Guide Note: George Frideric Handel was a Baroque composer of concerts, operas and oratorios. His most famous work is his Messiah oratorio, set to the text from the King James Bible. He was referred to by Beethoven as "the master of us all."
Fast Facts:
- Born: February 23, 1685 (the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach and Domenico Scarlatti)
- Was a skillful harpsichordist and organist by the age of 7
- Began to compose music at the age of 9
- Suffered a "stroke" at age 52 that caused temporary paralysis
- Was a devoted patron of the London Foundling Hospital
- Affected by blindness in his last eight years
- Never married and kept his personal life private
- Died: April 14, 1759
- Of Handel, Bach said: [Handel] is the only person I would wish to see before I die, and the only person I would wish to be, were I not Bach
