George Frideric Handel

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Biography

George Frideric Handel (German: Georg Friedrich Händel ; ) (23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music|Baroque composer, famous for his baroque opera|opera s, oratorio s, anthems and organ concerto s. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music. He received critical musical training in Halle, Hamburg and Italy before settling in London (1712) and becoming a naturalised British subject in 1727. By then he was strongly influenced by the great composers of the Italian Baroque and the middle-German polyphony|polyphonic choral tradition.

Within fifteen years, Handel, a dramatic genius, started three commercial opera companies to supply the English nobility with Italian opera, but the public came to hear the vocal bravura of the soloists rather than the music. In 1737 he had a physical breakdown, changed direction creatively and addressed the middle class. As '' Alexander's Feast (Handel)|Alexander's Feast (1736) was well received, Handel made a transition to English choral works. After his success with Messiah (Handel)|Messiah (1742) he never performed an Italian opera again. Handel was only partly successful with his performances of English Oratorio on mythical or biblical themes, but when he arranged a performance of Messiah'' to benefit the Foundling Hospital (1750) the critique ended. The pathos of Handel's oratorio is an ethical one, they are hallowed not by liturgical dignity but by the moral ideals of humanity.Bukofzer, M. (1983) Music in the Baroque Era. From Monteverdi to Bach, p. 337. Almost blind, and having lived in England for almost fifty years, he died a respected and rich man.

Handel is regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time, and not just for his Water Music (Handel)|Water Music , and Music for the Royal Fireworks . Since the late 1960s, with the revival of baroque music and Authentic performance|original instrument , interest in Handel's opera seria has also grown. Handel composed forty operas in about thirty years; some are considered as masterpiece s, with many sweeping arias and much admired improvisations. His operas contain remarkable human characterization, by a composer not known for his love affairs.

Early years

Handel was born in 1685 in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt|Halle , Duchy of Magdeburg , to Georg Händel and Dorothea Taust. His father, 63 when his son was born, was an eminent Barber surgeon|barber-surgeon who served to the court of Saxe-Weissenfels and the Margraviate of Brandenburg .Adams Aileen, K., Hofestadt, B., ": the barber-surgeon father of George Frideric Handel (1685–1759)", Journal of Medical Biography, 2005, Aug; 13(3):142–49. According to Handel's first biographer, John Mainwaring , he "had discovered such a strong propensity to Music, that his father who always intended him for the study of the Civil Law, had reason to be alarmed. He strictly forbade him to meddle with any musical instrument but Handel found means to get a little clavichord privately convey'd to a room at the top of the house. To this room he constantly stole when the family was asleep". At an early age Handel became a skilful performer on the harpsichord and pipe organ .

Handel and his father travelled to Weissenfels to visit either Handel's half-brother, Carl, or nephew, Georg Christian, Friedrich Chrysander states it was not his half-brother but the 10-years older (!) nephew, who had to address George Friedrich as his uncle. who was serving as valet to Johann Adolf I, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels|Duke Johann Adolf I .Weissenfels is 34 km south of Halle; a one-way trip on foot would have taken them about seven hours. As they went by coach they travelled faster. For more details see: The life of Handel by Victor Schoelcher, Handel and the duke convinced his father to allow him to take lessons in musical composition and keyboard technique from Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow , the organist of the Lutheran Marktkirche Unser Lieben Frauen|Marienkirche . He learned about harmony and contemporary styles, analysed sheet music musical score|score s, learned to work fugue subjects, and to copy music. In 1698 Handel played for Frederick I of Prussia and met Giovanni Battista Bononcini in Berlin.

From Halle to Italy

In 1702, following his father's wishes, Handel started studying law under Christian Thomasius at the University of Halle ; and also earned an appointment for one year as the organist in the former cathedral, by then an evangelical reformed church. Handel seems to have been unsatisfied and in 1703, he accepted a position as violin ist and harpsichord ist in the orchestra of the Hamburg Oper am Gänsemarkt . There he met the composers Johann Mattheson , Christoph Graupner and Reinhard Keiser . His first two operas, Almira and Nero (opera)|Nero , were produced in 1705. He produced two other operas, Daphne (Handel opera)|Daphne and Florindo , in 1708. It is unclear whether Handel directed these performances.

According to Mainwaring, in 1706 Handel travelled to Italy at the invitation of Ferdinando (III) de' Medici|Ferdinando de' Medici , but Mainwaring must have been confused. It was Gian Gastone de' Medici , whom Handel had met in 1703-1704 in Hamburg.Handel as Orpheus: voice and desire in the chamber cantatas by Ellen T. Harris, Ferdinando tried to make Florence Italy's musical capital, attracting the leading talents of his day. He had a keen interest in opera. In Italy Handel met librettist Antonio Salvi , with whom he later collaborated. Handel left for Rome and, since opera was (temporarily) banned in the Papal States , composed sacred music for the Roman clergy. His famous Dixit Dominus (Handel)|Dixit Dominus (1707) is from this era. He also composed cantata s in pastoral style for musical gatherings in the palaces of cardinals Pietro Ottoboni (cardinal)|Pietro Ottoboni , Benedetto Pamphili and Colonna family|Carlo Colonna . Two oratorio s, La Resurrezione and Il Trionfo del Tempo , were produced in a private setting for Ruspoli#The. first Prince of Cerveteri — Francesco Maria Ruspoli|Ruspoli and Ottoboni in 1709 and 1710, respectively. Rodrigo (opera)|Rodrigo , his first all-Italian opera, was produced in the Theatres in Florence|Cocomero theatre in Florence in 1707. Agrippina (opera)|Agrippina was first produced in 1709 at Teatro Malibran|Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo , the prettiest theatre at Venice, owned by the Grimanis. The opera, with a libretto by cardinal Vincenzo Grimani , and according to Mainwaring it ran for 27 nights successively. The audience, thunderstruck with the grandeur and sublimity of his style, applauded for Il caro Sassone .

Move to London

In 1710, Handel became Kapellmeister to German prince George, Prince-elector|Elector of Hanover , who in 1714 would become King George I of Great Britain . He visited Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici and her husband in Düsseldorf on his way to London in 1710. With his opera Rinaldo (opera)|Rinaldo , based on Jerusalem Delivered|La Gerusalemme Liberata by the Italian poet Torquato Tasso , Handel enjoyed great success, but it is difficult to see why he lifted from old Italian works unless he was in a hurry. This work contains one of Handel's favourite arias, Cara sposa, amante cara , and the famous Lascia ch'io pianga .

In 1712, Handel decided to settle permanently in England. He received a yearly income of £200 from Anne of Great Britain|Queen Anne after composing for her the Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate , first performed in 1713.There is a tantalising suggestion by Handel's biographer, Jonathan Keates, that he may have come to London in 1710 and settled in 1712 as a spy for the eventual Hanoverian successor to Queen Anne.

One of his most important patrons was the young and wealthy Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington . For him Handel wrote Amadigi di Gaula , a Magician (fantasy)|magic al opera, about a damsel in distress , based on the tragedy by Antoine Houdar de la Motte .

The conception of an opera as a coherent structure was slow to capture Handel's imagination and he renounced it for five years. In July 1717 Handel's Water Music (Handel)|Water Music was performed more than three times on the Thames for the King and his guests. It is said the compositions spurred reconciliation between the King and Handel.

Cannons (1717–18)

In 1717 Handel became house composer at Cannons (house)|Cannons in Middlesex, where he laid the cornerstone for his future choral compositions in the twelve James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos|Chandos Anthems .Bukofzer, M. (1983) Music in the Baroque Era. From Monteverdi to Bach, p. 333-35 Romain Rolland stated that these anthem s were as important for his oratorio s as the cantata s were for his operas.Rolland, R. (1910) Händel, p. 54. Beroemde musici. Deel XVIII. Another work he wrote for the Duke of Chandos, the owner of Cannons, was Acis and Galatea (Handel)|Acis and Galatea : during Handel's lifetime it was his most performed work. Winton Dean wrote, "the music catches breath and disturbs the memory".

In 1719 the Duke of Chandos became one of the main subscribers to Handel's new opera company, the Royal Academy of Music (company)|Royal Academy of Music , but his patronage of music declined after he lost money in the South Sea Company|South Sea bubble , which burst in 1720 in one of history's greatest financial cataclysms.
Handel himself invested in South Sea stock in 1716, when prices were low and sold before 1720., BBC

Royal Academy of Music (1719–34)

In May 1719 Lord Chamberlain Thomas Pelham-Holles|Thomas Holles, the Duke of Newcastle ordered Handel to look for new singers. Handel travelled to Dresden to attend the newly-built opera. He saw Teofane by Antonio Lotti , and engaged the cast for the Royal Academy of Music, founded by a group of aristocrats to assure themselves a constant supply of baroque opera or opera seria . Handel may have invited John Smith, his fellow student in Halle, and his son John Christopher Smith|Johann Christoph Schmidt , to become his secretary and amanuensis . According to Dean they could not have reached London before 1716. In 1743, Smith wrote in a letter that he had been in Handel's service for 24 years. By 1723 he had moved into a Georgian architecture|Georgian house at 25 Brook Street, which he rented for the rest of his life. This house, where he rehearsed, copied music and sold tickets, is now the Handel House Museum .In 2000, the upper stories of 25 Brook Street were leased to the Handel House Trust, and after extensive restoration, the Handel House Museum opened to the public with an events programme of baroque music. During twelve months between 1724 and 1725, Handel wrote three outstanding and successful operas, Giulio Cesare , Tamerlano and Rodelinda (opera)|Rodelinda . Handel's operas are filled with da capo aria s, such as Svegliatevi nel core . After composing Silete venti , he concentrated on opera and stopped writing cantatas. Scipio (opera)|Scipio , from which the regimental slow march of the British Grenadier Guards is derived, was performed as a stopgap, waiting for the arrival of Faustina Bordoni .

In 1727 Handel was commissioned to write four anthems for the coronation ceremony of George II of Great Britain|King George II . One of these, Zadok the Priest , has been played at every Coronation of the British monarch|British coronation ceremony since. In 1728 John Gay's '' The Beggar's Opera '' premiered at Lisle's Tennis Court|Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre and ran for 62 consecutive performances, the longest run in theatre history up to that time. After nine years Handel's contract was ended but he soon started a new company.

The Queen's Theatre at the Haymarket (now Her Majesty's Theatre ), established in 1705 by architect and playwright John Vanbrugh , quickly became an opera house . theatrical monopoly in Banham, Martin The Cambridge guide to theatre pp. 1105 (Cambridge University Press, 1995) ISBN 0-521-43437-8 Between 1711 and 1739, more than 25 of Handel's operas premièred there. GFHandel.org, accessed 21 December 2007 In 1729 Handel became joint manager of the Theatre with John James Heidegger .

Handel travelled to Italy to engage seven new singers. He composed seven more operas, but the public came to hear the singers rather than the music. After two commercially successful English oratorios Esther (Handel)|Esther and Deborah (Handel)|Deborah , he was able to invest again in the South Sea Company . Handel reworked his Acis and Galatea which then became his most successful work ever. Handel failed to compete with the Opera of the Nobility , who engaged musicians such as Johann Adolf Hasse , Nicolo Porpora and the famous castrato Farinelli . The strong support by Frederick, Prince of Wales caused conflicts in the royal family. In March 1734 Handel directed a wedding anthem This is the day which the Lord hath made , and a serenata Parnasso in Festa for Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange|Anne of Hanover .

Opera at Covent Garden (1734–41)

In 1733 the William Capell, 3rd Earl of Essex|Earl of Essex received a letter with the following sentence: "Handel became so arbitrary a prince, that the Town murmurs". The board of chief investors expected Handel to retire when his contract ended, but Handel immediately looked for another theatre. In cooperation with John Rich (producer)|John Rich he started his third company at Covent Garden Theatre . Rich was renowned for his spectacular productions. He suggested Handel use his small chorus and introduce the dancing of Marie Sallé , for whom Handel composed Terpsichore . In 1735 he introduced organ concerto s between the acts. For the first time Handel allowed Gioacchino Conti , who had no time to learn his part, to substitute arias. Financially, Ariodante was a failure, although he introduced ballet suites at the end of each act. Alcina , his last opera with a magic content, and '' Alexander's Feast (Handel)|Alexander's Feast or the Power of Music'' based on John Dryden's '' Alexander's Feast (Dryden)|Alexander's Feast starred Anna Maria Strada del Pò and John Beard (tenor)|John Beard .

In April 1737, at age 52, Handel apparently suffered a stroke which disabled the use of four fingers on his right hand, preventing him from performing. In summer the disorder seemed at times to affect his understanding. Nobody expected that Handel would ever be able to perform again. But whether the affliction was rheumatism, a stroke or a nervous breakdown, he recovered remarkably quickly . To aid his recovery, Handel had travelled to Aachen , a spa in Germany. During six weeks he took long hot baths, and ending up playing the organ for a surprised audience.For new insights on this episode, see Ilias Chrissochoidis: "Handel Recovering: Fresh Light on his Affairs in 1737", Eighteenth-Century Music 5/2 (2008): 237–44.

Deidamia (opera)|Deidamia , his last and only baroque opera without an accompagnato , was performed three times in 1741. Handel gave up the opera business, while he enjoyed more success with his English oratorios.

Oratorio

Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno , an allegory , Handel's first oratorioMarx, J.H. (1998) Händels Oratorien, Oden und Serenaten, p. 243. was composed in Italy in 1707, followed by La Resurrezione in 1708 which uses material from the Bible. The circumstances of Esther (Handel)|Esther and its first performance, possibly in 1718, are obscure. Another 12 years had passed when an act of piracy caused him to take up Esther once again. Handels Messiah. A distinguished authority on Handel discusses the origins, composition, and sources of one the great choral works of western civilization. Three earlier performances aroused such interest that they naturally prompted the idea of introducing it to a larger public. Next came Deborah (Handel)|Deborah , strongly coloured by the Anthems and Athalia (oratorio)|Athaliah , his first English Oratorio.Marx, J.H. (1998) Händels Oratorien, Oden und Serenaten, p. 48. In these three oratorios Handel laid foundation for the traditional use of the chorus which marks his later oratorios. Handel became sure of himself, broader in his presentation, and more diverse in his composition.

It is evident how much he learnt from Arcangelo Corelli about writing for instruments, and from Alessandro Scarlatti about writing for the solo voice; but there is no single composer who taught him how to write for chorus. Handel tended more and more to replace Italian soloists by English ones. The weightiest reason for this change was the dwindling financial returns from his operas. Thus a tradition was created for oratorios which was to govern their future performance. The performances were given without costumes and action; the performers appeared in a black suit.

In 1736 Handel came with '' Alexander's Feast (Handel)|Alexander's Feast ''. John Beard (tenor)|John Beard appeared for the first time as one of Handel's principal singers and became Handel's permanent tenor soloist for the rest of Handel's life. The piece was a great success and it encouraged Handel to make the transition from writing Italian operas to English choral works. In Saul (Handel)|Saul , Handel was collaborating with Charles Jennens and experimenting with three trombones, a carillon and extra-large military kettledrum s (from the Tower of London ), to be sure "...it will be most excessive noisy". Saul and Israel in Egypt (oratorio)|Israel in Egypt both from 1739 head the list of great, mature oratorios, in which the da capo and dal segno aria became the exception and not the rule.
Israel in Egypt consists of little else but choruses, borrowing from the The Ways of Zion Do Mourn / Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline|Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline . In his next works Handel changed his course. In these works he laid greater stress on the effects of orchestra and soloists; the chorus retired into the background. '' L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato has a rather diverting character; the work is light and fresh.

During the summer of 1741, the William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire|3rd Duke of Devonshire invited Handel to Dublin to give concerts for the benefit of local hospitals. His Messiah (Handel)|Messiah was first performed at the New Music Hall in Fishamble Street , on 13 April 1742, with 26 boys and five men from the combined choirs of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin|St Patrick's and Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin|Christ Church cathedrals participating. Handel secured a balance between soloists and chorus which he never surpassed.

The use of English soloists reached its height at the first performance of Samson (oratorio)|Samson . The work is highly theatrical. The role of the chorus became increasingly import in his later oratorios.

Jephtha (oratorio)|Jephtha was first performed on 26 February 1752; even though it was his last oratorio, it was no less a masterpiece than his earlier works.

Later years

In 1749 Handel composed Music for the Royal Fireworks ; 12,000 people attended the first performance. In 1750 he arranged a performance of Messiah to benefit the Foundling Hospital . The performance was considered a great success and was followed by annual concerts that continued throughout his life. In recognition of his patronage, Handel was made a governor of the Hospital the day after his initial concert. He bequeathed a copy of Messiah to the institution upon his death. His involvement with the Foundling Hospital is today commemorated with a permanent exhibition in London's Foundling Museum , which also holds the Gerald Coke Handel Collection . In addition to the Foundling Hospital, Handel also gave to a charity that assisted impoverished musicians and their families.

In August 1750, on a journey back from Germany to London, Handel was seriously injured in a carriage accident between The Hague and Haarlem in the Netherlands. In 1751 one eye started to fail. The cause was a cataract which was operated on by the great charlatan John Taylor (oculist)|Chevalier Taylor . This led to uveitis and subsequent loss of vision. He died eight years later in 1759 at home in Brook Street, at age 74. The last performance he attended was of Messiah . Handel was buried in Westminster Abbey . More than three thousand mourners attended his funeral, which was given full state honours.

Handel never married, and kept his personal life private. His initial Will of George Frideric Handel|will bequeathed the bulk of his estate to his niece Johanna, however four codicils distributed much of his estate to other relations, servants, friends and charities. The Letters and Writings of George Frideric Handel by Erich H. Müller, 1935 (SBN 8369-5286-3)

Handel owned an George Frideric Handel's art collection|art collection that was auctioned posthumously in 1760. The auction catalogue listed approximately seventy paintings and ten prints (other paintings were bequeathed).

Works

: Main articles: List of compositions by George Frideric Handel and List of operas by Handel .
Handel's compositions include 42 operas, 29 oratorios, more than 120 cantata s, Trio (music)|trio s and duet s, numerous aria s, chamber music , a large number of ecumenical pieces, ode s and serenata s, and 16 organ concerti . His most famous work, the oratorio Messiah (Handel)|Messiah with its "Hallelujah" chorus, is among the most popular works in choral music and has become the centrepiece of the Christmas season. Among the works with opus numbers published and popularised in his lifetime are the Handel organ concertos Op.4|Organ Concertos Op.4 and Handel organ concertos Op.7|Op.7 , together with the Opus 3 and Handel concerti grossi Op.6|Opus 6 concerti grossi ; the latter incorporate an earlier organ concerto The Cuckoo and the Nightingale in which birdsong is imitated in the upper registers of the organ. Also notable are his sixteen keyboard suites, especially The Harmonious Blacksmith .

Handel introduced previously uncommon musical instruments in his works: the viola d'amore and violetta marina ( Orlando ), the lute (''Ode for St. Cecilia's Day ), three trombone s (Saul), clarinet s or small high cornett s ( Tamerlano ), theorbo , French horn|horn ( Water Music (Handel)|Water Music ), lyrichord , double bassoon , viola da gamba , bell chimes , positive organ , and harp ( Giulio Cesare , Alexander's Feast ).Textbook in CD Sacred Arias with Harp & Harp Duets by Rachel Ann Morgan & Edward Witsenburg.

Handel's works have been catalogued in the Händel-Werke-Verzeichnis and are commonly referred to by an HWV number. For example, Messiah is catalogued as HWV 56.

Legacy

Handel's works were collected and preserved by two men in particular: The Wodehouse|Sir Samuel Hellier , a country squire whose musical acquisitions form the nucleus of the Shaw-Hellier Collection,Best, Terence, ed. Handel collections and their history , a collection of conference papers given by the international panel of distinguished Handel scholars. Clarendon Press, 1993 and Abolitionism|abolitionist Granville Sharp . The catalogue accompanying the National Portrait Gallery, London|National Portrait Gallery exhibition marking the tercentenary of the composer's birth calls them two men of the late eighteenth century "who have left us solid evidence of the means by which they indulged their enthusiasm".p 239. Handel, a celebration of his life and times, 1685-1759 . Jacob Simon, National Portrait Gallery (Great Britain), 1985.

After his death, Handel's Italian operas fell into obscurity, except for selections such as the aria from Serse , " Ombra mai fù ". The oratorios continued to be performed but not long after Handel's death they were thought to need some modernisation, and Mozart orchestrated a German version of Messiah and other works. Throughout the 19th century and first half of the 20th century, particularly in the English-speaking world|Anglophone countries, his reputation rested primarily on his English oratorios, which were customarily performed by enormous choruses of amateur singers on solemn occasions.

Since the Early Music Revival many of the forty-two operas he wrote have been performed in opera houses and concert halls.

Handel's music was studied by composers such as Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven

Recent decades have revived his secular cantatas and what one might call 'secular oratorios' or 'concert operas'. Of the former, '' Ode for St. Cecilia's Day (1739) (set to texts by John Dryden ) and Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne (1713) are noteworthy. For his secular oratorios, Handel turned to classical mythology for subjects, producing such works as Acis and Galatea (Handel)|Acis and Galatea (1719), Hercules (music drama)|Hercules (1745) and Semele (oratorio)|Semele '' (1744). These works have a close kinship with the sacred oratorios, particularly in the vocal writing for the English-language texts. They also share the lyrical and dramatic qualities of Handel's Italian operas. As such, they are sometimes performed onstage by small chamber ensembles. With the rediscovery of his theatrical works, Handel, in addition to his renown as instrumentalist, orchestral writer, and melodist, is now perceived as being one of opera's great musical dramatists.

Handel's work was edited by Samuel Arnold (composer)|Samuel Arnold (40 vols., London, 1787–1797), and by Friedrich Chrysander , for the German Händel-Gesellschaft (105 vols., Leipzig, 1858–1902).

Handel adopted the spelling "George Frideric Handel" on his naturalisation as a British subject, and this spelling is generally used in English-speaking countries. The original form of his name, Georg Friedrich Händel, is generally used in Germany and elsewhere, but he is known as "Haendel" in France. Another composer with a similar name, Handl, was a Slovenes|Slovene and is more commonly known as Jacobus Gallus .

Musician's musician

Handel has generally been accorded high esteem by fellow composers, both in his own time and since. Bach attempted, unsuccessfully, to meet with Handel while he was visiting Halle. Mozart is reputed to have said of him, "Handel understands Affekt|affect better than any of us. When he chooses, he strikes like a thunder bolt." To Beethoven he was "the master of us all... the greatest composer that ever lived. I would uncover my head and kneel before his tomb". Beethoven emphasised above all the simplicity and popular appeal of Handel's music when he said, "Go to him to learn how to achieve great effects, by such simple means".

Homages

After Handel's death, many composers wrote works based on or inspired by his music. The first movement from Louis Spohr 's Symphony No. 6 , Op. 116, "The Age of Bach and Handel", resembles two melodies from Handel's Messiah . In 1797 Ludwig van Beethoven published the 12 Variations in G major on ‘See the conqu’ring hero comes’ from Judas Maccabaeus by Handel , for cello and piano. Guitar virtuoso Mauro Giuliani composed his Variations on a Theme by Handel, Op. 107 for guitar, based on Handel's Suite No. 5 in E major, HWV 430, for harpsichord. In 1861, using a theme from the second of Handel's harpsichord suites, Johannes Brahms wrote the Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel , Op. 24, one of his most successful works (praised by Richard Wagner ). Several works by the French composer Félix-Alexandre Guilmant use Handel's themes, for example his March on a Theme by Handel uses a theme from Messiah . French composer and flautist Philippe Gaubert wrote his Petite marche for flute and piano based on the fourth movement of Handel's Trio Sonata, Op. 5, No. 2, HWV 397. Argentine composer Luis Gianneo composed his Variations on a Theme by Handel for piano. In 1911, Australian-born composer and pianist Percy Grainger based one of his most famous works on the final movement of Handel's Suite No. 5 in E major (just like Giuliani). He first wrote some variations on the theme, which he titled ''Variations on Handel's ‘The Harmonious Blacksmith’ . Then he used the first sixteen bars of his set of variations to create Handel in the Strand'', one of his most beloved pieces, of which he made several versions (for example, the piano solo version from 1930). Arnold Schoenberg 's Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra in B flat major (1933) was composed after Handel's Concerto Grosso, Op. 6/7.

Veneration

Handel is honored together with Johann Sebastian Bach and Henry Purcell with a feast day on the Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church in the United States of America)|liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on 28 July.

He is commemorated as a musician in the Calendar of Saints (Lutheran)|Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church on 28 July, with Johann Sebastian Bach and Heinrich Schütz .

Media

Editions

Between 1787 and 1797 Samuel Arnold (composer)|Samuel Arnold compiled a 180-volume collection of Handel's works—however it was far from complete.Winton Dean, The New Grove Handel. NY: Norton, 1982, p. 116. ISBN 0393300862. Also incomplete was the collection produced between 1843 and 1858 by the English Handel Society (found by George Alexander Macfarren|Sir George Macfarren ).

The 105-volume Händel-Gesellschaft edition was published in the mid 19th century and was mainly edited by Friedrich Chrysander (often working alone in his home). For modern performance, the realisation of the basso continuo reflects 19th century practice. Vocal scores drawn from the edition were published by Novello & Co|Novello in London, but some scores, such as the vocal score to Samson are incomplete.

The still-incomplete Hallische Händel-Ausgabe started to appear in 1956 (named for Halle in Saxony-Anhalt Eastern Germany, not the Netherlands). It did not start as a critical edition, but after heavy criticism of the first volumes, which were performing editions without a critical apparatus (for example, the opera Serse was published with the title character recast as a tenor reflecting pre-war German practice), it repositioned itself as a critical edition. Influenced in part by cold-war realities, editorial work was inconsistent: misprints are found in abundance and editors failed to consult important sources. In 1985 a committee was formed to establish better standards for the edition.

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