Georg Friedrich Händel
Most music lovers have encountered George Frederick Handel through holiday-time renditions of the Messiah's "Hallelujah" chorus. And many of them know and love that oratorio on Christ's life, death, and resurrection, as well as a few other greatest hits like the orchestral Water Music and Royal Fireworks Music, and perhaps Judas Maccabeus or one of the other English oratorios. Yet his operas, for which he was widely known in his own time, are the province mainly of specialists in Baroque music, and the events of his life, even though they reflected some of the most important musical issues of the day, have never become as familiar as the careers of Bach or Mozart. Perhaps the single word that best describes his life and music is "cosmopolitan": he was a German composer, trained in Italy, who spent most of his life in England. Handel was born in the German city of Halle on February 23, 1685. His father noted but did not nurture his musical talent, and he had to sneak a small keyboard instrument into his attic to practice. As a child he studied music with Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, organist at the Liebfrauenkirche, and for a time he seemed destined for a career as a church organist himself. After studying law briefly at the University of Halle, Handel began serving as organist on March 13, 1702, at the Domkirche there. Dissatisfied, he took a post as violinist in the Hamburg opera orchestra in 1703, and his frustration with musically provincial northern Germany was perhaps shown when he fought a duel the following year with the composer Matheson over the accompaniment to one of Matheson's operas. In 1706 Handel took off for Italy, then the font of operatic innovation, and mastered contemporary trends in Italian serious opera. He returned to Germany to become court composer in Hannover, whose rulers were linked by family ties with the British throne; his patron there, the Elector of Hannover, became King George I of England. English audiences took to his 1711 opera Rinaldo, and several years later Handel jumped at the chance to move to England permanently. He impressed King George early on with the Water Music of 1716, written as entertainment for a royal boat outing. Through the 1720s Handel composed Italian operatic masterpieces for London stages: Ottone, Serse (Xerxes), and other works often based on classical stories. His popularity was dented, though, by new English-language works of a less formal character, and in the 1730s and 1740s Handel turned to the oratorio, a grand form that attracted England's new middle-class audiences. Not only Messiah but also Israel in Egypt, Samson, Saul, and many other works established him as a venerated elder of English music. The oratorios displayed to maximum effect Handel's melodic gift and the sense of timing he brought to big choral numbers. Among the most popular of all the oratorios was Judas Maccabeus, composed in 32 days in 1746. Handel presented the oratorio six times during its first season and about 40 times before his death 12 years later, conducting it 30 times himself. In 1737, Handel suffered a stroke, which caused both temporary paralysis in his right arm and some loss of his mental faculties, but he recovered sufficiently to carry on most normal activity. He was urged to write an autobiography, but never did. Blind in old age, he continued to compose. He died in London on April 14, 1759. Beethoven thought Handel the greatest of all his predecessors; he once said, "I would bare my head and kneel at his grave."© Rovi Staff /TiVo Read more
Most music lovers have encountered George Frederick Handel through holiday-time renditions of the Messiah's "Hallelujah" chorus. And many of them know and love that oratorio on Christ's life, death, and resurrection, as well as a few other greatest hits like the orchestral Water Music and Royal Fireworks Music, and perhaps Judas Maccabeus or one of the other English oratorios. Yet his operas, for which he was widely known in his own time, are the province mainly of specialists in Baroque music, and the events of his life, even though they reflected some of the most important musical issues of the day, have never become as familiar as the careers of Bach or Mozart. Perhaps the single word that best describes his life and music is "cosmopolitan": he was a German composer, trained in Italy, who spent most of his life in England.
Handel was born in the German city of Halle on February 23, 1685. His father noted but did not nurture his musical talent, and he had to sneak a small keyboard instrument into his attic to practice. As a child he studied music with Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, organist at the Liebfrauenkirche, and for a time he seemed destined for a career as a church organist himself. After studying law briefly at the University of Halle, Handel began serving as organist on March 13, 1702, at the Domkirche there. Dissatisfied, he took a post as violinist in the Hamburg opera orchestra in 1703, and his frustration with musically provincial northern Germany was perhaps shown when he fought a duel the following year with the composer Matheson over the accompaniment to one of Matheson's operas. In 1706 Handel took off for Italy, then the font of operatic innovation, and mastered contemporary trends in Italian serious opera. He returned to Germany to become court composer in Hannover, whose rulers were linked by family ties with the British throne; his patron there, the Elector of Hannover, became King George I of England. English audiences took to his 1711 opera Rinaldo, and several years later Handel jumped at the chance to move to England permanently. He impressed King George early on with the Water Music of 1716, written as entertainment for a royal boat outing.
Through the 1720s Handel composed Italian operatic masterpieces for London stages: Ottone, Serse (Xerxes), and other works often based on classical stories. His popularity was dented, though, by new English-language works of a less formal character, and in the 1730s and 1740s Handel turned to the oratorio, a grand form that attracted England's new middle-class audiences. Not only Messiah but also Israel in Egypt, Samson, Saul, and many other works established him as a venerated elder of English music. The oratorios displayed to maximum effect Handel's melodic gift and the sense of timing he brought to big choral numbers. Among the most popular of all the oratorios was Judas Maccabeus, composed in 32 days in 1746. Handel presented the oratorio six times during its first season and about 40 times before his death 12 years later, conducting it 30 times himself. In 1737, Handel suffered a stroke, which caused both temporary paralysis in his right arm and some loss of his mental faculties, but he recovered sufficiently to carry on most normal activity. He was urged to write an autobiography, but never did. Blind in old age, he continued to compose. He died in London on April 14, 1759. Beethoven thought Handel the greatest of all his predecessors; he once said, "I would bare my head and kneel at his grave."
© Rovi Staff /TiVo
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Handel: L'Allegro, Il Penseroso ed il Moderato, 1740
Gabrieli Consort, Paul McCreesh
Classical - Released by Winged Lion on May 4, 2015
Gramophone Editor's Choice5 Sterne Fono Forum KlassikHandel's L'Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato was composed in 1740, and musically it shares much with Messiah, from a couple of years later. It has ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Organ Concertos Op. 4
La Divina Armonia, Lorenzo Ghielmi
Classical - Released by Passacaille on Feb 10, 2008
The Qobuz Ideal Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Jephtha
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers
Classical - Released by Coro on Sep 1, 2014
5 de DiapasonJephtha (1751) was Handel's last oratorio. It does not have quite the dramatic sweep of Messiah or Israel in Egypt, but it contains many moments equal ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
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Messiah - Händel
S:t Jacobs Kammarkör, REbaroque, Gary Graden
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Naxos Sweden - Proprius Records on Nov 3, 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: 16 Concertos for Organ and Orchestra
Orchestre des Jardins Musicaux, Guy Bovet
Classical - Released by VDE-GALLO on Aug 17, 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Concerti grossi
Combattimento Consort Amsterdam
Classical - Released by Challenge Classics on Aug 9, 2005
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Messiah
Classical - Released by Coro on Jun 1, 1987
Boston's Handel and Haydn Society gave the first complete performance of Messiah in the U.S. in 1818 and has done the work hundreds of times since the ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
50 Must-Have Handel Masterpieces
Classical - Released by Cobra Entertainment LLC. on Jul 17, 2012
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Alexander's Feast
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers
Classical - Released by Coro on Apr 20, 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Music of the 18th Century for Flute and Guitar
Hans-Martin Linde, Konrad Ragossnig
Classical - Released by Tuxedo Music on Apr 30, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi & Handel: Arias
Julie Boulianne, Clavecin en Concert, Luc Beauséjour
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Groupe Analekta, Inc on Jan 27, 2017
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Lute and Harp Concerto in B-flat major, Etc.
Concertos - Released by Past Classics on Jul 7, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel Choruses
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers
Classical - Released by Coro on Oct 2, 2020
The "greatest hits" album is generally the province of traditional symphony orchestras and large popular choruses; ensembles from the historical perfo ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Power of Love (Arias from Handel operas)
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Avie Records on Oct 2, 2015
A rising operatic star, soprano Amanda Forsythe is a specialist in Baroque vocal music, and her lively performances of arias by George Frederick Hande ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Trio Sonatas for Two Violins and Basso Continuo
Classical - Released by Avie Records on Mar 4, 2016
The music's authenticity has been questioned, but it is impressively played and may be unfamiliar even to Handel lovers. © TiVo ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Cantate 01
Contrasto Armonico, Marco Vitale , Roberta Mameli
Classical - Released by Ayros on May 14, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Messiah (Complete Version, Original Instrumentation)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult
Classical - Released by Tam-Tam Media on Jan 1, 1955
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Israel In Egypt
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers
Classical - Released by Coro on Jul 1, 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Arias and Dances, Excerpts from Agrippina and Alcina
Karina Gauvin, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra
Classical - Released by Analekta on Jan 1, 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Unknown Handel
Classical - Released by Challenge Classics on Feb 2, 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo