George Frideric Handel

Balthasar Denner's portrait of George Frideric Handel (1733)

George Frideric Handel (1685 - 1759) (German: Georg Friedrich Händel) was a German-born British (since 1727^[1]) composer and organist. His works fall within the Baroque era of Western Classical music. Handel was, during his lifetime, perhaps the most internationally famous of all musicians. [1] The legacy of Handel may be found in the dramatic power and lyrical beauty inherent in his music.

List of works[edit]

OPERAS:

• Hamburg: Almira, Nero (lost) (both 1705)
• Florindo e Dafne (lost) (1707)
• Florence: Rodrigo (1707)
• Venice: Agrippina (1709)
• London: Rinaldo (1711, rev. 1731)
• Il pastor fido (1712; 2nd version with ballet Terpsicore, 1734)
• Teseo (1712)
• Silla (1714)
• Amadigi di Gaula (1715)
• Radamisto (1720, rev. 1720, 1721, 1728)
• Muzio Scevola, Floridante (both 1721)
• Ottone (1722)
• Flavio (1723)
• Giulio Cesare in Egitto (1723-4)
• Tamerlano (1724, rev. 1731)
• Rodelinda, regina de'Longobardi (1725)
• Scipione, Alessandro (both 1726)
• Admeto, Riccardo I (both 1727)
• Siroe, Tolomeo (both 1728)
• Lotario (1729)
• Partenope (1729–30, rev. 1730, 1736)
• Poro (1731)
• Ezio, Sosarme (both 1732)
• Orlando (1733)
• Arianna (1734)
• Ariodante, Alcina (both 1735)
• Atalanta (1736)
• Arminio, Giustino, Berenice (all 1737)
• Faramondo, Serse (both 1738)
• Imeneo (1738–40)
• Deidamia (1740)

ORCHESTRA:

• Water Music (c.1717)
• Music for Royal Fireworks (1749)

DRAMATIC ORATORIOS:

• Rome: La Resurrezione, Trionfo del Tempo (1708)
• Naples: Aci, Galatea e Polifemo (1709)
• Hamburg: Der für die Sünde der Welt gemartete und sterbende Jesus (Brockes Passion) (?1716)
• London: Haman and Mordecai (masque 1720, later rev. as Esther in 1732)
• Acis and Galatea (1718; rev. 1732 incorporating part of 1708 cantata on same subject, and 1743)
• Deborah (1733)
• Athalia (1733)
• Alexander's Feast (1736)
• Israel in Egypt (1738)
• Saul, Ode for St Cecilia's Day (1739)
• L'Allegro, il Pensieroso ed il Moderato (1740)
• Messiah (1741)
• Samson (1741-2)
• Joseph and his Brethren, Semele (1743)
• Belshazzar, Hercules (1744)
• Occasional Oratorio, Judas Maccabaeus (1746)
• Alexander Balus, Joshua (1747)
• Solomon, Susanna (1748)
• Theodora, Alceste (1749)
• Choice of Hercules (1750)
• Jephtha (1751)
• Triumph of Time and Truth (1757)

CANTATAS AND CHAMBER DUETS: Handel comp. 100 of the former and 20 of the latter. Among the best known are:

• Silete Venti, sop., instr. (1729)
• La terra è liberata (Apollo e Dafne), sop., bass, instr. (c.1708)
• O numi eterni (La Lucrezia), sop., continuo (1709)

CHURCH MUSIC:

• Gloria Patri (1707)
• Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate (1712–13)
• Dettingen Te Deum (1743)
• 11 Chandos Anthems (1717–18)
• 4 Coronation Anthems (1727: The King Shall Rejoice; Let thy hand be strengthened; My heart is inditing; Zadok the Priest)
• The Ways of Zion do Mourn, funeral anthem for Queen Caroline (1737)

VOCAL:

• Birthday Ode for Queen Anne (1713)
• 9 German Arias (1729)

INSTRUMENTAL AND CHAMBER MUSIC:

• 6 Concerti Grossi, str., ww., continuo, Op.3 (1734)
• 12 Concerti Grossi, str., optional wind, Op.6 (1739)
• 5 Concerti, orch. (1741)
• 6 organ concerti, Op.4 (1738)
• 6 organ concerti, Op.7 (1760)
• 6 organ concerti (1740)
• 15 chamber sonatas (fls., recorders), Op.1 (1724)
• 3 concerti a due cori
• 2 ob. sonatas
• 12 fl. sonatas
• 6 trio sonatas
• 9 trio sonatas, Op.2 (1722–33)
• 7 trio sonatas, Op.5 (1739)
• viola da gamba sonata
• 8 suites de pièces, (harpsichord) (1720) See also Harmonious Blacksmith
• 8 suites de pièces (1733, these incl. the well-known Chaconne in G)
• 6 Fugues (1736)

See also[edit]

• Domenico Scarlatti
• Ludwig van Beethoven

External links[edit]

• HANDEL, GEORGE FRIDERIC BIOGRAPHY
• George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

References[edit]

1. ↑ The UK Parliament Website: British Citizen by Act of Parliament: George Frideric Handel