“I should be sorry if I only entertained them, I wish to make them better.”
George Frideric Handel, born 1685 in Halle, was the first wide-traveling, celebrity composer in the history of Western music. Handel toured Italy in his formative years and, under the patronage of the eventual King George I, he came to settle in London, which saw the debuts of his most celebrated works, including the Messiah Oratorio (including the “Hallelujah” chorus, the most famous choral work in Western history) and his Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks.
He was the first composer whose work never fell out of the popular repetoire. The history of the Western musical canon essentially begins with Handel.
