Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/578

* HANDEL. 524 HANDELMANN. had important results. Whenever, during this visit, young Handel found ojiportunit}-, he stole into the ducal chapel and played upon the organ. The Duke, chancing to hear him, questioned him, and learning of his father's oi)position, persuaded the latter to abandon his intention of making a lawyer of the boy. As a result, on returning to Halle, Handel began a thorough study of music under Zaehau. Going to Berlin in 169(5 to pur- sue his studies further, he became acquainted with Ariosti and Buononcini. In 1703 he took a modest position in the orchestra of the Hamburg Opera House, but soon astonished the public by the skill with which he presided at the harpsichord durnig the tern- ]iorary absence of the renowned Keiser. At this time he also applied for the post of organist at Liibeck: but learning that one of the stipulations in the competition was that the successful candi- date should marry the daughter of the retiring organist, he withdrew. At Hamburg he formed a friendship with Mattheson, and when, in 1705, Handel produced his first opera, Almira, Matthe- son took the chief role. Visiting Italy, Handel produced in Florence the opera Koderiiio, and in Venice Agrippina, which he composed in three weeks, and which was received with enthusiasm. He met Scarlatti, who so greatly influenced Handel's subsequent works, Gasparini. and Lotti. and in Rome became the intimate of Cardinal Ottoboni. In 1709 he took sen'ice with the Elector George of Hanover (afterwards George I. of England). In 1710 Handel went to England, where he spent practically the rest of his life, ^here the taste for Italian music was on the increase, and his Rinaldo achieved great success. The opera was patched together from his earlier works in fourteen days, and w ould have been finished soon- er had the translator of the libretto been able to keep pace with him. The score contains the familiar "Lascia che io pianga," still a very popular concert number. The year 1713 saw the production of his 'Te Deum" and '•Jubilate." in celebration of the Peace of Utrecht. They brought him a life pension of £200. When • ieorge I. ascended the English throne, Handel, though previously in his service, avoided him. He feared his Utrecht music might have offended the former Elector, as the German Protestant princes had not regarded the treaty with favor. But his "Water Alusic." performed during the Thames fete, led to a second annuity of £200. For three years, beginning 171S. Handel was musical director to the Duke of Chandos. and during that time composed, among other pieces, the two Chandos ''Te Deums" and the twelve Chandos anthems. From this time also dates "The Harmonious Blacksmith," which he is said to have written after having taken refuge in a smithy during a storm. During the period from 1720 to 1740. Handel, spurred on by the rivalry of Ariosti and Buononcini, produced over a score of excellent operas. The fact that their instru- mentation was not fully written out, and the change in the style of opera demanded in Eng- land, has prevented these works from receiving their just appreciation : hut it is beyond cavil that they were superior to the compositions of his contemporaries, and were scarcely inferior to his oratorios. Handel's career in England should have been uninterruptedly prosperous, but he ruined him- self fiuanciallj- by imdertaking, in rivalry with Buononcini. whom he finally vanquished, the responsibilities of operatic management as well as of composition. He, however, retrieved his fortunes by his oratorios. In .January, 1739, he produced Haul, followed in -pril by Israel in B(jypt, but although both oratorios were highly praised thej' met with no popular favor at the time. The latter is considered by many even superior to his famous Messiah. The Messiuli, was produced in the autumn of 1741 in Dublin. At the first London performance, March 23, 1743, in Covent Garden, when the "Hallelujah Chorus was reached, the King and the whole audience rose, and thus established a custom which con- tinues to this day, George II. 's victory at Det- tiugen was celebrated by Handel with the "Det- tingen Te Deum and Anthem. In 1752 his eyesight began to fail, and he became totally blind. He, however, continued to accompany his ora- torios on the organ, and did so at a Messiah per- formance only eight days before his death, which occurred April 14, 1759. He is buried in West- minster Abbey. Though of liberal disposition and much in- terested in charity, Handel was at times choleric. (Quarrels with his singers had nuich to do with his failure as a manager. Handel's se:-'ice to music lies largely in the grace and freedona with which he handled the musical forms of his day, especially as compared with the severer Bach, of whom he was a con- temporary. Though Bach is now acknowledged to be far the greater, the fact that their imme- diate successors took them both for models gave greater variety and plasticity to the development of music. Handel founded no school ; he lacked the genius for creating new forms, or for revo- lutionizing existing musical conditions. His choral work, especially in Israel in Ejiypt, The Mes- siah, and Solomon, is great because of the mass- ive effects he obtains by apparently simple means, though in reality many of the choruses are worked out with infinite detail. Greater musi- cians have superseded him in the fields of opera- tie and instrumental composition, but in oratorio , he is still supreme. It has been shown that on occasion he helped himself to the music of other composers, but lie was original enough to borrow without losing esteem. Beethoven greatly admired his nnisic. and during his last illness found en- joyment in looking over a new edition of Handel's works. See Accomp.T{IMENT. BiBLiOGR-iPHY. Marshall. Handel, in the "Great Musicians Series'' (New York. 1883). an excellent short life; Rockstro, Life of G. F. Han- del (London. 18S3). and Chrysander, G. F. Ban- del (Leipzig. 1858-67), the most authoritative biographies: Bray, Handel: His Life, Personal and Professional (London, 1857) : Great German Composers (New York. 1878) : Whittingham, LifTe and Works of Handel (London, 1882); ^laiuwaring. Memoirs of the Life of Handel (London. 1760). HANDEL AND HAYDN (hi'd'n) SO- CIETY. Sec CiioR.xi, Societies. HANDELMANN, han'dcl-man. Gottfried* Heinrich (1827-91). A German historian and antiquary, born at Altona. and educated at Kiel. Heidelberg. Berlin, and Gilttingen. His first historical work was Die letzten Zeiten hanisscher Vrh< rmacht im .slcandinavischen Xorden (1853).