Handel: Introduction to The Life Of The Music Legend


George Frederick Handel was born on February 23, 1685, in Halle, Germany. His name was originally Georg Friedrich Handel. He was the son of an elderly surgeon and his very young wife. When he was 15, he became a student of Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, who was the organist at the cathedral of Halle. By 1702, Handel who was now 17, entered Halle University. At the same time, he was also the organist at the Calvinist Church in Halle. Sometime later from 1703-1706, he was employed at the Goose market Opera of Hamburg, where he played second violin in the orchestra and was also a harpsichord accompanist. There, he first achieved distinction as a composer of early German operas and of a St. John’s passion. His musical rivals at this time were Johann Mattheson, with whom he had a sword duel, and Reinhard Keiser. The duel resulted from a quarrel about Handel’s substitution for Mattheson at the opera house harpsichord.
Handel spent four years in Italy from 1706-1710, and during those few years he mastered the fashionable Neapolitan style in opera, oratorio, and solo cantata. The two Italian oratorios were first performed in Rome in 1708- La Resurrezione which means “The Resurrection”, and il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno which means “The Triumph of Time and Disillusion”. These were milestones achieved on the road to world success, which Handel attained with his opera Agrippina in Venice in 1709 at age 24.      

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