Essential Handel
Born in 1685, the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel became the nearest thing to a superstar composer the Baroque period could offer. A celebrity in his own right, he composed music to thrill and excite his audiences as well as show off the talents of some of the greatest musicians of the time.
Read more…Born Georg Friedrich Händel (he anglicised his name when he became a naturalized English citizen in 1726) in the German town of Halle, he travelled widely in Italy before a brief stint at the court in Hanover. That came to an end when he received an invitation to write an opera for a London in thrall to the latest fashion for 'opera seria'. His position in the English capital was further reinforced with the coronation of the Hanoverian George I. For George I he composed his 'Water Music' Suite in 1717, and when he was succeeded by George II, Handel provided anthems for the Coronation, including 'Zadok the Priest'. Throughout his long, successful career Handel mastered multiple genres, and switched with the change of fashion from opera to oratorio (the most famous of which is 'Messiah') with particular success. His music can be as thrilling to us today as it must have been to audiences at the time and epitomises the grandeur and splendour of the Baroque. But it also, especially in his vocal music, conveys a touching and very human intimacy.