Handel

George Frideric Handel was born on February 23, 1685, in Halle, Saxony, Germony to Georg and Dorothea Handel. Even as a small child Handel was very interested in learning music, but his father who was a barber-surgeon, was against his son playing music. At the age of seven Handel was given the chance to play in front of the duke's court in Weissenfels. Another composer by the name of Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow noticed Handel and was very impressed with his performance. Zachow decided to take Handel as his apprentice, and began to teach Handel to compose for instruments like the organ, the obeo and the violin. Since the age of 11 and all throughout his teens, Handel composed many church cantatas and chamber music for small audiences. Once Handel was 18 years old, he decided to fully pursue music and took a violinist's posistion at the Hamburg Opera's Goosemarket Theater. While Handel was working as a violinist he had earned some attention for his skill to play the organ. It was 1704 when Handel made his debut composing operas. Almira was Handel's first opera, it became very successful and was performed 20 times. Handel went on to compose more successful operas which inspired him to goto Italy, and it was in Italy where Handel composed Rodrigo and Agrippina. While in London Handel began writing opera for the King's Theatre, and in just 2 weeks he had composed Rinaldo which was his best piece yet and had gained him a widespread recognition that would last throughout his entire career. The Royal Academy of Music invited Handel to become the Master of the Orchestra in 1719. Handel of course accepted and began producing multiple operas with the Royal Academy of Music. By 1726 Handel finally decided to make London his permanent home by becoming a British citizen. After leavng opera Handel bagan composing oratorios, which are large-scale concert pieces. Oratorios were quickly catching on and getting the audiences attention, and since oratorios didnt require all the