He was to live in this house until his death 36 years later. Having established himself in English society, Handel took a lease on a house in Brook Street, Mayfair in the summer of Handel wrote the original version of Messiah in three to four weeks.
Most historic accounts estimate the composer spent only 24 days writing the oratorio. This brings us to the business of standing during that famous chorus, a tradition said to have begun in , when King George II rose from his seat, enthralled by the beauty of the music. So if standing during the Hallelujah chorus offers you that experience, go for it.
Its theatricality is another reason for its popularity. Handel also wrote Messiah in English, rather than German or Italian, which appealed to the middle class in England and Ireland, where the work first appeared back in the mids.
He also poured his soul into composing Messiah at a difficult period in his life. Jesus of Nazareth ca. Jews who believed him to be the Messiah were the first Christians, also known as Jewish Christians. Handel also began to compose operas, making his debut in early with Almira. The opera was instantly successful and achieved a performance run.
After composing several more popular operas, in Handel decided to try his luck in Italy. While in there, Handel composed the operas Rodrigo and Agrippina , which were produced in and respectively.
He also managed to write more than a few dramatic chamber works during this period. Enticed to experiment with a freelance music career there, in Handel left Venice and set out for London. Within just two weeks, Handel composed Rinaldo. His most critically acclaimed work up to that date, it gained him the widespread recognition that he would maintain throughout the rest of his musical career.
Handel eagerly accepted. He produced several operas with the Royal Academy of Music that, while well-liked, were not especially lucrative for the struggling academy. In , Handel decided to make London his home permanently and became a British citizen. He also Anglicized his name at this time, to George Frideric.
Under the New Royal Academy of Music, Handel produced two operas a year for the next decade, but Italian opera fell increasingly out of style in London. Handel composed two more Italian operas before finally deciding to abandon the failing genre.
Oratorios, large-scale concert pieces, immediately caught on with audiences and proved quite lucrative. Handel revised a number of Italian operas to fit this new format, translating them into English for the London audience. His oratorios became the latest craze in London and were soon made a regular feature of the opera season. In , during Lent alone, Handel produced more than 14 concerts made up primarily of oratorios.
Back in London, Handel organized a subscription season for that consisted exclusively of oratorios. Handel continued to compose a long string of oratorios throughout the remainder of his life and career.
Over the course of his musical career, Handel, exhausted by stress, endured a number of potentially debilitating problems with his physical health. He is also believed to have suffered from anxiety and depression. Yet somehow, Handel, who was known to laugh in the face of adversity, remained virtually undeterred in his determination to keep making music.
In the spring of , Handel suffered a stroke that impaired the movement of his right hand. His fans worried that he would never compose again. In he moved to Hamburg to play in the orchestra of the opera, and his first three operas Almira , Nero , and Florindo were performed there. In he travelled to Italy, to further develop his skills as a composer and performer, and in Rome benefited from the patronage of Prince Ruspoli and the Cardinals Pamphilij and Ottoboni.
Among the works he created for them for private performance were the oratorios Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno and La Resurrezione At this time Italy was the centre of the opera world, and Handel had considerable success with his operas Rodrigo in Florence and Agrippina in Venice.
In Italy Handel attracted the attention of a number of important English visitors who were keen for him to visit London. He was also approached by representatives of the court of Hanover, and on 16 June he was appointed Kapellmeister to the Elector. Within six months of his appointment Handel was given permission to travel to London. He had an immediate success with his first opera for London, Rinaldo Handel had been officially dismissed from his post in Hanover in May , and lived the rest of his life in England.
On 20 February he was granted British citizenship. Shortly after, he moved to Cannons, the estate of the Duke of Chandos in Edgware. While there Handel composed his first stage works in English: the pastoral Acis and Galatea and the first English oratorio Esther both Over the next 40 years he would write some 31 operas for the London stage, including Giulio Cesare , Orlando , Ariodante , Alcina and Serse
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