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Home > Genres > Classical > George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel (Februray 23, 1685 – April 14, 1759) was an English/German composer of baroque music. He spent most of the time of his life in Great Britain. Handel was born in the city of Halle, in northern Germany, son of a barber and surgeon. His father had decided that his son would be a lawyer, but when he saw the interest that Handel had for music, which he used to study and practice secretly, his father changed his mind and was willing to pay Handel’s music lessons. This way, Handel became Halle’s main organist’s student. At the age of 17, Handel was already named organist of Halle’s Calvinist Cathedral.
After a year, Handel left for Hamburg, where he was admitted as an interpreter of the violin and the clavicorn in the opera orchestra. In short time, in 1705, his work “Almira” was played in that same place, and soon after, “Nero”. The next year he accepted an invitation to travel to Italy, where he spent more than 3 years. There he wrote new music, and in 1710 he returned from Italy and became the director of the Hannover Court Orchestra. In 1727, Handel became a British citizen, changing the way how he wrote his name. Handel composed 32 oratorios, 40 operas, numerous musical pieces for masses, 110 cantatas, 20 concerts, 39 sonatas, fugues, suites, and other orchestral pieces.
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