If you can Handel it!

George Frideric Handel Lesson 1 Mystery of History Volume 4.

Another famous Baroque-style composer to come out of the 17th century along side of Bach was George Frideric Handel.  He was born one month before Bach in 1685 in Halle, Germany.  An interesting bit of info is that Bach and Handel never met even though they were both musicians and from the same country.

~Handel was interested in music but his father wanted him to be a lawyer.  
~Handel played instruments quietly at night in secret.

~Handel was a rich and generous man.

~Handel never married.  It is rumored that he was engaged a few times though.

~He loved the opera so he went to Italy and stayed four years to learn opera and later went to England where they loved opera.  He was so popular that Queen Anne gave him a yearly income.

~Handel is probably most famous for writing Water Music for the royal boat procession on the Thames river.  This was a concert performed by 50 musicians on large boat. King George II loved to listen to Handel.

~He is probably most famous for his work called the Messiah.  Apparently when King George II heard the Hallelujah chorus he rose to his feet and cheered.  You can check that out here on Youtube.  Some other of his most popular pieces of music are Largo, Music for the Royal Fireworks (this is a piece that was set to fireworks-check out a version of that here on Youtube), Xerxes, and Zadok the Priest.

~Towards the end of his life, he became blind.  He was said to have had cataract removal surgery that failed leaving him blind.

~Handel died in 1759 and is laid to rest in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey in London, England.  There were over 3,000 people at his funeral.

~Another interesting note is that Beethoven was a huge fan of Handel.  He actually said "He is the greatest composer that ever lived.  I would uncover my head and keel before his tomb."  That is some pretty high praise considering Beethoven was a musical genius too.

To learn more:
My blog post on Bach
You can find a free pdf book on Handel here at tlsbooks
Rutgers Library pdf
Bio.com 
Trivia
The Famous People
San Francisco Classical Voice

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!