Handel's biography indicates that he was a man of great inner strength and conviction. As Bernard Shaw said about him: "You can despise anyone and anything, but you are powerless to contradict Handel." According to the playwright, even inveterate atheists were speechless at the sound of his music.
Childhood and teens
Georg Friedrich Handel was born February 23, 1685, his parents lived in Halle. The father of the future composer was a barber-surgeon, whose wife grew up in a priest's family. The child began to be interested in music very early, but in his early childhood not so much attention was paid to his hobbies. Parents believed that this was just children's fun.
Initially, the boy was sent to a classical school, where the future composer was able to perceive some musical concepts from his mentor Pretorius. Being a true connoisseur of music, he himself composed operas for the school. Among the first teachers of Handel was organist Christian Ritter, who gave the boy lessons on the clavichord, and court bandmaster David Poole, who often visited the house.
The talent of young Handel was appreciated after a chance meeting with the Duke Johann Adolf, and the fate of the boy immediately began to change dramatically. A big fan of musical art, upon hearing a wonderful improvisation, persuaded Handel's father to give his son an appropriate education. As a result, Georg became one of the students of the organist and composer Friedrich Zachau, who was very famous in Galle. For three years he studied music writing, and also mastered the skills of free playing several instruments - he mastered the violin, oboe and harpsichord.
Beginning of the career of a composer
In 1702, Handel entered the University of Gall, and soon received the appointment of an organist in the Gallic Calvinist Cathedral. Thanks to this, the young man, whose father had died by then, was able to earn a living and found a roof over his head. At the same time, Handel taught theory and singing in a Protestant gymnasium.
A year later, the young composer decides to move to Hamburg, where the only opera house in Germany was then located (the city was even called the "German Venice"). A role model for Handel then was the head of the theater orchestra Reinhard Kaiser. Handel, who joined the band as a violinist and harpsichord player, shared the opinion that it is preferable to use Italian in operas. In Hamburg, Handel creates his first works - the opera Almira, Nero, Daphne and Florindo.
In 1706, Georg Handel, at the invitation of the great Prince of Tuscany, Ferdinando de Medici, came to Italy. After spending about three years in the country, he wrote the famous "Dixit Dominus", which is based on the words of 110 psalms, as well as the oratorios "La resurrezione" and "Il trionfo del tempo". The composer is becoming popular in Italy, the public perceives his operas Rodrigo and Agrippina very warmly.
