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Handel 1685 - 1759 (74)

I should be sorry if I only entertained them. I wish to make them better.


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Georg Friedrich Händel (February 23 or March 5, 1685 - April 14, 1759) was a German baroque composer who lived most of his life in England. He was born in Halle, Germany, and his father was a barber-surgeon in the service of a local duke. He wanted his son to become a lawyer, but with the intervention of the duke, who distinguished a musical talent in the child, he started taking church organ lessons. Georg's father died in 1702 and he continued his studies in music but at the same time enrolled in law according to his wish. He did not finish law and started working as an organist, coming in contact with important musicians of his time, such as Sacralti.

In 1710 he traveled to England and presented an opera in London that had great success. He settled in London and worked as a theatrical businessman. In 1737 he went bankrupt and probably suffered a stroke as his right arm was paralyzed. He managed to recover and then began his most important work, the oratorio "Messiah". From 1751 his vision decreased and he was gradually led to blindness, however he composed music continuously, mainly operas and oratorios. He died in 1759