George Frederic Händel
1685-1759

Born in Halle, central Germany, Händel is the creator of the famous and joyous "Allelujah" chorus from his oratorio, Messiah. It is a theme so jubilant that it lifts every one spirit of all who listens. When performed for King George II, the booming chorale lifted the king to his feet, cheering and applauding. All his royal subjects followed suit, thus creating the tradition of standing whenever you here the "Allelujah" chorus.

Händel, unlike the other composers of his time, took advantage of the world around him. He was very interested in the different musical aspects of Europe, as he traveled widely. This enabled him to, by the end of the Baroque era, complete his works as a collection of almost every style of music in Europe. Like Bach, and most other composers, Händel learned to understand what made previous composers' works so successful and attractive to the ear. Using this information, Händel was able to use some of those styles in his own compositions.

Händel's main interest was in Italian opera, and before he even wanted to compose, he had his mind set on being an opera writer. As a child, there were no signs of little Händel becoming a great composer. He seemed to enjoy operas only, but his music lessons later sparked composition. In addition, Händel's parents intended Händel to have a brilliant law career rather than a career in music. Because of Händel's devotion to Italien opera, he believed that to think like Italien, you must live in Italy. Thus, for an exceptional part of his life, Händel lived in Italy. Once he got the hang of the musical style of Italian music, he moved on to London, where he stayed the rest of his life.

While in London, Händel wrote his operas at the exact peak of the London craze for the Italien style. Händel became a fairly large factor in London at that time, but soon that peak transformed into nothing but a valley. The majorly middle-classed people of London soon did not understand the form of opera, causing Händel to devise a new way to capture the attention of the Londoners. Händel came up with the oratorio, similar to an opera, but is not acted out on stage, only a bondage of voices telling a story. The subject of the story was usually sacred and biblical, but not to be performed in churches. Because biblical texts could not be performed in theatres, Händel's oratorios were performed in concert halls instead. Another element to Händel's oratorios was that he could write the text in English, rather than the forign language of Italien for operas. This way, the audience could actually understand what the story was all about, in addition to the brilliant sound of music.

Händel will always be known for his spiritual choruses that pleasantly sparks the ears of the listener, to give us all a reason to stand up and live our life. That was what Händel's music was, you could hear it in his music: to live your life to the fullest. In each of his works, that was the true message of George Frederic Händel, the message spoken in the true language of the late Baroque.

© 1999 H.Tsai

Some Famous Works:
Overture - Music for the Royal Fireworks
Hallelujah Chorus

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