George Frederic Handel was born in Halle, Germany on February 23, 1685. His father, Georg Hӓndel, was a successful surgeon in Germany who wanted his son to be just as rich and famous as he was. His dad originally wanted him to be a lawyer, but Handel was exposed to music when his mother smuggled a keyboard into the house (Lansing 71). When Handel told him he wanted to find a job in the field of music, Handel's father told him to drop his stupid, unpractical wishes to be a musician. When Handel was only 11, the Duke of Weissenfels heard him playing the organ, and he convinced Handel’s father to let him study music (Randel 352). Handel's Father was the court physician for the Duke of Weissenfels. Handel’s father let him take lessons from…show more content… There he wrote the successful opera Rinaldo, many vocal duets for Princess Caroline, several theater works, and more. When Queen Anne died in 1714, Handel's employer became George I of England. Handel composed Water Music for George I in 1717 along with the 11 Chandos Anthems, a Te Deum and Acis and Galatea and Esther (Randel 353).
In 1719, Handel was chosen as the musical director for the Royal Academy of Music. Handel contributed to this academy with his operatic works: Floridante, Ottone, Flavio, Giulio Cesare, plus many others (Randel 353). Once the Royal Academy of Music ended, Handel started producing operas for the King’s Theatre (some new, some updated revivals).
In April 1737, Handel became temporarily paralyzed and had to spend 6 months healing. His last 2 operas were Imeneo and Deidamia. After these failed, Handel composed the Messiah (Randel 354). In 1751 Handel went blind in his left eye halfway through composing Jepthe. Even though Handel stayed blind for the last 7 years of his life, he continued to compose (with the help of his friend John Christopher Smith) until his death on April 14, 1759 (Randel 354). He also continued to play organ concertos, performing from memory, while other players waited for his cue. (Randel
