Georg Friedrich Handel: biography, interesting facts, work

Georg Friedrich Handel

The same age as Scarlatti and Bach, Georg Handel is one of the greatest composers of the Baroque era. Over 57 years of creative career, he composed more than 120 cantatas, duets and trios, 29 oratorios, 42 operas, numerous arias, anthems, chamber music, odes and serenades, organ concerts.

Handel made an invaluable contribution to the development of opera and, according to critics, this composer was born a little later, he could successfully carry out a complete reform of this genre. English citizen of German origin, Handel was a truly trans-cultural figure, easily combining in his work the musical experience of English, Italian, German composers and performers.

A brief biography of Georg Friedrich Handel and many interesting facts about the composer can be found on our page.

Brief biography of Handel

Georg Friedrich Handel was born in Halle, Germany in 1685. The father of the future composer, Georg Handel, having married at one time the widow of a court barber-surgeon, inherited the position of the deceased. He raised his five children from marriage with that woman in accordance with his life principles: "conservatism, caution, frugality and prudence". After the death of his first wife, George married the daughter of a Lutheran priest Dorothea Taust, who became the mother of GF. Handel.

The life principles of a deeply religious father on the one hand and the origin of the mother on the other, as well as the low status of their family in society, should have categorically closed the way for the boy to music, but this did not happen “quite by accident”.

In Handel’s biography there is the fact that once, by the will of fate, the amazing 7-year-old Friedrich's play was heard by Duke Johann Adolf I. The nobleman recommended giving the boy a musical education, and his father, not daring to contradict the will of the duke, had to forget about his son’s legal education. George Handel hired F.V. Tsakhov, who became the first ... and the last one who worked with Handel on music.

Belonging as an ecclesiastical organist to the old school, Tsakhov reveled in the performance of fugues, canons and counterpoint. At the same time, he was well acquainted with European music, and he also composed works that gave a new, concert-dramatic style. Many of the characteristics of the "Gendel" style will originate precisely in the music of Tsakhov.

Harpsichordthe violin organ, oboe - playing on these instruments Handel mastered and perfected under the strict guidance of his mentor. And since shifting his church duties to a student gradually became a habit with Tsakhov, 9-year-old Friedrich Handel successfully composed and performed organ music for worship for several years.

When Frederick's father died in 1697, the boy honored the memory of his father by writing a poem. He signed it with his name and added: "Devoted to free arts", as if putting an end to an argument with his father about his musical career.

It is not known for certain whether Handel attended Italy after (or shortly before) the death of his father or not, but there is evidence that in 1702 he entered the University of Gallia and, of course, not to the Faculty of Law. University studies made the young man the person we know.

At the beginning of his university studies, Handel, although he was a Lutheran, was appointed organist in the Gallic Calvinist Cathedral. This gave him a good salary and shelter. In those years, he met with G.F. Telemann, one of the leading German composers of his time.

Handel’s responsibilities as organist Domkirche undoubtedly included the composition of Divine music, but not a single work has been preserved. But then his first chamber works composed at that time survived: 6 sonatas for two oboes and bass, and also the first opus published in 1724 in Amsterdam.

A special commitment to secular music soon forced Handel in 1703 to move to Hamburg - "German Venice" - where the opera house was located. Here he wrote his first operas - “Almira” and “Nero” (1705), and three years later - two more: “Daphne” and “Florindo”.

When Ferdinando de 'Medici invited the composer to Italy in 1706, he could not go. The famous "Dixit Dominus" for the words 110 psalm, the oratorio "La resurrezione" and "Il trionfo del tempo", the first Italian opera of the composer "Rodrigo" - these and other works by Handel will write there. The audience, struck, as if by thunder, by the grandeur and pomp of its style, applauded while standing when the aria "Il caro Sassone" from the opera "Agrippina" (1709) was performed.

In 1710, as conductor Prince George, the future king of Great Britain and Ireland, Handel moved to London, where he would later spend the rest of his life. He wrote several operas a year for the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal Theater, the Covent Garden, but the seria’s consistent structure was so close to the imagination of the great composer, and the differences with the nobles were so constant that he replaced one job the other gradually switched from the opera genre to oratorios.

In April 1737, Handel suffered a stroke, as a result of which 4 fingers of his right hand were paralyzed. In the summer, relatives began to notice the periodical confusion of Georg Friedrich, which gave reason to think about the worst. However, a year later he was again in his previous form, although he did not compose operas anymore.

The fatal event happened much later - in 1759. Completely blind in an accident that occurred in 1750, he lived for nine years in darkness. A week before his death, Handel listened to a concert, where they performed his oratorio "Messiah", and on April 14 he died. The composer, who gained fame throughout Europe, was buried in Westminster Abbey with the pomp inherent in the funerals of the statesmen of England.

Interesting facts about Handel

• In the biography of Handel, it is noted that the father of the future composer was very alarmed by the inclinations to music that had manifested themselves early in his son, therefore he forbade keeping musical instruments in his house, and also strictly ordered the boy not to enter any house where there was at least some musical instrument . The result, as you know, became the exact opposite of expectations.
• There is a legend that while parents were sleeping (!), Little Handel played the clavichord secretly kept in the attic. One could have believed this romantic story if it were not a sound source - a musical instrument, but a book, for example.
• Rewriting hundreds of pieces of music from his extensive library for his first teacher F. Tskhov, Handel wrote many of them in his personal notebook, which he did not part with until the end of his days.
• Until recently, the residents of Halle did not know why one of the streets of their city was called “Tsahovstrasse”. Only in 2009, another one appeared on the facade of one of the houses under a sign with the name of the street: "Friedrich Wilhelm Tsakhov (1663-1712), composer and organist. Teacher George Friedrich Handel."
• The book of the first biographer of composer J. Mainworing "Memories of the life of the late George Friedrich Handel" (1760) was published for the first time one year after Handel’s death. This is the only source of most information about the life of the composer before arriving in London, and, I must say, a source full of contradictions.
• University lectures by the lawyer Christian Tomasius taught Handel respect for human dignity, freedom of conscience and the sacred grandeur of the law, the principles that prompted him to spend half a century in England.
• The orphanage, organized by the teacher of Handel by the theologian and professor of oriental languages, Augustus Herman Franke, awakened in the heart of the future composer noble feelings, which made him too later to engage in charity.
• The cantata "Acis and Galatea" (1708) during the life of Handel was his most "performed" work.
• The opera Rinaldo (1711), based on the Italian poet La Germeme Liberata by Torquato Tasso, was hastily written, with many borrowings from his own previously written Italian works. Yet it is this opera that contains Handel’s most beloved arias "Cara sposa, amante cara" and "Lascia ch'io pianga".
• In July 1717, Handel's Music on the Water was performed more than three times on the Thames for King Henry I and his guests. They say that the king liked the music so much that it promoted reconciliation between him and the composer.
• In 1717, Handel became the home composer in Cannons, Middax, where he laid the cornerstone for his choral works in twelve Chandossian anthems. Romain Rolland wrote that these anthems were connected with Handel's oratorios just like the Italian cantatas - with his operas: "magnificent sketches of more monumental works."
• The opera Scipio (1726) is based on the biography of the Roman general Scipio Afrikanus. The slow march from this opera is a regiment march of the Grenadier Guard and is performed during the ceremonial procession of the London city police.

• The opera "Scipio" was performed at the Royal Academy of Music as a temporary replacement of the repertoire, until the famous Faustina Bordoni, the owner of a charming mezzo-soprano, arrived in London.
• In 1727 Handel was entrusted to compose 4 anthems for the coronation ceremony of King George II. One of them, the antiquity "Priest Zadok", has been performed since then during every British coronation. A fragment of this anthem is also used in the anthem of the UEFA Champions League football.
• The widely known choir "Hallelujah" from the "Messiah" by order of George II became obligatory for performance in all the churches of the Anglican Church and, as a prayer, it was necessary to listen standing.
• On his deathbed, Handel whispered: "I know my savior is alive" - ​​words from the "Messiah". These words and notes to them will be written on the tomb of the composer.

Collection of paintings by George Friedrich Handel

Handel was very fond of painting, and while his vision did not leave him, he often admired the paintings for sale. He collected a huge collection of paintings, consisting of 70 canvases and 10 engravings, which depicted landscapes, ruins, hunting, historical scenes, seascapes and battle scenes. The collection also contained a couple of canvases of an erotic nature and several portraits and scenes on biblical themes.

Handel bequeathed some of his canvases to his relatives and friends, the rest of the paintings were auctioned on February 28, 1760 by Abraham Langford.

Handel Museum in Halle, Germany.

The first Handel Museum was opened in 1948 in the house where the future composer was born. The Handel House Museum has become particularly popular among tourists since 2009, when the permanent exhibition Handel - European opened there. In each of the 14 exhibition halls, a certain period of the composer’s life is presented.

In the attic, in addition to the main exposition, temporary exhibitions of rare exhibits are held, connected not only with Handel, but with the history of music as a whole. The museum holds over 700 musical instruments of various epochs, which can be found in the building next to Handel’s House.

Every year, beginning in 1922, the traditional Gallic Handel Festival takes place within the walls of the museum. The rest of the time, the recordings of the composer’s masterpieces are heard in all the halls of the museum.

Museum of George Friedrich Handel in London, England.

In 1723, Handel settled in the house on Brookstreet, 25, settling here for life. The house where he held rehearsals, where Muza inspired him to create his greatest works, the Messiah, the suites Music for the Royal Fireworks, the hymn the Priest Zadok, where the composer sold tickets to his concerts at the Royal Academy of Music, The house became the house-museum of Georg Handel.

The museum was opened in 2001 on the initiative of musicologist Stanley Sadie. It consists of carefully preserved rooms on the second and third floors of house number 25 and the building of the neighboring house number 23, where the exhibitions are located. In the early 1990s, Sadie and his wife, Julia Anna, founded the Handel House Trust, a charitable organization aimed at creating a museum in the composer’s house.

The house was restored, completely reproducing the laconic interior of the time of King George, when the famous composer lived there. This is a typical London house with a terrace of the early 18th century, where there is a basement, three floors and an attic. Later the attic was altered into a full fourth floor. On the ground floor there is a shop that is not related to the museum, and the fourth floor has been leased to the Handel House Trust and has been open to visitors since the end of 2001.

Authentic materials from the 18th century, collected from all over the world, were used to decorate the rooms, and as for the original decoration of Handel’s house, only a few fragments remained. The trust collected a collection of memorabilia by the composer, including the Bern Collection, which includes several hundred items related to Handel’s life: letters, manuscripts, early editions of his musical compositions, etc.

Music of Georg Friedrich Handel in the movies

Many works of the composer are very popular and often sound in modern cinema, as can be judged from the table below.

Movies about handel

Handel could enjoy an enviable number of biographical and documentary films about him, which not every world-famous composer can boast:

1. "The Great Mr. Handel" (1942), in the role of Handel - Wilfrid Lawson.
2. "Crying Angels" (1963), in the role of Handel - Walter Slezak.
3. "East and Fuss" ("East End Hustle") (1976), in the role of Handel - James Vincent.
4. "Honor, Benefit and Pleasure" (1985), in the role of Handel - Trevor Howard.
5. "Garfield: His 9 Lives" (1988), in the role of Handel - Hal Smith.
6. "Dinner Four Hands" ("Sopar a quatre mans") (1991), in the role of Handel - Joachim Cardona.
7. "Farinelli-Neuter" (1994), in the role of Handel - Jeroen Krabbe
8. "Handel's Last Chance" (1996), Leon Pounol as Handel.
9. "Dinner in Four Hands" (2000), in the role of Handel - Mikhail Kozakov.
10. "Handel" (2009), in the role of Handel - Matthias Wibalk and Rolf Rodenburg.

Strokes to the musical portrait of Handel

When the composer arrived in London, English musical art, according to R. Rolland, was dead, and the maestro was to correct this situation. In the biography of Handel, it is noted that for 15 years he founded three opera houses, providing them with a repertoire and personally selecting artists and musicians for their troupe. This proves that Frederick was not only an excellent composer, but also a first-class playwright and a clever entrepreneur.

In Europe, the 18th century was dominated by seria opera, which Handel was to provide with the English aristocracy. "Opera seria" is an Italian musical term for the aristocratic and "serious" style of Italian opera. This term began to be used in the modern sense only when this genre went out of fashion and was considered obsolete. In contrast to the seria opera, there was an opera buffa, a comic genre originating from the improvisations of the comedy del'arte. Writing an average of opera a year, Handel tirelessly attempted to reform the seria opera, develop its dramaturgical beginning, introduce mass scenes. But the Italian public of that time appreciated only singing as such in the opera, and this genre was completely alien to the English culture, unlike its opponent, the comedy.

Trying to keep up the fading interest in seria opera, Handel, working in the 1730s at the Covent Garden theater, inserts choral numbers, ballet into the opera, and in 1735 even introduces organ music concerts between acts.

Just a year after suffering paralysis, Handel wrote the opera Xerxes (1738), which contains the worldwide acclaimed aria Ombra mai fù, better known as Largo Handel.

Deidamia (1741) was the last opera that Handel composed. Her first performance was crowned ... a complete failure. Handel leaves the genre of opera and devotes himself entirely to writing anthems and oratorios, in which he was able to realize all that which the tight framework of the seria opera did not allow him.

The famous oratorio "Messiah" - the sixth work of the composer in this genre - was first performed in Dublin, Ireland in 1742. Handel wrote "The Messiah" in a low-key voice and instrumental form with a number of optional individual numbers. It is noteworthy that Handel in his best oratorio kept the balance between the choir and the solo numbers, never breaking it. After the composer's death, the oratorio was adapted to perform on a much larger scale, with a huge choir and orchestra. Среди прочих, оркестровкой оратории занимался и Моцарт. В конце ХХ - начале XIX ст. начала прослеживаться обратная тенденция: исполнение, максимально приближенное к оригинальному.

В поздних ораториях Генделя роль хора приобретает все большее значение. Высокодраматичная последняя оратория композитора "Иевфай" (1751) хоть и сочинялась очень тяжело и медленно из-за наступающей слепоты, является не меньшим шедевром, чем написанные ранее произведения.

Not only modern musicologists, composers, performers and ordinary music connoisseurs appreciate the work of the great composer. Handel was honored by his contemporaries and colleagues of subsequent generations. Mozart believed that no one was able to express emotions in music in the way Handel did. His musical flair, spoke the Austrian composer, like a lightning strike. Beethoven wanted to kneel at the grave of George Friedrich, so highly he valued his work, saying that everyone needs to learn from Handel to achieve such a magnificent effect by such simple means. In turn, Romain Rolland called Handel the genius of the melody and the forerunner of Gluck for his achievements in the field of reform of the opera genre.