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George Frideric HandelBorn: Feburary 23,1685Died: April 14, 1759
George Frideric Handel was born the same year Bach was born, on February 23, 1685. Very little is known about his boyhood, although by the age of ten he was playing the organ well enough to get the attention of Duke Johann Adolf of Weissenfels. Handel studied with Friedrich Zachow, organist for the Lutheran church in Halle. It is not known if he had any other other teachers, but by the time he was 17 years of age he had become the organist at the cathedral. 
However, he was most interested in the theater, and in 1703 he went to Hamburg, one of the busiest and most well-known opera centers of Europe. It was there that he began composing. It was also there that he became friends with Johann Mattheson. Both of these young men were strong minded and at one point they got into an argument that ended in a duel. Mattheson's sword broke on a metal button on Handel's coat. If it had struck a half inch in either direction Handel would probably have lost his life. Later, they became friends again, and Mattheson even took a lead in Handel's first opera, composed in 1707.
That same year, 1707, he went to Rome, where he spent the following three years. He made a big impression, although now very little is known about his time there. It is said that he had a harpsichord and organ duel with Domenico Scarlatti, who also was born in 1685. They were declared equal as harpsichordists, but as an organist he won easily. One audience member, Mainwaring, observed, "Scarlatti himself declared the superiority of his antagonist, and owned ingenuously, that till he had heard him on this instrument he had no conception of its powers." In 1710 he went to England, where Italian opera was considered the most fashionable of entertainments. He composed an opera for the English, which he named "Rinaldo", and it was a huge success. After a short time back in Germany, he found a way to get back to London, where he spent the rest of his life.
In London, he began composing many operas, and was as much involved in the business side of them as he was the creative side. He was able to establish friendships with the British nobility, such as Lord Burlington and the Duke of Chandos. He also became involved in London's social life, where he headed opera companies that were underwritten by the nobility. He went to Europe to search for singers. In the meantime he was able to write many operas in the Italian language. These operas were finished in amazing speed, and he was to compose over forty of what are now called "baroque opera".
An aspect of the baroque opera has been described by Harold Schonberg, the New York Times music critic when he described the behavior of the audience, "Opera-going in Handel's day was not the sedate experience it is today. People went to the opera to be seen, and to follow the vocal gyrations of a favorite singer. At performances they would play cards, chat, move around, eat oranges and nuts, spit freely, hiss and yowl at a singer they did not like. The singers themselves would go out of character, greeting friends in the boxes, or talking to one another while they were not singing. Nobody on stage pretended to act." 
For this kind of opera, spectacular singing was needed. He had those singers, and vocal art has been in decline ever since the disappearance ot the castratos. A geat castrato was the vocal wonder of all time: a singing machine, virtually a musical instrument. Even before Handel's time the castratos were idols. They were spoiled, pampered figures of great wealth and vanity, and even greater eccentricity. They were the first performers in musical history to achieve star status."
By the late 1720's the interest in Italian opera began to fade, and his Italian opera company became bankrupt. By this time Handel had made a large amount of money, however. He then began writing in another form, the oratorio. His public was ready for this, and he composed a total of 20 oratorios, the most famous of which is "Messiah". He underwent three unsuccessful operations to remove cataracts and became practically blind to the end of his life, although he was able to still play organ concertos and accompany his oratorios up to 1759. Handel died at the age of 74 in London on April 14, 1759 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. In his time he was considered to be one of the greatest musicians who ever lived, and respect for his music remained high, though it was mainly for his oratorios. For over 150 years English music was strongly influenced by Handel, and with the exception of Mendelssohn no other British composer had as much of an impact. After the turn of the 20th century his reputation had declined even in England. Of course, Messiah, continues to be well known, and is still performed frequently. He wrote great music, and through all of it is an unusual kind of energy, confidence and invention, and it is waiting to be rediscovered.
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