“Cosmopolitan” George Federic Handel

The Beginning: Born on February 23, 1685 to Georg and Dorothea Handel. His family had absolutely no musical talent. Handel’s father was against him becoming a musician. Wouldn’t let him own a musical instrument. Wanted him to go to law school. Handel went to law school to please his father but then chose to pursue his career in music. Performed for the Duke at the age of 7, which enabled him to become a student of Friedrich Wilhelm Zacchow. Taught Handel composition, the organ, the violin and the oboe.

True Talent: By 1965 Handel was able to compose for each of those instruments as well as many others. Between 1696 – 1701 Handel composed many works but, sadly, the church cantatas and all of his chamber music pieces during those years have since disappeared. Training from Zacchow was the only formal musical instruction Handel received; otherwise he was self taught. First official job was at the age of 17 as a church organist in Halle. Handel made contact with a German composer during that time, Georg Philipp Telemann, who introduced him to Agostino Seffani which really sprouted his ambition for opera. Handel played as the church organist for 1 year, resigning in 1703, and moved to Hamburg, Germany where he became a violinist at the Goosemarket Theater.

Opera: Composed first opera titled Almira. VERY successful opera; started his career. Ran for a total of twenty performances. Left Germany in the autumn of 1706 for Italy. First stopped in Florence then moved onto Venice, Rome and Naples meeting a lot of musicians along the way. Composed 2 great operas there; Rodrigo and Agrippina. Composed several chamber works and sacred compositions.

World Traveler: Left Italy in 1710 for a job in Hannover, Germany as a conductor. This job only lasted for 1 year. Left for London where he met with the manager of King’s Theater. After composing that opera, he returned to Hannover and then onto London. London was now his new home. Composed music for harpsichord, chamber ensembles, orchestra and many works for royal occasions. Offered a chance to compose an opera and did so within 2 weeks; titling it Rinaldo.

London: Queen Anne, Queen of England, loved Handel’s works. Offered him an annual salary of two hundred pounds. In 1714, Handel had to face his previous employer from Germany when he became King George I of England. Handel won over the King in 1719 by the performance of “Water Music.” This performance gained the King’s support to join in on the Royal Academy of Music which showcased Handel’s greatest operas: Radamisto, Giulio Cesar, Tamerlano and Rodelinda. That academy collapsed a few years later forcing Handel to form a new company, New Royal Academy of Music, with a Swiss entrepreneur.

Change In April 1737 Handel suffered a stroke and retired to Aachen to recover. Although “retired” Handel finished off his operatic career by creating Imeneo & Deidamia in He also composed work for “Messiah” during that time as well. Italian opera had grown less popular in London at this time but Handel seemed to fare much better with his oratorios opposed to his operas with the audiences in London anyways. He took several old operas and made revisions; incorporating the oratorio style which proved to be quite a success for him. Handel was once again leading the field with his oratorios like he once previously had with his Italian Operas.

The End: Composed 2 oratorios yearly until 1751 when his eyesight began to diminish. At this point, he was only able to revise his earlier works. He was also able to improvise on the organ and harpsichord during public performances. During the last decade of his life he: Added several Italian cantatas, several concertos and a bunch of other works to his already twenty major works. Handel died in London on April 14, The last musical performance Handel was experienced was his own, Messiah, on April 6.

Great Influence: Handel was a great influence on other composers and later generations. His use of contrasting textures, use of dynamics, beautiful melodies and expressive motif’s were a few of his strong points. Mozart was always familiar with Handel’s works and enjoyed them throughout his life. Observers believe that through Mozart’s liturgical music that Mozart’s knowledge of Handel was “deep and thorough.” Mozart reworked the opening movement of Handel’s funeral music for Queen Caroline for his own composition; Requiem. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Influence Cont.... Handel’s oratorios, most famous “Messiah”, was the major influence Handel left on later generations. Mozart re-orchestrated “Messiah” adding in many instruments to the composition making it an even greater masterpiece. This piece also went on to influence Mendelssohn and Beethoven. Beethoven mentioned on numerous occasions that Handel was the greatest composer who ever lived. Only naming a few, most of the nineteenth century composers were influenced by Handel. Handel and Bach are usually spoken about together and go hand in hand. Although Bach had great influence, Handel’s was more direct and obvious. Handel is known as one of the greatest composers of the late Baroque period and probably the most internationally famous musician.

Composition History: Messiah Composed in 1741, it was one of Handel’s most popular oratorio’s in the English language. Text put together by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. First performed in Dublin, Ireland on April 13, Didn’t appear in London till 1 year later. Gained popular quickly and was one of the best known and most performed works in Western music.

Messiah Cont…. Handel began working on the piece on August 22 and complete it in 24 days. Completed Part I by August 28, Part II by September 6 and Part III by September 12. Composition contains 259 pages, all full of scratched our notes, unfilled bars and other uncorrected errors. Handel wrote the letters “SDG” – Soli Deo Gloris, “To God alone the glory” at the end of this work. Messiah was his 6 th work in the oratorio genre. Structured to resemble a conventional opera but not in the dramatic form. Written for vocal and instrumental parts. After Handel’s death, Messiah was revised and made more adaptable for performances on a much larger scale; with giant orchestras and choirs. Mozart also updated the piece a bit by amplifying it’s orchestration. Messiah is made up of 43 different parts, most broken up into 3-5 minute intervals.

-Listening Guide- “The Trumpet Shall Sound” 0:00 – 3:00 0:00 – Begins in major mode, cheerful and upbeat. Notes start lower, being played in a scale, ascending upwards. 0:13, main melody switches to the trumpet. Dynamics of the trumpet become very loud and dominant. Operatic soloist enters. 1:00 – Strings mixture takes over the melody. Soloist enters back into the piece, accapela style. Sound is conjunct with enough repetition to make the piece feel familiar but still adding in new. Soloist holds out multiple notes for several seconds; showing a wide range. Soloist takes a break while the trumpet comes back in. 2:00 – Tension builds, as the notes are played crescendo. Soloist sings with great meaning and depth, adding to the dynamics of the piece. Trumpet takes on a softer sound, highlighting the words of the piece. He again, sings scales, in a lower, more narrow range, then repeates the same in a higher range. 3:00 – Soloist sings only a few words, holding out the ends of each words for at least a meter or two, following the notes being played by the trumpet and the strings. Seems to be a brief pause in the piece around 3:28. Tone of music changes momentarily into minor mode. Singer stops singing, instruments have their own solo moment.

“The Trumpet Shall Sound” 4:00 – 7:00 4:00 – Singer comes back in, melody slows and changes into minor mode. Song now sounds very sad and lowly; much different than in previous measures. Sings with great emotion, adding to the timbre of the piece. Strings enter into the melody while the trumpet fades. 5:00 – Soloist singing in the very low range. Tempo seems to stay pretty even while the drama is being portrayed very well. Although frequent repeats in the music, it seems to keep your attention. Musical instruments slow dramatically and another brief pause in the music occurs and quickly switches back to major mode. Trumpet added back in, tempo picks up drastically. 6:00 – Soloist takes a brief break for one measure and enters back in with a higher range of notes. He hits some rather high notes, different from what we are used to hearing from this point previous. Music then softens, strings slow and soloist carries on singing his scales. Soloist takes a brief break while the strings have a pleasant solo. 7:00 – Drama seems to be added back into the piece, mostly by the singers voice and then moves into the strings. Trumpet takes on a very robust beat in the melody. Form is still rather good, but starting to feel a little off balance with newness; we are hearing a lot of repeats in the piece. Still being played in major mode, happy and cheerful. Seems to be building and building on itself.

“The Trumpet Shall Sound” 8:00 – 9:00 8:00 – Trumpet becomes prominent in the piece, not a solo, but the dynamic played louder than the strings. Soloist and instruments slow down the tempo dramatically, hinting that the end may be near. Soloist hits a very low note and holds it with power. Singer stops and instruments have the attention; trumpet being center stage. Melody is smooth, tempo even conjunct. 9:00 – Tempo slows way down, trumpet plays a few prominent notes and the piece ends all on the same note in unison.

-Listening Guide- “Worthy is the Lamb that was Slain” 0:00 – 1:00 0:00 – Song starts off very strong right off the bat. Chorus begins together, in unison, on the same note. You can pick out all different parts; soprano, alto, etc. Song is in minor mode, almost sounding dreary. Piece eventually picks up, tempo increasing. A brief pause occurs and the tempo slows again. 1:00 – Sound is conjunct and catchy. Melody and harmony blend well together. Song picks up again, in major mode. Has great rhythm, gets you tapping along. It is very fast and staccato. Just the men are singing at this point, with few instruments in the background. Women are now singing, again, with a few instruments in the background. Both women and men now blend together, singing a round.

“Worthy is the Lamb that was Slain” 2:00 – 3:00 2:00 – Men and women still singing in a round, strings are playing the melody but the voices have the audience. Tempo is quickened, just when you thought it couldn’t get any quicker. Form is great and the dynamics are very loud, strong and powerful. Both men and women are singing scales together, splitting again and beginning a new round. 3:00 – Trumpet is added into the piece, drama at an all time high. Subject is building up and building up. Tempo still very quick. Starting to near the end of the piece so they begin to slow down. Trumpet is very prominent. Chorus holds out the notes for a measure, very dramatic ending to such a fast paced piece.

Works Cited George-Frideric.html George-Frideric.html Influence-On-Future-Composers)&id= Influence-On-Future-Composers)&id= handel/album/handels-messiah handel/album/handels-messiah