A great gift to music entered the world on 23 February 1685 in Halle, Germany. A life of great musical interest, one filled with an unbelievable talent that would become a beacon to many throughout the European continent and span centuries past its lifetime. It is a life that would become centered around a great mystery of how the musical talent would blossom into a recognized and celebrated gift, a life that would alter the musical landscape and the spiritual worship realm in a short 24 days, and a life that would become so influential that it would dictate musical compositions for many years afterward.
A musical life that, in the beginning, would struggle to exist, a life that will be forever known in George Frideric Handel. Through Handel, we credit many great musical accomplishments, accomplishments in the mixture of homophonic and polyphonic textures, and the creation of his unique works by combining German, Italian, French, and English musical traditions into his highly successful English Oratorios.
Most importantly, through the lasting effects of Handel’s single greatest gift to the world and the world of music: The Messiah. But how does the work of this single musician leave such a strong impression on the music they have today? What could make Handel’s music something that would be hailed as electric, memorable, unique, and even cutting-edge? Most importantly, how could one person alter the musical idiom through a single twenty-four-day creation of a setting of Christ’s life? Through these questions, I will explore Handel’s impact on music in a way that sheds light on the significance of Handel as a musician, a teacher, an inventor, and a religious preserver. It is with Handel that we credit a great deal of musical advancement.
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Adversity was encountered early on in Handel’s life. At an early age, he faced a father who did not support a music career. His father greatly hated music, noting that it was a pastime that served the sole purpose of revealing a person’s weaknesses of character. Instead, his father wished he would pursue a career as a lawyer, which would come with a great deal of security in position and financial stability.
Handel himself would have to come to terms with this because he was born with “signs of a fierce ambition, born of an awareness of his superiority as a musician, and with a determination to maintain his independence.” This determination to advance his musical skills became a task that took a great deal of hard work and convincing.
Though it was Handel’s mother who provided access to a clavichord hidden in the family’s attic, the hours spent hiding from his father in the attic, covering the strings of the clavichord with cloth to dampen the sound, allowed young George the time to practice his musical development and eventually the knowledge of how to play both the clavichord and the organ. This early study is most likely what saved the musical career of Handel because it was during the time stuck in the attic that a young Duke passing by heard young George playing in the attic and was so moved by what he heard that he stopped to listen. After hearing young George play the organ, the Duke pleaded with George’s father to allow him to travel to Berlin and begin to take music lessons.
The young Handel began taking lessons at age eight and easily conquered learning the violin, composition, and theory techniques, harpsichord, and organ playing skills. Unfortunatelyy, by age 11, there seemed little that any music teacher could teach George.
