Music

George Frideric Handel

1685–1759 · German-born British

Baroque

Handel was born in Halle, trained in Italy and made his career in London, becoming a naturalised British subject in 1727. He dominated London's Italian opera scene before inventing the English oratorio, and his Messiah, Water Music and coronation anthems remain central to British musical life.

How to spot them

▸Grand, public Baroque music: trumpets and timpani, ceremonial choruses and broad, singable tunes
▸Jubilant 'Hallelujah!' repeated by chorus with trumpets and drums is from Messiah
▸A quiet string build-up exploding into a choral 'Zadok the priest' is the coronation anthem (heard at every British coronation since 1727)
▸Quiz clues: Halle, London, Georges I and II, English oratorio, Thames barge, Green Park fireworks

Key works — listen

Messiah, HWV 56 (1741)

English oratorio to Charles Jennens's scriptural libretto; premiered in Dublin in 1742; contains the 'Hallelujah' chorus

Recording: Composer: Georg Friedrich Händel ; Performed by: MIT Concert Choir; Directed by William C. Cutter. · CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Water Music, HWV 348–350 (1717)

Three suites first played for George I on a barge on the Thames

Music for the Royal Fireworks, HWV 351 (1749)

Written for George II's celebration of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in Green Park

Zadok the Priest, HWV 258 (1727)

Coronation anthem for George II, sung at every British coronation since

Recording: George Frideric Handel · CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

'The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba', from Solomon, HWV 67 (1749)

Bustling sinfonia for oboes and strings opening Act III of the oratorio

Recording: George Frideric Handel · CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

'Ombra mai fu' (Handel's 'Largo'), from Serse, HWV 40 (1738)

King Xerxes' aria to a plane tree, famous as an instrumental 'Largo'

Quick-fire facts

•Handel was born in Halle in 1685, the same year as J. S. Bach, and died in London in 1759; he is buried in Westminster Abbey.
•Messiah was reputedly composed in about 24 days in 1741 and first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742.
•Tradition says audiences stand for the 'Hallelujah' chorus because George II did so, though there is no firm evidence.
•Rinaldo (1711) was the first Italian opera written specifically for the London stage.
•Zadok the Priest has been sung at every British coronation since that of George II in 1727; Tony Britten's UEFA Champions League anthem is modelled on it.
•His London home at 25 Brook Street, Mayfair, is now Handel Hendrix House – Jimi Hendrix later lived next door.
•HWV stands for Händel-Werke-Verzeichnis, the catalogue compiled by Bernd Baselt.
•The keyboard air and variations known as 'The Harmonious Blacksmith' come from his Suite No. 5 in E major, HWV 430.

Drill it — 10 cards

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Sources

Encyclopaedia Britannica — George Frideric Handel
Richard Taruskin — The Oxford History of Western Music