page_title: George Frideric Handel
section_title: Move to England
hierarchical_section_title: George Frideric Handel / Life / Move to England
context_page_description: George Frideric Handel was a German composer who went to live in England when he was a young man and later became a naturalised Briton. Johann Sebastian Bach and Handel were born in the same year. They were the greatest composers of their time, but they never met. Handel changed his name to George Frideric Handel when he became British; he removed the dots above the "a" and changed the spelling of Georg and Friedrich. The German spelling of his name is still used by German writers.
  Although they both lived in the late Baroque period, Bach and Handel’s music developed differently. Handel wrote many operas and oratorios and by them became very famous. He took many trips, including to Italy where he learned a lot about composition. Bach never left central Germany, and most of the time he was a church musician who was not well known by the general public.
  Handel wrote over 42 operas. Later he wrote oratorios. His most famous oratorio is the Messiah. He wrote anthems, chamber music and orchestral music including the Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks.
context_section_description: In 1710 Handel became Kapellmeister (music director) to George, Elector of Hanover, who would soon be King George I of Great Britain. The Elector agreed that Handel could have an immediate leave of 12 months so that he could go to London. He visited London for eight months.  His opera Rinaldo was performed in 1711.  It was the first time an Italian opera had been performed in England.  It was an immediate success. Handel returned to Hanover in the summer of 1711 and spent a year writing chamber and orchestral music because there was no opera in Hanover.  He was also trying to learn English.  In 1712 the Elector allowed him to make another visit to England.  In England he had patrons (rich people who gave him money).  He had a yearly income of £200 from Queen Anne (while Bach earned as little as eighty pounds in a year).  He was having a lot of success, and so stayed in England instead of returning to his job in the Hanover Court.
  In 1712 Queen Anne died and the Elector of Hanover became King of Great Britain.  Handel might have been in trouble for staying in Britain.  According to one story the King forgave Handel because he wrote some lovely music called Water Music which was performed on a boat on the Thames at a royal water party.  This story about the king forgiving Handel is probably not true. George would have known that Queen Anne was about to die and he would become King of Great Britain and therefore Handel's master again.  In fact, the new king doubled Handel’s salary. A few years later his salary increased again when he taught music to Queen Caroline’s daughter.
  In 1724 Handel moved into a newly built house in 25 Brook Street, London, which he rented until his death in 1759, 35 years later. The house is now called Handel House Museum and is open to the public. It was here that Handel composed some of his most famous music such as  Messiah, Zadok the Priest, and Fireworks Music.
  In 1729 Handel's opera Scipio (Scipio) was performed for the first time. The march from this work is now the regimental slow march of the British Grenadier Guards. In the next year he took on British nationality.
  In 1731 Handel was commissioned to write four anthems for the coronation ceremony of King George II. One of these, Zadok the Priest, has been sung at every coronation ceremony since.
  Handel spent most of his time working on operas.  From 1722-1726 he was director of the Royal Academy of Music.  This was an organisation that put on opera performances.  It had nothing to do with the academy which is called the Royal Academy of Music today where young students study music.  Handel also worked in the management of the  King's Theatres and many of his operas were performed in the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden.  He sometimes travelled to Italy to find new Italian singers and persuade them to come to London.  London became world famous for operas.  In spite of everything Handel was doing for opera he had many enemies as well as friends.  There was a lot of rivalry, especially with a composer called Bononcini whose music is forgotten today.  Handel gave up operatic management in 1740, after he had lost a lot of money in the business.
caption: Handel in the year 1727
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