Georg Friedrich Händel (1685 - 1759)

Born 23 Feb 1685 in Halle, Herzogtum Magdeburg, Kurfürstentum Brandenburg-Preußen, Heiliges Römisches Reich

Ancestors

Died 14 Apr 1759 at age 74 in London, England

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Biography

Georg Friedrich Händel is Notable.

Handel is regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Baroque era, with works such as Water Music, Music for the Royal Fireworks and Messiah

Baptismal registration George Frideric Handel on the 24th of February, 1685

Georg Friederich Händel was the son of Georg Händel and Dorothea Taust.^[1] He was born in 1685 in Halle an der Saale in the Kurfürstentum/Electorate Brandenburg.

He was baptized on 24 Feb in the Julian calendar which is 6 Mar Gregorian. It was customary in the area to baptize infants the day after they were born, therefore, the general assumption is that he was born 23 Feb/5 Mar.^[2]

Most of Handel's early life is known only from his biography published by John Mainwaring in 1760^[3] and summarized in his Wikipedia article.

His family's name appears in several variations in the church books in Halle. Victor Schoelcher also writes that Georg Friedrich used the last name Hendel during his extended travels in Italy, but that he had started to sign as George Frideric Handel right after his arrival in England.^[4]

Works

Messiah is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible, and from the version of the Psalms included with the Book of Common Prayer. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742 and received its London premiere nearly a year later. After an initially modest public reception, the oratorio gained in popularity, eventually becoming one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in Western music.^[5]

George Frederic Handel

During the first London performance of Handel's Messiah, King George II stood up as soon as the Hallelujah chorus kicked in - unsurprisingly, it became de rigeur after that.

Sources

1. ↑ Stammbaum Georg Händel, in Seinem Hochverehrten Mitgliede dem Königl. Preuss. Geh. Hofrath und Professor Herrn Dr. Joh. Gottfr. Gruber in Halle zur Jubelfeier eines 50jährigen treuen und edlen Wirkens am 14. Decbr. 1843 dargebracht von dem Thüringisch-Sächsischen Verein für Erforschung des vaterländischen Alterthums : (Familien-Nachrichten über G. F. Händel und Verzeichnisse Hallescher Künstler des 17. Jahrhunderts von K. Ed. Förstemann), Halle : Plötz, 1843.
2. ↑ Händel-Haus in Halle an der Saale - Handschriftliche Documente
3. ↑ Mainwaring, John (1760). Memoirs of the Life of the Late George Frederic Handel. London: Printed for R. and J. Dodsley.
4. ↑ Schoelcher, Victor (1857). The Life of Handel. Translated by Lowe, James. pp 1&2. London: Robert Cocks & Co.
5. ↑ Smithsonian Magazine The Glorious History of the Messiah

See also:

• Hicks, Anthony. "Handel [Händel, Hendel], George Frideric" at Grove Music Online. 2001; Accessed 30 Sep. 2021 at Oxford Music Online[$].
• Handel - La Réjouissance (Music for the Royal Fireworks, HWV 351)
• The Handel Institute
• the Hallische Händel-Ausgabe (HHA), the modern collected edition of Handel’s works
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Frideric_Handel