GEORGE FREDERIC, the most illustrious of musical composers, was born at Halle, in Upper Saxony, Feb. 24, 1684. His father was an eminent physician of the same place, and upwards of sixty years old when this son, the issue of a second marriage, was born. From his very childhood Handel discovered a passion for music which could not be subdued by the commands of his father, who intended him for the profession of the law. Notwithstanding that he was forbidden to touch a musical instrument, the boy found means to get a little clavichord conveyed secretly into one of the attics of the house. To this room he constantly repaired when the family had retired to rest, and, by his assiduous labours at the midnight hour, made considerable progress in his favourite pursuit.

It happened, when Handel was about seven years old, that his father had occasion to pay a visit to a son by a former wife, who was then serving as attendant to the Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels. Handel implored that he might be permitted to accompany him; and, on being refused, he followed the carriage some way on the road, till he overtook it. His father at first chid him for his disobedience; but, yielding to his solicitations, at last took him into the carriage. During his stay at the ducal residence, he continued to show the same irresistible inclination for music. He could not be kept away from harpsichords, and he contrived to gain admission into the organ gallery at church, and to play when the service was over. Upon one of these occasions the duke, who happened to leave the chapel later than usual, was attracted by the uncommon style in which the instrument was touched. Inquiring who played, he heard to his astonishment that it was a boy of seven years of age. The duke immediately desired to see young Handel, and was so much pleased with his precocious genius, that he prevailed upon his father to allow him to follow the bent of his inclinations. He made the boy a present, and told him that if he was attentive to his studies he should not want encouragement.

On his return to Halle, Handel was placed by his father under Zachau, organist of the cathedral church of that city; a man of considerable abilities, and proud of his pupil. By the time he was nine years old, our young musician was not only able to supply his master's place at the organ, but began to study composition. At this early period of his life, he wrote a service, or spiritual cantata, every week, for voices and instruments, and continued this labour for three years successively. He also composed sonatas for the oboe, which was his favourite instrument.

Handel appears to have studied in his native city till he was about the age of fourteen. He then, as Zachau himself acknowledged, far excelled his master; and it was recommended to his father to send him to Berlin. Thither he accordingly went in 1698. The opera at Berlin was then in a very flourishing state, under the direction of Buononcini and Attilio. Handel distinguished himself in this city as an astonishing musician for his years, and gave earnest of such great talents that the elector of Brandenburg offered to take him into his service, and send him to Italy to complete his studies. But his father declining this honour, from a spirit of independence, Handel returned to Halle. Not long after this, his father died, and Handel not being able to go to Italy on account of the expense, removed to Hamburg, in order, by his musical talents, to procure a subsistence.

Mattheson, an able musician and voluminous writer on music, who resided at Hamburg, tells us that Handel arrived there in the summer of 1703. "Here," says Mattheson, "almost his first acquaintance was myself; as I met him at the organ of St Mary Magdalen's Church, July the 30th, whence I conducted him to my father's house, where he was treated with all possible kindness as well as hospitality; and I afterwards not only attended him to organs, choirs, operas, and concerts, but recommended him to several scholars. At first he only played a ripieno violin in the opera orchestra; and being naturally inclined to indulge in a kind of dry humour, pretended unusual ignorance, in a manner that made the most serious people laugh, though he preserved his own gravity. But his superior abilities were soon discovered; for the harpsichord player of the opera having been absent for a time, Handel was persuaded to take his place, and on this occasion showed himself to be a great master, to the astonishment of every one, except myself, who had frequent opportunities of knowing his abilities on keyed instruments."

Mattheson and Handel became intimate acquaintances, and did not allow any professional rivalryship to interfere with their friendship, until the occurrence of the following adventure. Mattheson had composed an opera called Cleopatra, which was performed in Hamburg, and in which he acted the part of Antony himself; and Handel played the harpsichord. Mattheson was accustomed, upon the death of Antony, which happened early in the piece, to preside at the harpsichord in the character of composer; but one evening Handel refused to indulge his vanity by relinquishing this post to him. This occasioned so violent a quarrel between them, that, on going out of the house, Mattheson gave him a blow on the face; upon which both immediately drew their swords, and a duel ensued in the market-place, before the opera-house. Luckily the sword of Mattheson broke against a metal button on Handel's coat, or, as some allege, a score of music which he carried under it, which put an end to the fight.

This rencontre happened upon the 5th of December 1704; but, as a proof of a speedy reconciliation, Mattheson mentions, that on the 30th of the same month, he accompanied the young composer to the rehearsal of his first opera of Almira, at the theatre, and performed the principal part in it; and that afterwards they became greater friends than ever. Whilst he remained at Hamburg, Handel composed his opera of Nero, oder Die durch Blut und Mord erlangte Liebe, which was very successful. He also produced two operas entitled Florinda, and Dafne, and wrote innumerable songs, cantatas, and pieces, for the harpsichord. His style, Mattheson allows, was greatly improved by his constant attendance at the opera; and he was esteemed a more powerful player on the organ than the famous Kuhnau of Leipzig, who was at this time regarded as a prodigy.

Handel having now acquired, by his operas at Hamburg, a sum sufficient to enable him to visit Italy, he set out for that seat of the muses. He stayed some time at Florence, where he composed his opera of Rodrigo. From this city he went to Venice, where, in 1709, he produced his Agrippina, which was received with acclamation, and had a run of thirty nights. Here he met with Domenico Scarlatti, Gasparini, and Lotti. He next visited Rome, where he had an opportunity of hearing compositions and performers of the first class. At Cardinal Ottoboni's, by whom Handel was greatly caressed, he had frequently the advantage of hearing the celebrated Corelli perform his own works. During his stay at Rome, our young composer produced a serenata, entitled II Trionfo del Tempo; after which he went to Naples, where he set Acis and Galatea in Italian.

Handel returned to Germany about the beginning of the year 1710, and was made Kapellmeister to the elector of Hanover, afterwards George I. He does not appear, however, to have remained long in the service of the elector, but bent his course to London, where a passion for dramatic music had already manifested itself in several awkward attempts at operas, and to which place he had received invitations from several of the nobility he had seen in Italy and Hanover. His reception in England was flattering to himself and honourable to the nation, at this time no less successful in war than in the cultivation of the arts of peace. To the wit, poetry, literature, and science, which marked this period of our history, Handel added all the blandishments of a nervous and learned music, which he first brought hither, planted, and lived to see grow to a very flourishing state. The first opera he wrote in England was Rinaldo, taken from Tasso's Gerusalemme, which at once established his reputation. He afterwards produced his Pastor Fido, Thesées, and, in 1715, Amadis da Gaula. In all of these, Nicolini and Valentini, the first Italian singers that appeared in England, performed. When the peace of Utrecht was brought to a conclusion, Handel was employed to compose the Hymn of Gratitude and Triumph on the occasion. The grand Te Deum and Jubilate he produced was composed with such force, regularity, and instrumental effect, as to excite universal delight.

On the arrival of George I. Handel was honoured with the most flattering marks of royal favour from the king and queen, who added largely to the pensions previously conferred on him by Queen Anne.

We now come to the busiest and most glorious period of Handel's life. His great natural powers had been highly improved by cultivation; his genius for composition was unbounded; he stood at the head of his profession, esteemed alike by the sovereign, the nobility, and the public, of a great and powerful nation, at a period of its greatest happiness and prosperity. Such were Handel's circumstances, when the Royal Academy, or an association for the establishment of an Italian opera in England, was formed. Handel was appointed director and composer, engaged singers, and, although he had to contend with several rivals, at length, by the superior grandeur and invention of his operatic music, distanced them all. About this period of his career Handel unfortunately became involved in a quarrel with the vocalist Senesino, the particulars of which we pass over. The result was to break up the academy; and it not only proved injurious to the fortune of our composer, but was the cause of infinite trouble and vexation to him during the rest of his life. From the institution of the academy till its dissolution in 1729, Handel produced about thirty operas. The greater part of these had immense success; yet such was the influence of opposition and neglect, that none of his operas composed subsequently to 1740, although actually his highest achievements in operatic composition, were received with the admiration due to their merit.

Following the narrative of Burney in his sketch of Handel's life, we leave his dramatic transactions, and come now to notice the sacred dramas or oratorios of this great musician. The oratorio of Esther was the first he composed; and in 1733 Deborah was given to the public. It was during these early performances of oratorios that Handel first played his organ concertos, a species of music wholly of his own invention, in which he usually introduced an extempore fugue, a diapason-piece, or an adagio, displaying not only great fertility and readiness of invention, but the most perfect accuracy and nicety of execution. In 1735 he produced Acis and Galatea, and Alexander's Feast; in 1738, Israel in Egypt; and in 1739, L'Allegro ed il Penseroso. In 1740 the oratorio of Saul was performed at the theatre in Lincoln-Inn Fields; and from this period Handel almost entirely devoted his labours to the service of the church. The profits arising from the performance of his oratorios were not sufficient to indemnify his losses; and it remains a stigma upon the taste of the nation, that the Messiah at first proved neither successful, nor remunerative to the composer. Chagrined with repeated disappointments, Handel went to Ireland, in order, as Burney remarks, "to try whether his oratorios would be out of the reach of prejudice and enmity in that kingdom." In allusion to this, Pope wrote his well-known lines, supposed to be addressed by the poet personifying the Italian opera, to the goddess of Dulness:

"Strong in new arms, to giant Handel stands, Like bold Briareus, with his hundred hands; To stir, to rouse, to shake the soul he comes, And Jove's own thunders follow Mars' drums, Arrest him, empress, or you sleep no more: She heard, and drove him to the Hibernian shore."

After remaining about nine months in Ireland, where his exertions were successful, Handel returned to London, and produced Samson and the Messiah, which latter work was now received with universal applause. This truly sublime oratorio was performed annually at the laudable and benevolent instigation of the author, and under his direction, for the benefit of the Foundling Hospital; and the produce of these performances, from the year 1749 to the year 1777, amounted to nearly £10,300. Although the Messiah was performed almost always to crowded houses, the other oratorios were but thinly attended. This was owing no less to the capriciousness of public taste than to the extraordinary hostility of some of his powerful adversaries. The king, however, continued his steady patron, and attended his oratorios when they were neglected by the rest of the court.

Towards the close of his life Handel was afflicted with blindness, which, however, did not affect his faculties, as he continued to play to the last with his wonted vigour. "To see him, however," says Burney, "led to the organ after this calamity, at upwards of seventy years of age, and then conducted towards the audience to make his accustomed Handspike obeisance, was a sight so truly afflicting and deplorable to persons of sensibility, as greatly diminished their pleasure in hearing him perform." It was remarked, that with many parts of his music he was unusually agitated, particularly with that affecting air in Samson, "Total eclipse—no sun, no moon," which so peculiarly applied to his own situation. The last oratorio he attended and superintended was upon the 6th of April, and he expired on Friday the 13th, or Good Friday 1759, the very day he had seriously wished that event should happen, "in hopes," as he said, "of meeting his good God, his sweet Lord and Saviour, on the day of his resurrection," meaning the Easter Sunday following.

The musical powers of Handel can perhaps be best expressed by Arbuthnot's reply to Pope, who seriously asked his opinion of him as a composer. "Conceive," said he, "the highest you can of his abilities, and they are much beyond anything you can conceive." He excelled in almost every style of composition. The church, the theatre, and the chamber, were equally adorned by his talents. The best of his Italian operas are superior in variety and ingenuity to those of all preceding and contemporary composers throughout Europe. In his full, masterly, and admirable organ fugues, upon remarkably natural and pleasing subjects, he has surpassed the most renowned writers in this difficult and elaborate species of composition; and every judicious and unprejudiced musician, when he hears or peruses the noble, majestic, and sublime oratorios and anthems of Handel, must allow, with readiness and rapture, that they are unacquainted with any thing equal to them among the works of the greatest masters that have existed since the invention of counterpoint. (Memoirs of the Life of G. F. Handel, 1760. Consult Townsend's Account of the Visit of Handel to Dublin.)