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George Frideric Handel (1685—1759)

1. George Frideric Handel was born on the 23rd of February 1685 (the same year as Bach) in Halle, Germany.

2. Handel’s father, a lawyer by trade, was not a huge fan of his son’s musical ambitions. In fact, when he was a boy, Handel had to sneak to the attic to play a clavichord which was hidden up there.

3. Handel was a hit in London, as evidenced by the very generous salary of £200 he received from Queen Anne when he moved there in 1712.

4. Handel’s successes in London continued, and he was eventually made the musical director at The Royal Academy of Music.

5. In 1711, the Queen’s Theatre in London was treated to its first ever opera composed specifically for it. The premiere performance of Handel’s Rinaldo took place there on February 24th in Haymarket.

6. Handel was such a popular opera composer he was allowed to pick his own leading ladies. However, this perk led to an almighty bust-up between sopranos Faustina Bordoni and Francesca Cuzzoni, two rival singers of the day, who ended up having a scrap on stage during a performance of Giovanni Bononcini’s Astianatte. They both had to be dragged off stage to stop them pulling bits off each other’s costumes.

7. Some of Handel’s biggest and best works were composed in the latter stages of his life. This might not sound too impressive, but he did suffer from a stroke in 1737, was involved in a coach crash in 1750, and had cataracts before going blind after a botched eye operation 1751.

8. Handel’s final oratorio, Jephtha, was a heartbreaking experience for the composer. He was rapidly going blind during its composition, eventually leading him to write on the score, “Reached here on 13 February 1751, unable to go on owing to weakening of the sight of my left eye.”

9. When, after a life of chaos and incredible music, Handel succumbed to his afflictions in 1759. His funeral was attended by 3,000 people and was a huge state affair.

10. Praise does not come much higher than from Ludwig Van Beethoven, who said of Handel’s works, “Go to him to learn how to achieve great effects, by such simple means.”