the famous Water Music. In that same year, he composed the 12 Chandos Anthems at Cannons in Middlesex.
During this period, the nation's economy was in a deteriorating state and he lost patronage to his works. But later on in 1724 he composed 2 mighty operas; Giulio Cesare and Rodelinda. These operas caught the ear of many English audiences.
In 1727, Handel composed the coronation anthems for the coronation of King George II. Thus, brought the famous Zadok the Priest which is performed at every British Coronation.
Later on, at age 52, he suffered a stroke that affected his understanding; it almost seemed as if he would not recover and never be able to perform again(since he had lost the use of the fingers of his right arm.). "And though worms destroyed his body, yet in his flesh did he see God". In order to speed up his recovery, he went to a spa in Germany and he recovered quickly and ended up playing for an astonished audience.
One year after his stoke, he composed Serse which includes the famous Ombra Mai Fu. Then he composed his first English oratorio, Athaliah and he even recomposed Esther due to piracy of the former composition. He composed Saul and Israel in Egypt and then in 1741, he composed the famous Messiah which was first performed on 13th April, 1742 with 26 boys and 5 men. He composed other oratorios like Samson, Jephta, Solomon and many others.
CLOSING CHAPTERS OF HIS LIFE
On his way to London from Germany in August 1750, he was involved in a carriage accident which got him severely injured. Then a Charlatan called Chevalier Taylor who blinded Bach, also caused Handel to be completely blind in 1752. After attending his last performance which was the Messiah died in his home in Brook Street on 14th April, 1759 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
"Behold I tell you a mistery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. At the last trumpet. The trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed."
We are back from our time travel now. For more information on the story of Handel, you can visit these links: http://www.biography.com/people/george-handel-9327378, http://www.naxos.com/person/George_Frideric_Handel/24403.htm, http://www.classicfm.com/handel/guides, http://www.gfhandel.org.
Greetings from Choral Music Ghana, and a loud shout out to Jesse Jojo Johnson, CEO of Choral Music Ghana and all choral/classical music lovers.
