History Music / GeorgeFredericHandel

!!Works by Händel with their own pages:

* In Music/GeorgeFredericHandel's "Zadok the Priest", there is one part with the lyrics "and all the people rejoiced".

** The chorus "All We, Like Sheep" from ''Messiah'' starts off quite cheerfully, with layered melismas making the music sound as though the whole choir is on a whirlgig. And then the music draws to a dead halt and the second half of the chorus is slow and somber in a minor key.

* LastRequest: When his lifelong friend and patron, George I, was in his last weeks, he made two acts as king: the first was to grant Royal Assent to a bill naturalising Händel as a British subject.[[note]]A few other loyal German retainers who had followed the King to Britain were also naturalised, but Händel was the big one.[[/note]]. The second one was to commission him to write a coronation anthem for his son, who would become George II. It was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiXgOQ9_-RI awesome.]]

* LastRequest: When his lifelong friend and commissioner, George I, was on his deathbed, he made two acts as king: the first was to naturalize Händel as a British citizen. The second one was to commission him to write a coronation anthem for his son, who would become George II. It was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiXgOQ9_-RI awesome.]]

** Also, the story is sometimes told that Händel composed the "Water Music" to earn his way back into the king's favor after a falling-out. In fact, George I specifically commissioned the piece in order to counter the growing popularity of his son, the Prince of Wales (later George II), with whom--like pretty much all Hanoverian monarchs and their eldest sons--''he'' had had a falling-out.

German-born English composer (23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759), an exact contemporary of Music/JohannSebastianBach (Bach was born 37 days after Händel), although they never met, even though they were from the same general part of Germany (Handel's birthplace of Halle being not quite 200 km by road from Bach's hometown of Eisenach).[[note]]They did, however, have an unfortunate mutual acquaintance--they both were taken in by the English quack "oculist" John Taylor, whose attempts to surgically correct their cataracts probably robbed both of what was left of their eyesight. Bach ''actually died'' from complications of the treatment.[[/note]] His birth name was Georg Friederich Händel, but when he moved to England and became a naturalized citizen he anglicized the spelling; music scholars will go either way with it.

-->-- after composing the Hallelujah chorus for ''Messiah''

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/handel_by_mercier.jpg]]

German-born English composer (23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759), an exact contemporary of Music/JohannSebastianBach (Bach was born 37 days after Händel), although they never met, even though they were from the same general part of Germany (his birthplace of Halle is not quite 200 km by road from Bach's hometown of Eisenach).[[note]]They did, however, have an unfortunate mutual acquaintance--they both were taken in by the English quack "oculist" John Taylor, whose attempts to surgically correct their cataracts probably robbed both of what was left of their eyesight. Bach ''actually died'' from complications of the treatment.[[/note]] His birth name was Georg Friederich Händel, but when he moved to England and became a naturalized citizen he anglicized the spelling; music scholars will go either way with it.

Händel made his name and fortune composing operas in Italian, writing over 40 of them, most of them for the English market after he moved to London; he was the first ever composer to [[MoneyDearBoy get rich and famous from composing]]. So many people wanted to attend ''just the rehearsal'' of his "Music for the Royal Fireworks" that it caused a three-hour traffic jam on London Bridge. In the 1740s, the audience's taste for Italian opera mysteriously went away, helped along by the smash hit of John Gay's ''Theatre/TheBeggarsOpera'' in English. After a brief period of reconsideration, he saw what the audience wanted and began to write oratorios in English, the most famous of which (and most famous overall) is ''Messiah''. (Yes, it's the one with the [[StandardSnippet "Hallelujah" chorus.)]]

[[quoteright:269:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/georgefrederichandel_7787.jpg]]

-->-- After composing the Hallelujah chorus for ''Messiah''

* ManlyTears: During his composition of ''Messiah'', his servants found him crying his eyes out. The original manuscript of the score even bears his own tear stains at certain passages.

* AccentUponTheWrongSyllable: The original version of the aria "The Trumpet Shall Sound" from ''Messiah'' repeatedly sets the word "incorruptible" as "in-''COR''-rup-''TIB''-le." Similarly, "Hallelujah" includes the line "For the Lord God Om'''NI'''potent reigneth." This may be down to English not being Händel's first language. It's usually changed discreetly in performance, although the correct pronunciation doesn't exactly fit the melody as he wrote it.

* AccentUponTheWrongSyllable: The original version of the aria "The Trumpet Shall Sound" from ''Messiah'' repeatedly sets the word "incorruptible" as "in-''COR''-rup-''TIB''-le." Similarly, "Hallelujah" includes the line "For the Lord God Om'''ni'''potent reigneth." This may be down to English not being Händel's first language. It's usually changed discreetly in performance, although the correct pronunciation doesn't exactly fit the melody as he wrote it.

* AccentUponTheWrongSyllable: The original version of the aria "The Trumpet Shall Sound" from ''Messiah'' repeatedly sets the word "incorruptible" as "in-''COR''-rup-''TIB''-le." This may be down to English not being Händel's first language. It's usually changed discreetly in performance, although the correct pronunciation doesn't exactly fit the melody as he wrote it.

German-born English composer (23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759), an exact contemporary of Music/JohannSebastianBach (Bach was born 37 days after Händel), although they never met, even though they were from the same general part of Germany (his birthplace of Halle is not quite 200 km by road from Bach's hometown of Eisenach).[[note]]They did, however, have an unfortunate mutual acquaintance--they both were taken in by the English quack "oculist" John Taylor, whose attempts to surgically correct their cataracts probably robbed both of what was left of their eyesight.[[/note]] His birth name was Georg Friederich Händel, but when he moved to England and became a naturalized citizen he anglicized the spelling; music scholars will go either way with it.

* MuggleInMageCustody: In ''Alcina'', the titular sorceress seduces every knight that arrives on her island, and then, once she gets bored of them, she turns them into stones, animals, plants, or whatever she fancies.e

* GeniusBruiser: An immensely skilled musician and composer, but also famous for his huge size and prodigious strength -- recall the famous incident in which he held a soprano out of a window until she acquiesced to some demand of his, to say nothing of the kettle drum incident. The incident with the kettle drum? See HotBlooded, below.

* YouHaveToHaveJews: Most of his oratorios are on Old Testament subjects, with even ''Messiah'' drawing mostly on Old Testament texts. His only oratorio on a purely Christian subject was one of his last, ''Theodora'', and the librettist claimed that Handel blamed its failure partly on its lack of appeal to London's Jewish music fans: "The Jews will not come to it because it is a Christian story; and the ladies will not come because it is a virtuous one."

* CoveredUp: Other composers' settings of "Zadok the Priest" had been used at previous coronations, but Handel's version was the one that stuck.

* MusicOfNote: The ''Messiah'', in particular the "Hallelujah Chorus", is pretty much required listening. Also, don't miss the "Water Music" and "Music for the Royal Fireworks."

German-born English composer (23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759), an exact contemporary of Music/JohannSebastianBach (Bach was born 37 days after Händel), although they never met, even though they were from the same general part of Germany (his birthplace of Halle is not quite 200 km by road from Bach's hometown of Eisenach).[[note]]They did, however, have an unfortunate mutual acquaintance--they both were taken in by the English quack "oculist" John Taylor, whose attempts to surgically correct their cataracts probably robbed both of what was left of their eyesight.[[/note]] His birth name was Georg Friederich ändel, but when he moved to England and became a naturalized citizen he anglicized the spelling; music scholars will go either way with it.

German-born English composer (23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759), an exact contemporary of Music/JohannSebastianBach (Bach was born 37 days after Händel), although they never met, even though they were from the same general part of Germany (his birthplace of Halle is not quite 200 km by road from Bach's hometown of Eisenach).[[note]]They did, however, have an unfortunate mutual acquaintance--they both were taken in by the English quack "oculist" John Taylor, whose attempts to surgically correct their cataracts probably robbed both of what was left of their eyesight.[[/note]] Händel made his name and fortune composing operas in Italian, writing over 40 of them, most of them for the English market after he moved to London; he was the first ever composer to [[MoneyDearBoy get rich and famous from composing]].[[note]]So many people wanted to attend ''just the rehearsal'' of his "Music for the Royal Firworks" that it caused a three-hour traffic jam on London Bridge[[/note]] In the 1740s, the audience's taste for Italian opera mysteriously went away. After a brief period of reconsideration, he saw what the audience wanted and began to write oratorios in English, the most famous of which (and most famous overall) is ''Messiah''. (Yes, it's the one with the [[StandardSnippet "Hallelujah" chorus.)]]

** King George II did ''not'' rise to his feet upon hearing the "Hallelujah Chorus," nor indeed is there any clear evidence he was even at the (London) premiere.[[note]]The actual premiere of ''Messiah'' was in ''UsefulNotes/{{Dublin}}'', where the King was ''definitely'' not in attendance (he is not recorded to have set foot in Ireland during his reign).[[/note]] But thanks to the legend, it's become a concert tradition for the audience to follow suit.

** King George II did ''not'' rise to his feet upon hearing the "Hallelujah Chorus," nor indeed is there any clear evidence he was even at the premiere. But thanks to the legend, it's become a concert tradition for the audience to follow suit.