There are several famous Western Composers in History, but the one composer that I wanted to know more about is George Frideric Handel. He was born on February 23, 1682 and he was a German- born British Baroque composer. He studied at the University of Halle before moving to Hamburg in 1703, where he served as a violinist in the opera orchestra. He was born the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach. He spent most of his life in London and he was well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, and organ concertos. Handel was a son of a barber- surgeon and Handel’s dad wanted him to become a lawyer, but he was into music. Handel’s father didn’t want to by Handel an instrument because he didn’t want him to be a composer. His mom and his aunt was the only one that supported him. Handel started playing the violin, …show more content…
That was where he met composer and organist Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow. Handel went to Hamburg in 1703, when he was 18 years old and began composing Italian operas. He spent the years 1706–10 traveling in Italy, where he met many of the greatest Italian musicians of the day, including Arcangelo Corelli and Alessandro Scarlatti and his son Domenico He composed several works in Italy, including two operas, several Italian solo cantatas, and oratorios. Handel visited Italy where he composed the operas Rodrigo and Agrippina. He also visited London, where he composed the first London Italian opera, Rinaldo, in 1710 and settled two years later. In 1712 Handel decided to settle down permanently in England where he received a yearly income of 200 Sterling Pounds from Queen Anne for the compostiotion of “Utrecht Te Deum” and “Jubliate.” Handel composed church cantatas and chamber music that was written for small audiences. After Handel released Rinaldo, he spent the next few years writing and performing for English royalty Queen Anne and King
Boynick, Matt. "Georg Friedric Handel." Classical Music Pages. 1 Feb. 1996. 13 July 2005 .
Edward Benjamin Britten is an iconic figure of 20th-century British classical music. His works range from orchestral and chamber compositions, to full operas and other vocal music. Born November 22, 1913 in Suffolk, England, Britten displayed his musical gift at an early age. He was born on the feast day of Saint Cecilia, who, ironically, is the patron saint of music. He was born to Robert Victor Britten, who was a dentist, and his wife Edith Rhoda, her was a secretary and an amateur musician. Music inevitably helped the Britten family maintain their social status, as well as bring them closer together as a family. Edith Britten would often invite the community to the house for mini concerts.
Johann Sebastian Bach was one of the most famous German composers of his time. All of his work was mostly during the baroque era. The baroque period was from 1600 to 1750 and it is known to be one of the most diverse musical periods as opposed to the other classical music eras. It was in this era that “included composer like Bach, Vivaldi and Handel, who pioneered new styles like the concerto and the sonata.”(Classic FM) Johann Sebastian was born in the midst of the Baroque era as he was born on March 31, 1685 in Thuringia, Germany. Johann came from a family of musicians, which is how he himself became one as well. It was his father who showed him how to play his first instrument, which was the violin. His father was also a well-known musician in his town as he “worked as the town musician in Eisenach.”(Johann Sebastian Bach) It is known that Johann Sebastian went to a school that taught him
This book by John Rupert Martin is a good introductory book in the understanding of Baroque artists and their tremendous variety. Martin defines the Baroque characteristics, but only very broadly leaving a significant amount of room for the reader to make his own deductions. In general, Martin believes that the typical definitions of the Baroque are "too restrictive and hence likely to create more problems of classification and interpretation than it solves." Even the time of the Baroque is left open to the reader when Martin says the Baroque is roughly comprehended by the seventeenth century. It is important to note at the outset that this is only a convenient approximation; for epoch as a whole can certainly not be fitted into such a strait-jacket." This helps to define the Baroque much more generally as a gradual change which can much easily be noticed from the present than the past.
Handel’s music did replace an earlier setting of the canticles by Purcell demonstrates his new-found prestige in London society. In 1714, his former employer in Hanover now became King in England, in a rapidly expanding city, Italian opera and French theatre that was under the German monarch. Handel yet enjoyed two notable operatic successes, Teseo and Amadigi, and one failure, II pastor fido. Handel became more popular with the founding of the Royal Academy of Music in 1719. Organizers anticipated that opposition would improve Handel's creativity and got help from two Italian composers, Giovanni Bononcini and Attilio Ariosti. At first Handel was no more the favorite compared to Bononcini, but anti-Catholic suspicions were growing in London, making a German Protestant seem the more trustworthy choice. Handel had three masterpieces: Giulio Cesare (February 1724),Tamerlano (Oct 1724) and Rodelinda (Feb 1725). But the three operas proved to be the high point of the Royal Academy's activities, and it closed in 1728 facing financial problems and stiff competition from other
Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21, 1685. He grew up and became a very
Handel became a proficient composer of oratorio in part to his early success in composing opera. To elaborate on the histological influences on Handel, his career and education path must be noted. Born in Halle, Germany in 1685, Handel began his career in music as an organist, studying under Friedrich Zachow, one of the most renowned organists of his time. In 1702, he began attending the University of Halle while taking on the position as Organist at Calvinist church, Domkirche. After only a year, he tired of this and decided to travel to Hamburg to study opera. To support this endeavor, while in Hamburg, he played in orchestras as a harpsich...
George Frederic Handel was one of the greatest composers to ever live. While this may seem like a very bold statement, it can be supported up by the monumental accomplishments achieved by Handel during his lifetime. Along with being a musical genius, Handel was also one of the greatest composers of the baroque era. Handel never gave up his dream of becoming a world class musician, even though his father wanted him to become a lawyer. The operas and oratorios Handel created are still some of the greatest ever made, and his creativeness and speed is unmatched even today. In order to fully understand Handel and all the great musical pieces he created it’s essential that we know his history, accomplishments, and works.
George Frideric Handel was born musically inclined. As a child he was deprived of musical instruments because his father wanted him to pursue the law profession. However, George was allowed to take music lessons from a local organist, by the name of Friedrich Wilhelm Zachau, after Handel had impressed the Duke when he played the organ at the chapel. In his following years, Handel would travel to many places, accepting many different musical occupations. As Handel traveled, he was introduced to many of his musical influences. He wrote operas, oratorios, anthems, secular cantatas, and also wrote scarred music. Throughout his life, Handel would become famous for his compositions, particularly for his English Oratorios, however the most popular ones today include: “Messiah”, “The Water Music”, and “Royal Fireworks.”
At Hamburg, Handel wrote his first opera, Almira in 1705. This was quickly followed by Nero Florindo and Dafne. During the winter in 1706, Handel traveled to Italy, where he stayed until spring of 1710. He spent his time in Florence, Rome, Naples, and Venice composing Latin Church Music, oratorios, Italian Cantatas, and the operas Rodrigo and Agrippina. In June of 1710, Handel replaced Agostino Steffani as the Hofkapellmeister to the Elector George of Hanover, by making a promise that he would take a leave for England. In autumn of that year, Handel made due on his promise and on arriving in London composed the opera Rinaldo in 14 days. It was produced on February 24, 1711.
Joseph Haydn is one of the greatest composers during the Classical Period. He was born in the town of Rohrau which is located in Austria. His early years were very important to the beginning of his long life in music. His beginning in music started at such a young age that he carried throughout his entire life because of his love for it. Haydn’s young years formed him into the Classical composer that he is known for today. He really shaped an important part during the Classical Period, he was the creator of “the most influential structural principle in the history of music” ("Franz Joseph Haydn"). Haydn has many known works that he has composed. He has composed a total of 104 different companies through his life. He created so many other compositions
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, said to be one of the best organists of his time (Baroque Music). He was born in March 1685 in Eisenach, Thuringia as the youngest of eight children. His father Johann Ambrosius was also a musician and a court trumpeter for the Duke of Eisenach, and Director of the musicians in Eisenach (Baroque Music). Bach came from a family with a music talent, with his family members having held positions as organists, Cantors, instrumentalists in Thuringia.
Romantic composers incorporated nationalism into their compositions through special instrumentation and use of local folk song themes. In many nations, they have a sense of individuality through the crafting of their own instruments. For instance the Spaniards had their own styles of stringed instruments and percussion (maracas, etc) and if a composer wanted to write music for a Spanish style, what would be more complete than to portray that style by using their folk instruments to give the song it's individual nationalistic flavor. Composers also used folk songs as recurring themes in their compositions to tie into the heritage of a nation. Most would not simply copy, but use variation in composing new forms of music to give to their countries.
Handel composed more than forty operas in thirty years. Since the late 1960’s and the revival of Baroque music and historically informed musical performance, interest in Handel’s operas and oratorios have grown. Handel’s legacy lives on and he continues to grow more and more popular each and every day, specifically through Messiah. Handel’s Messiah is an impressive piece of music because it has made such a huge impact everywhere and is still widely performed, especially around Christmas.
George was a traveling conductor, composer, violinist, and organist. He settled in in Florence so that he could study the Italian style music. Handel wrote over forty different Italian operas unfortunately, many of them were lost. Most of them were written and mainly performed in London. One of the Italian operas that survived was the opera seria