Ladies and gentlemen,
I am George Frideric Handel, and it is my great pleasure to share with you a little of my life and music.
I was born in Halle, in Germany, in 1685 — the very same year as Johann Sebastian Bach and Domenico Scarlatti. My father had hoped I would study law, but music was my true calling, and I pursued it with a determination that has never left me.
As a young man, I traveled to Italy, where I absorbed the brilliance of opera and sacred music. Rome, Florence, Venice — these cities gave me not only inspiration but also the conviction that music could move both heart and spirit with equal power.
In my late twenties, I settled in London, the city that would become my home for life. There, I wrote Italian operas that delighted audiences and earned me both fame and fortune. But fashions change quickly, and when the appetite for opera waned, I turned my hand to something new — the English oratorio. It was a bold experiment, combining drama, sacred story, and the power of the chorus.
From this experiment came works that you may know — Saul, Israel in Egypt, Samson, and of course, Messiah. When we first performed Messiah in Dublin in 1742, I could feel the audience lifted by the “Hallelujah Chorus.” In that moment, I knew I had written something that might outlive me.
I have written music for kings and for coronations, but also music for the people — music that can be sung, played, and celebrated by all. If I may say so, my aim has always been to stir both the ear and the soul.
In my later years, illness and blindness overtook me, yet I continued to compose and perform as best I could. I asked that I might die on Good Friday, in the hope of joining my Savior in peace. As it happened, I passed from this world just days later, in April of 1759, at the age of seventy-four. I was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey, among England’s great.
Now, as I look back, what pleases me most is not the glitter of fame, but the knowledge that my music continues to be played and heard.
Thank you.
To Listen to The Music of Handel on Classical Archives . . .
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