George Friederich Handel

2 Pages 471 Words

George Friederich Handel was born in Halle, Germany, on February 23, 1685. His father intended him to be a lawyer, and Handel indeed enrolled at the University of Halle as a law student. Luckily, however, he also had been studying with the Halle cathedral organist Wilhelm Zachow, and eventually left Halle in 1703 to begin his musical career in Hamburg as a violinist and harpsichordist. He subsequently traveled to Italy, where he began presenting his operas and cantatas. He then spent a short time in Hanover as Kappelmeister at the court before permanently moving to London in 1712. He continued to write operas, church music, and music for the court. In 1719, King George I appointed Handel "Master of Arts." In 1723, he was appointed a composer to the Chapel Royal, and in 1727 he became a naturalized British citizen.
Handel turned his attention to oratorios during a period when operas were becoming less popular. In 1741 Handel received a request for a new work to benefit three Dublin charities. At the time, he had recently suffered a stroke and had bad health, so was his financial condition. During the summer of 1741, Handel was staying at the 1,000-acre Gopsall estate owned by Humphery Jennings, whose grandson Charles Jennens was a friend of Handel's. Charles, a writer, had been the librettist for Handel's Saul. Jennens wrote the Messiah libretto. Handel began composing Messiah in late August and completed it in just over three weeks, writing under a temple on the grounds of Gopsall estate. Messiah is written in three parts. Despite the work's popularity today as a seasonal Christmas production, only the first part concerns Advent and the birth of the savior Jesus Christ. The second part relates the Passion of Christ and ends with the "Hallelujah" chorus celebrating His Resurrection. The third part contemplates the aftermath of the Resurrection and its effect upon the world, ending with the great "Amen" chorus, "Worthy is the Lamb that ...