Georg Friedrich Georg Friedrich Händel
Even if George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) had not been an accomplished composer, his life would still be fascinating enough. The son of a doctor from Halle an der Saale, he maintained excellent connections to the British royal family and moved freely among the English aristocracy without having a formal employer. Instead, he led the life of an independent artist-entrepreneur, which was unthinkable in the 18th century, and faced bankruptcy more than once. Handel’s immense compositional oeuvre encompasses virtually all genres of his time with the exception of Protestant church music. It has a clear focus on Italian opera seria and the oratorio, which Handel did not directly invent, but which he had a decisive influence on.
Handel received a thorough musical education from a church musician in Halle. His first professional position was at the Hamburg Opera on Gänsemarkt, where he played in the orchestra for about three years. At the age of 21, Handel set off for Italy, then the centre of the musical world. The young man probably had a few letters of recommendation with him, but as far as we know, he ultimately travelled on his own. He then stayed mainly in Venice and Rome, where he mastered the internationally leading Italian style first-hand and was inundated with commissions.
His next position as the exorbitantly well-paid Kapellmeister to the Elector of Hanover took him back to Germany in 1710. The Elector was the designated heir to the British throne, so Handel travelled to London several times, acting as a kind of confidant to the British royal family and promoting the Hanoverian cause with successful operas and compositions in homage to Queen Anne.
In 1713, Handel finally moved to London, where he was welcomed with open arms. The capital’s music scene was extremely turbulent – an opera house that was still making a profit today could be insolvent tomorrow. The key to success were the vocal virtuosos, whose services were sought after by rival circles of the nobility. In this complicated situation, Handel directed various opera companies from 1720 onwards, often at his own expense. These sometimes golden, sometimes very difficult times came to an end when the public gradually lost interest in opera. In financial straits, Handel now embarked on a daring new path by composing oratorios. The first work of this genre was Messiah, whose acclaimed premiere in Dublin in 1741 set in motion a unique, unbroken tradition of performances. Several more oratorios followed until Handel was struck by an eye disease in early 1751 that quickly led to blindness. Despite receiving a great deal of support, he was forced to withdraw from public life. He died in London in 1759, highly revered.