He was a stranger in a strange land, yet in the early 18^th century, his arrival in cosmopolitan London turned the town on its ear.  He was a towering, barrel-chested man from Saxony who made and lost musical fortunes with equal parts intelligence and abandon; a heavy-set, possibly bow-legged fellow who collected art (he owned several paintings by Rembrandt) and was, unquestionably, one of the great organists and harpsichord players of his time.

George Frideric Handel, as he usually signed himself in his adopted country of England, remains something of a mystery man, despite being much written about and talked about by the top wits and journalists of that era.  He could be tremendously generous and sympathetic; however, Handel was also possessed of a fiery artistic temperament and could be bullying and tactless.  The moment he set foot in London in 1710, he began developing important life-long enemies.  At the same time, he single-handedly made Italian opera all the rage and was widely thought by his contemporaries to be the greatest composer who ever lived.

Handel was borne in Halle, Germany, in 1685, the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach and Domenico Scarlatti.  He studied organ at the Lutheran Church and while still in his teens served as the organist at the Calvinist Cathedral.  Apparently, his real love was theater, and in 1703 he gravitated to Hamburg, one of the most active opera centers in Europe at that time.  It was here that the composer’s life was almost cut short.  An orchestra pit argument between Handel and singer/composer Johann Mattheson erupted into a duel.  Mattheson lunged, but his sword broke on one of the metal buttons of Handel’s coat, sparing his life.

The composer followed his Hamburg escapade with four years in Rome (his nickname was “Il Sassone,” The Saxon), the scene of an even more famous “duel” between Handel and Scarlatti.  The assembly declared them to be equally proficient on the harpsichord, while Handel was pronounced the better organist.  Handel learned from and was respected by the finest musicians in Europe.

After a brief sojourn as a court musician in Hanover, Handel made his way across the Channel to England, producing Rinaldo in 1711.  Absent without leave from the German court, he continued to produce Italian opera until, in a strange twist of fate; the elector of Hanover ascended to the British throne in 1714 as King George the First.  Legend has it that Handel was restored to George’s favor through his Water Music.  In any event, it was around this time that Handel began to pursue his double life as composer and producer with the full backing of the British aristocracy, dashing off more than forty operas at a break-neck pace.  It must also be noted that not all the music originated with Handel – he was a well-known plagiarist.

Handel never married although there were persistent rumors in the early days of liaisons with Italian singers.  King George III wrote in the margins of his copy of Handel’s first biography:  “G.F. Handel scorned the advice of any but the Woman he loved, but his Amours were rather of short duration.”  Modern biographers speculate that he might have been gay.

Handel’s visible passion was for his art.  He once feigned throwing a soprano out the window when she refused to sing an aria as written. 

The success of The Beggar’s Opera, a satirical masterpiece sung in English, played a major role in the eventual bankruptcy of Handel’s Italian opera company.  A subsequent venture also failed and Handel turned from opera to oratorio – in English – in the late 1730’s.  The loss of his sight in 1751 finally ended his string of successes in that genre, with Jephtha which premiered in 1752.