BaroqueGeorg Friedrich Haendel
George Frideric Handel was born in Germany the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach.
Georg Friedrich Haendel’s life
The big moments of this life, and what was happening in the world at the same time.
A life at a glance
- 1685👶 Birth
Born in Halle on 23 February, son of a barber-surgeon
- 1687🌍 Meanwhile
Newton publishes the laws of gravitation
- 1700🌍 Meanwhile
Bartolomeo Cristofori invents the piano in Florence (c. 1700)
- 1702🎩 Careerage 17
Organist of Halle cathedral while studying law
- 1706🧳 Journeyage 21
Travels in Italy: Florence, Rome, Naples, Venice
- 1709🎼 Workage 24
Triumph of Agrippina in Venice
- 1711🎼 Workage 26
Rinaldo, the first Italian opera written for London
- 1717🎼 Workage 32
Water Music on the Thames for King George I
- 1719🌍 Meanwhile
Defoe publishes Robinson Crusoe
- 1727🎩 Careerage 42
Becomes British; coronation anthems for George II
- 1751❤️ Private lifeage 66
Gradually loses his sight
- 1752🌍 Meanwhile
Franklin studies lightning with a kite
- 1759🕯️ Deathage 74
Dies in London on 14 April; buried in Westminster Abbey
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Excerpts of up to 90 seconds, freely licensed recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
Once upon a time…
George Frideric Handel was born in Germany the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach. His dad didn’t want him to be a musician. People say he hid a little keyboard in the attic to play at night!
As a young man he travelled to Italy, then settled in London for good. He became the favourite composer of the kings of England. For one of them he wrote music played on a boat sailing on the Thames: the Water Music.
He also composed music for fireworks and Messiah, with its famous “Hallelujah”. When it is played, the audience often stands up, a tradition going back almost three hundred years.
He was even nearly killed in a duel: a button on his coat saved him!
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