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Fast Facts
- Born: February 23, 1685 (the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach and Domenico Scarlatti
- Died: April 14, 1759
- Was a skillful harpsichordist and organist by the age of 7
- Began to compose music at the age of 9
- Suffered a stroke at age 52 that caused temporary paralysis
- Was a devoted patron of the London Foundling Hospital
- Affected by blindness in his last eight years
- Never married and kept a private personal life
- Bach said: "Handel is the only person I would wish to see before I die, and the only person I would wish to be, were I not Bach"
- was referred to by Beethoven as "the master of us all."
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Life
From childhood, it was clear that Handel had a natural gift for music and had already started composing original works by the age of nine. Despite his fathers wishes that he become a Lawyer, Handel was permitted to learn composing and piano from renowned teacher Friedrich Wilhelm Zachau. He eventually gave in to his father's wishes and began studying law in 1702 at the University of Halle but quickly dropped out after the death of his father a year later. After moving to Hamburg and accepting a job as a violinist he began writing operas and gained popularity throughout Europe. He continued to compose music through most of the early 18th Century and his most famous work is his Messiah oratorio, set to the text from the King James Bible. In 1750, Handel was involved in a carriage accident, which eventually led to blindness. Handel died in 1759 in London. -
Notable Works
- 1704: Almira
- 1707: Rodrigo
- 1709: Agrippina
- 1711: Rinaldo
- 1712: Il pastor fido
- 1713: Teseo
- 1717: Water Music
- 1742: Messiah
- 1743: Samson
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Wikipedia: George Frideric Handel
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9:15 PM: George Frideric Handel: Trumpet Concerto in g: Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Neville Marriner, co.. http://tinyurl.com/msfv2v
@909WGUC | July 10, 2009 12:19 AM -
5:24 PM: George Frideric Handel: Concerto Grosso #1: Handel and Haydn Society, Christopher Hogwood, conductorLOi.. http://tinyurl.com/lp9xse
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7:17 AM: George Frideric Handel: Concerto Grosso #4: Handel and Haydn Society, Christopher Hogwood, conductorLOi.. http://tinyurl.com/kjsgrj
@909WGUC | July 09, 2009 10:49 AM -
11:00 AM: George Frideric Handel: Almira: 2nd Overture: Brandenburg Consort, Roy Goodman, conductorHyperion #66860 http://tinyurl.com/mey83h
@909WGUC | July 08, 2009 02:20 PM -
6:44 PM: George Frideric Handel: Harp Concerto in Bb: I Musici; Ursula Holliger, harpPhilips #454029 http://tinyurl.com/kjfnkx
@909WGUC | July 07, 2009 09:49 PM
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Questions and Answers About George Frideric Handel | View All | Ask a Question
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Famous Composers - George Frideric Handel - $19.99
George Frideric Handel, was one of the greatest composers of the late baroque period and, during his lifetime, perhaps the most internationally famous of all musicians. Throughout his life Handel avoided the rigorous contrapuntal technique...
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George Frideric Handel - $18.95
Noted musicologist’s exceptionally full and detailed study of the man, his music and his times—widely considered the standard biography. Childhood, early music training, years in London; composition of Messiah, other oratorios and operas; a...
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George II's coronation, which is depicted on this Hyperion two-CD set, took place in 1727 amid chaotic circumstances, and it's hard to know how much of the surviving documentation indicates what actually happened as against what was meant t...
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