Handel Essay

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George Frideric Handel
George Handel thrived during the Baroque Period, and was arguable one of the best composers at the time. Handel produced many great oratorios, operas, and concertos; but most of them go unrecognized, and lye under the shadows of his most famous pieces: Water Music and Messiah. These two pieces are both fantastic pieces of music, and gave Handel great fame during the early seventeen hundreds, and still do today. The Hallelujah chorus from Messiah can be easily associated with Christmas time, because of how popular it is during the holiday season. George Handel was an amazing composer of the Baroque period, and he sure gave Bach a run for his money.
Handel was born on February 24th, 1625 in Halle, Germany. He was born into a family with no musical background, but started to show signs of talent at the age of ten (8notes.com). His father wished for him to study Civil Law, but became alarmed when George showed such interest in music (Wikipedia). Handel then began to secretly practice the organ and the harpsichord, but played only to himself until meeting Duke Johann Adolf II. Handel was a prize in the Duke’s eyes, one that he would not let slip away. So with his father’s permission, Handel started to study music openly and freely. Handel then made the move to Hamburg, where he became a violinist in an orchestra. There he learned the Italian styles of music, and began to develop his opera Almira. This opera gave him great success, and he spent the next ten years perfecting his style of opera before moving back to Germany in 1710. His time there was quick, because Handel was being called for all over the world.
In 1712, just two years after arriving back in Germany, Handel moved to London permane...

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... is very exciting and joyful to hear. The singing of male against female is particularly interesting, and the video helps to show that clash of voices against each other. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76RrdwElnTU George Frideric Handel was one of the greatest composers of classical music of all time. His style of Italian opera and late baroque music is contended only with that of Bach. Bach was born at the same time as Handel, and because of that Bach is always compared to him. The two composers thrived during their time period, and while people may say Bach was just a bit better, Handel did pretty well for himself. George Handel did a great job of producing two fantastic, world-known, pieces of music, as well as many more unacknowledged operas and oratorios. His work will not soon be forgotten, as the music that ended the Baroque Era with a bang.

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