Table of Contents
Remembering Georg Friedrich Händel, born on this day in 1685 (1685-1759).
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti.
Best Sheet Music download from our Library.
Born in Halle, Germany, Handel spent his early life in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London in 1712, where he spent the bulk of his career and became a naturalized British subject in 1727. He was strongly influenced both by the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition and by composers of the Italian Baroque. In turn, Handel’s music forms one of the peaks of the “high baroque” style, bringing Italian opera to its highest development, creating the genres of English oratorio and organ concerto, and introducing a new style into English church music. He is consistently recognized as one of the greatest composers of his age.
Come join us now, enjoy playing your beloved music and browse through great scores of every level and styles!
Handel started three commercial opera companies to supply the English nobility with Italian opera. In 1737, he had a physical breakdown, changed direction creatively, addressed the middle class and made a transition to English choral works. After his success with Messiah (1742), he never composed an Italian opera again. His orchestral Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks remain steadfastly popular.
One of his four coronation anthems, Zadok the Priest, has been performed at every British coronation since 1727. He died a respected and rich man in 1759, aged 74, and was given a state funeral at Westminster Abbey.
Interest in Handel’s music has grown since the mid-20th century. The musicologist Winton Dean wrote that “Handel was not only a great composer; he was a dramatic genius of the first order.” His music was admired by Classical-era composers, especially Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven.
Please, subscribe to our Library.
If you are already a subscriber, please, check our NEW SCORES’ page every month for new sheet music. THANK YOU!
List of compositions by George Frideric Handel
Handel’s works were collected and preserved by two men: Sir Samuel Hellier, a country squire whose musical acquisitions form the nucleus of the Shaw–Hellier Collection, and the abolitionist Granville Sharp.
The catalogue accompanying the National Portrait Gallery exhibition marking the tercentenary of the composer’s birth calls them two men of the late eighteenth century “who have left us solid evidence of the means by which they indulged their enthusiasm”. With his English oratorios, such as Messiah and Solomon, the coronation anthems, and other works including Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks, Handel became a national icon in Britain, and featured in the BBC series The Birth of British Music: Handel – The Conquering Hero.
Passacaglia – Handel Halvorsen
A virtuous violinist and distinguishing orchestra director, Johan Halvorsen also wrote a large amount of incidental music (served orchestra at the Norwegian National Theater in Christiania for 30 years) as well as other orchestral works and numerous pieces with the violin. In 1894, when he worked in orchestra in Bergen, he made this extravagant adaptation for violin and viola of the Passacaglia of a suite for a carnation only of Handel.
A “passacaglia” is a form of continuous variations on a repetitive low, and Halvorsen elaborates the handle variations with an expanded instrumental deployment: double stops, hurry scales, harmonics and a wide range of dynamics, timbres and articulation.
Itzhak Perlman & Pinchas Zukerman: Halvorsen – Passacaglia
Pinchas Zukerman – viola Itzhak Perlman – violin Israel Philharmonic Orchestra / התזמורת הפילהרמונית 0:42 Johan Halvorsen – Passacaglia and Sarabande with variations on a theme by Handel.
Handel: Water Music for solo piano.
Piano Transcription by Andrew Ladd 1. Ouverture. Grave- Allegro 2. Adagio e Staccato 3. Allegro – Andante – Allegro 4. A tempo di Minuetto 5. Air. Andante 6. Minuet. Pomposo 7. Bouree. Allegro 8. Hornpipe. Allegro 9. Allegro moderato 10. Andante Allegro 11. Hornpipe. Allegro 12. Minuet. Moderato 13. Aria. Moderato 14. Loure. Lentement 15. Air. Allegro 16. Minuet. Moderato 17. Minuet. Allegretto 18. Affettuosso. Allegretto 19. Cantabile. Andante 20. Coro. Pomposo