Editing George Frideric Handel (section)

== Early years ==
=== Family ===
[[File:George Frideric Handel baptismal register.jpg|thumb|Handel's baptismal registration ([[Marienbibliothek, Halle (Saale)|Marienbibliothek]] in [[Halle (Saale)|Halle]])]]

Handel was born in 1685 (the same year as [[Johann Sebastian Bach]] and [[Domenico Scarlatti]]) in [[Halle (Saale)|Halle]], in the [[Duchy of Magdeburg]], then part of Brandenburg-Prussia. His parents were [[Georg Händel]], aged 63, and Dorothea Taust, daughter of priest Georg Taust.<ref>{{harvnb|Deutsch|1955|p=1}}</ref> His father was an eminent [[Barber surgeon|barber-surgeon]] who served the court of [[Saxe-Weissenfels]] and the [[Margraviate of Brandenburg]].{{sfn|Adams|Hofestädt|2005|pp=144–146}}{{efn|Georg Händel (senior) was the son of a [[coppersmith]], Valentin Händel (1582–1636), who had emigrated from [[Eisleben]] in 1608 with his first wife Anna Belching, the daughter of a master coppersmith. They were Protestants and chose reliably Protestant Saxony over [[Silesia]], a [[Habsburg monarchy|Habsburg]] possession, as religious tensions mounted in the years before the [[Thirty Years' War]].{{sfn|Adams|Hofestädt|2005|p=144}} }}

Halle was a relatively prosperous city, home of a salt-mining industry, a centre of trade, and a member of the [[Hanseatic League]].<ref>{{harvnb|Adams|Hofestädt|2005|p=144}}; {{harvnb|Burrows|1994|p=1}}.</ref> The Margrave of Brandenburg became the administrator of the archepiscopal territories of [[Mainz]], including [[Archbishopric of Magdeburg|Magdeburg]] when they converted, and by the early 17th century held his court in Halle, which attracted renowned musicians.{{efn|Among the court musicians of Halle were [[Samuel Scheidt]] (who also was organist at the Moritzkirche), [[William Brade]] and [[Michael Praetorius]].{{sfn|Burrows|1994|p=1}}}} Even the smaller churches all had "able organists and fair choirs",{{efn|Halle also was noted for the quality of its organ-builders. In 1712, [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]] was intrigued by the organ at Marktkirche, and applied for the position that Zachow, Handel's teacher, vacated. He decided on [[Weimar]], however.{{sfn|Lang|1966|p=20}}}} and humanities and the letters thrived (Shakespeare was performed in the theatres early in the 17th century).{{sfn|Lang|1966|p=20}} The Thirty Years' War brought extensive destruction to Halle, and by the 1680s it was impoverished.{{sfn|Adams|Hofestädt|2005|p=144}} However, since the middle of the war the city had been under the administration of the [[Augustus, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels|Duke of Saxony]], and soon after the end of the war he would bring musicians trained in [[Dresden]] to his court in [[Weißenfels|Weissenfels]].{{sfn|Burrows|1994|pp=1–2}}

[[File:Halle Händelhaus 2012.jpg|thumb|left|[[Handel House]], birthplace of Handel]]
The arts and music, however, flourished only among the higher strata (not only in Halle but throughout Germany),{{sfn|Lang|1966|pp=25–26}} of which Handel's family was not a part. Georg Händel (senior) was born at the beginning of the war and was apprenticed to a barber in Halle at the age of 14 after his father died.{{efn|This barber, Andreas Berger, happened to be the son-in-law of English ''émigré'' William Brade, court musician to Augustus in Weissenfels.{{sfn|Adams|Hofestädt|2005|p=144}}}} When he was 20, he married the widow of the official barber-surgeon of a suburb of Halle, inheriting his practice. With this, Georg determinedly began the process of becoming self-made; by dint of his "conservative, steady, thrifty, unadventurous" lifestyle,{{sfn|Lang|1966|p=10}} he guided the five children he had with Anna who reached adulthood into the medical profession (except his youngest daughter, who married a government official).{{sfn|Adams|Hofestädt|2005|pp=144–145}} Anna died in 1682. Within a year Georg married again, this time to the daughter of a Lutheran minister, Pastor Georg Taust of the Church of St. Bartholomew in Giebichenstein,{{sfn|Landon|1984|p=9}} who himself came from a long line of Lutheran pastors.{{sfn|Lang|1966|p=10}} George Frideric was the second child of this marriage; the first son was [[Stillbirth|stillborn]].{{sfn|Deutsch|1955|p=6}} Two younger sisters arrived afterwards: Dorthea Sophia, born on 6 October 1687, and Johanna Christiana, born on 10 January 1690.<ref>{{harvnb|Deutsch|1955|p=2}}; {{harvnb|Landon|1984|p=9}}.</ref>

=== Early education ===
[[File:HALL IN SAXEN - Der getreue Reiß-Gefert... - 1686.JPG|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Halle (Saale)|Halle]], copper engraving, 1686]]
Early in his life, Handel is reported to have attended the ''[[Gymnasium (school)|Gymnasium]]'' in Halle,{{sfn|Dreyhaupt|1755|p=625}} where the headmaster, {{ill|Johann Praetorius (musician)|de|Johann Praetorius (Musiker)|lt=Johann Praetorius}}, was reputed to be an ardent musician.{{sfn|Maitland|Squire|1890|p=277}} Whether Handel remained there, and if he did for how long, is unknown, but many biographers suggest that he was withdrawn from school by his father, based on the characterization of him by Handel's first biographer, [[John Mainwaring]]. Mainwaring is the source for almost all information (little as it is) of Handel's childhood, and much of that information came from J. C. Smith Jr., Handel's confidant and copyist.<ref>{{harvnb|Landon|1984|p=10}}; {{harvnb|Schoelcher|1857|p=7 n.1}}.</ref> Whether it came from Smith or elsewhere, Mainwaring frequently relates misinformation.{{efn|Both Landon and Hogwood point out and to the extent possible correct the more obvious misstatements of facts and dates and inconsistencies of Mainwaring. ''See'' {{harvnb|Landon|1984|pp=9–19}}; {{harvnb|Hogwood|1984|pp=11–17}}.}} It is from Mainwaring that the portrait comes of Handel's father as implacably opposed to any musical education. Mainwaring writes that Georg Händel was "alarmed" at Handel's very early propensity for music,{{efn|[[Victor Schœlcher|Schoelcher]] suggests that Handel's "doctor" father observed Handel making musical sounds even before he could talk and this in the eyes of the son of a coppersmith "discovered instincts of so low an order …"{{sfn|Schoelcher|1857|p=3}}}} "took every measure to oppose it", including forbidding any musical instrument in the house and preventing Handel from going to any house where they might be found.{{sfn|Mainwaring|1760|pp=4–5}} This did nothing to dampen young Handel's inclination; in fact, it did the reverse. Mainwaring tells the story of Handel's secret attic [[spinet]]: Handel "found means to get a little [[clavichord]] privately convey'd to a room at the top of the house. To this room he constantly stole when the family was asleep".{{sfn|Mainwaring|1760|p=5}} Although both [[John Hawkins (author)|John Hawkins]] and [[Charles Burney]] credited this tale, Schoelcher found it nearly "incredible" and a feat of "poetic imagination"{{sfn|Schoelcher|1857|p=4}} and Lang considers it one of the unproven "romantic stories" that surrounded Handel's childhood.{{sfn|Lang|1966|p=11}} But Handel had to have had some experience with the keyboard to have made the impression in Weissenfels that resulted in his receiving formal musical training.{{sfn|Dent|2004|pp=3–4}}

=== Musical education ===
Sometime between the ages of seven and nine, Handel accompanied his father to [[Weissenfels]], where he came under the notice of one whom Handel thereafter always regarded throughout life as his benefactor,{{sfn|Schoelcher|1857|p=5}} [[Johann Adolf I, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels|Duke Johann Adolf I]].{{efn|The year and purpose of the visit and why the meeting occurred are variously given. Schoelcher and Bone have it that Handel was seven and they were visiting a son by Georg's first marriage, who was in service to the Duke.<ref>{{harvnb|Schoelcher|1857|p=4}}; {{harvnb|Bone|1914|p=141}}.</ref> [[Friedrich Chrysander]] states that they were visiting the younger Handel's nephew, Carl (ten years his senior) who was the Duke's valet.<ref>{{harvnb|Chrysander|1858}}: Buch 1: 2. Kindheit.</ref>

Lang writes that Handel was nine and Handel's father, holding a court position, must have frequently travelled to Weissenfels, where the Duke had established a residence after [[Prussia]] had annexed the city of Halle. Young Handel was taken along because he could be cared for by relatives of his late wife.{{sfn|Lang|1966|p=11}}}} Somehow Handel made his way to the court organ in the palace chapel of the Holy Trinity, where he surprised everyone with his playing.<ref>{{harvnb|Schoelcher|1857|pp=4–5}}; {{harvnb|Bone|1914|p=141}}; {{harvnb|Lang|1966|p=11}}.</ref> Overhearing this performance and noting the youth of the performer caused the Duke, whose suggestions were not to be disregarded, to recommend to Georg Händel that Handel be given musical instruction.<ref>{{harvnb|Lang|1966|p=11}}; {{harvnb|Bone|1914|p=141}}; {{harvnb|Schoelcher|1857|p=5}}.</ref> Handel's father engaged the organist at the Halle parish church, the young [[Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow]], to instruct Handel. Zachow would be the only teacher that Handel ever had.{{sfn|Lang|1966|p=11}} Because of his church employment, Zachow was an organist "of the old school", revelling in fugues, canons, and counterpoint.{{sfn|Schoelcher|1857|p=5}} But he was also familiar with developments in music across Europe and his own compositions "embraced the new concerted, dramatic style".{{efn|"His cantatas, often highly dramatic, are distinguished by very imaginative choral writing, colourful orchestration, and skilful handling of the concerted element."{{sfn|Lang|1966|pp=11–12}}}}

When Zachow discovered the talent of Handel, he introduced him "to a vast collection of German and Italian music, which he possessed, sacred and profane, vocal and instrumental compositions of different schools, different styles, and of every master".{{sfn|Schoelcher|1857|p=5}} Many traits considered "Handelian" can be traced back to Zachow's music.<ref>{{harvnb|Lang|1966|p=12}}; {{harvnb|Landon|1984|p=15}}. ''See also'' {{cite book|last=Seiffert|first=Max|chapter=Preface to Volumes 21, 21 (Zachow)|title=Denkmäler deutscher Tonkunst|location=Leipzig|publisher=Breitkopf & Härtel|year=1905|title-link=Denkmäler deutscher Tonkunst}}</ref> At the same time Handel continued practice on the [[harpsichord]], and learned violin and organ, but according to [[Charles Burney|Burney]] his special affection was for the ''hautbois'' (oboe).<ref>{{harvnb|Schoelcher|1857|pp=5–6}}. ''See also'' {{harvnb|Bone|1914|pp=141–142}}.</ref> Schoelcher speculates that his youthful devotion to the instrument explains the large number of pieces he composed for the oboe.{{sfn|Schoelcher|1857|p=6}}

[[File:Marktkirche halle 1.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Marktkirche Unser Lieben Frauen|Marktkirche]] in Halle where Handel was baptised, and where [[Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow|Friedrich Zachow]] and Handel performed as organists]]
With respect to instruction in composition, in addition to having Handel apply himself to traditional [[fugue]] and [[cantus firmus]] work, Zachow, recognising Handel's precocious talents, systematically introduced Handel to the variety of styles and masterworks contained in his extensive library. He did this by requiring Handel to copy selected scores. "I used to write like the devil in those days", Handel recalled much later.{{sfn|Lang|1966|p=12}}

Much of this copying was entered into a notebook that Handel maintained for the rest of his life. Although it has since disappeared, the notebook has been sufficiently described to understand what pieces Zachow wished Handel to study. Among the chief composers represented in this exercise book were [[Johann Krieger]], an "old master" in the fugue and prominent organ composer, [[Johann Caspar Kerll]], a representative of the "southern style" after his teacher [[Girolamo Frescobaldi]] and imitated later by Handel,{{efn|Handel not only applied Kerll's techniques and phrases in later compositions, he imported an entire movement composed by Kerll into ''[[Israel in Egypt]]''.{{sfn|Lang|1966|p=14}}}} [[Johann Jakob Froberger]], an "internationalist" also closely studied by [[Dieterich Buxtehude|Buxtehude]] and [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]], and [[Georg Muffat]], whose amalgam of French and Italian styles and his synthesis of musical forms influenced Handel.{{sfn|Lang|1966|pp=13–16}}

Mainwaring writes that during this time Zachow had begun to have Handel assume some of his church duties. Zachow, Mainwaring asserts, was "often" absent, "from his love of company, and a cheerful glass", and Handel, therefore, performed on organ frequently.{{sfn|Mainwaring|1760|p=15}} What is more, according to Mainwaring, Handel began composing, at the age of nine, church services for voice and instruments "and from that time actually did compose a service every week for three years successively".{{sfn|Mainwaring|1760|p=16}} Mainwaring ends this chapter of Handel's life by concluding that three or four years had been enough to allow Handel to surpass Zachow, and Handel had become "impatient for another situation"; "Berlin was the place agreed upon."{{sfn|Mainwaring|1760|p=18}} Carelessness with dates or sequences (and possibly imaginative interpretation by Mainwaring) makes this period confused.{{efn|Both Landon and Hogwood point out and to the extent possible correct the more obvious misstatements of facts and dates and inconsistencies of Mainwaring. ''See'' {{harvnb|Landon|1984|pp=9–19}}; {{harvnb|Hogwood|1984|pp=11–17}}.}}

===After the death of Handel's father ===

Handel's father died on 11 February 1697.<ref>{{harvnb|Schoelcher|1857|p=6}}; {{harvnb|Deutsch|1955|pp=5–6}} (inscription on Georg Händel's tombstone).</ref> It was German custom for friends and family to compose funeral odes for a substantial burgher like Georg,{{sfn|Lang|1966|p=19}} and young Handel discharged his duty with a poem dated 18 February and signed with his name and (in deference to his father's wishes) "dedicated to the liberal arts."<ref>{{harvnb|Deutsch|1955|pp=6–8}} (containing the poem and English translation).</ref> At the time Handel was studying either at Halle's Lutheran Gymnasium or the Latin School.{{sfn|Lang|1966|p=19}}

Mainwaring has Handel travelling to Berlin the next year, 1698.{{sfn|Mainwaring|1760|p=18}} The problem with Mainwaring as an authority for this date, however, is that he tells of how Handel's father communicated with the "king"{{efn|There was no "king" in Berlin until 18 January 1701 when Frederick III, the Elector of Brandenburg, became [[Frederick I of Prussia|Frederick I]], the first [[King in Prussia]].{{sfn|Landon|1984|p=30 n.5}}}} during Handel's stay, declining the Court's offer to send Handel to Italy on a stipend{{sfn|Mainwaring|1760|pp=24–25}} and that his father died "after his return from Berlin."{{sfn|Mainwaring|1760|p=29}} But since Georg Händel died in 1697, either the date of the trip or Mainwaring's statements about Handel's father must be in error. Early biographers solved the problem by making the year of the trip 1696, then noting that at the age of 11, Handel would need a guardian, so they have Handel's father or a friend of the family accompany him, all the while puzzling over why the elder Handel, who wanted Handel to become a lawyer, would spend the sum to lead his son further into the temptation of music as a career.{{sfn|Lang|1966|p=166}} Schoelcher for example has Handel travelling to Berlin at 11, meeting both [[Giovanni Bononcini|Bononcini]] and [[Attilio Ariosti]] in Berlin and then returning at the direction of his father.{{sfn|Schoelcher|1857|pp=6–7}} But Ariosti was not in Berlin before the death of Handel's father,{{sfn|Landon|1984|p=31 n.8}} and Handel could not have met Bononcini in Berlin before 1702.{{sfn|Landon|1984|p=31 n.7}} Modern biographers either accept the year as 1698, since most reliable older authorities agree with it,{{efn|Among the careful authorities who accepted the trip taking place in 1698 were Handel's friend [[Johann Mattheson]]{{sfn|Lang|1966|p=166}} and Burney.{{sfn|Schoelcher|1857|p=6}}}} and discount what Mainwaring says about what took place during the trip or assume that Mainwaring conflated two or more visits to Berlin, as he did with Handel's later trips to Venice.{{sfn|Landon|1984|pp=31 n.7 & 53}}

=== University ===

Perhaps to fulfil a promise to his father or simply because he saw himself as "dedicated to the liberal arts", on 10 February 1702 Handel matriculated at the [[Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg|University of Halle]].<ref>{{harvnb|Dean|1982|p=2}}; {{harvnb|Deutsch|1955|p=8}}.</ref> That university had only recently been founded. In 1694, the [[Frederick I of Prussia|Elector of Brandenburg Frederick III]] (later Prussian King Frederick I) created the school, largely to provide a lecture forum for the jurist [[Christian Thomasius]] who had been expelled from [[Leipzig University|Leipzig]] for his liberal views.{{sfn|Lang|1966|p=20}} Handel did not enrol in the faculty of law, although he almost certainly attended lectures.<ref>{{harvnb|Lang|1966|p=20}}; {{harvnb|Dent|2004|p=2}}</ref> Thomasius was an intellectual and academic crusader, who was the first German academic to lecture in German and also denounced witch trials. Lang believes that Thomasius instilled in Handel a "respect for the dignity and freedom of man's mind and the solemn majesty of the law", principles that would have drawn him to and kept him in England for half a century.{{sfn|Lang|1966|pp=20–21}} Handel also there encountered the theologian and professor of Oriental languages [[August Hermann Francke]], who was particularly solicitous of children, especially orphans. The orphanage he founded became a model for Germany and undoubtedly influenced Handel's own charitable impulse when he assigned the rights of ''Messiah'' to London's [[Foundling Hospital]].{{sfn|Lang|1966|p=21}}

[[File:Dom Halle.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Halle Cathedral]]]]
Shortly after commencing his university education, Handel (though Lutheran{{efn|Records of the Marktkirche show that he took communion there in April of the years 1701 to 1703.<ref>{{harvnb|Burrows|1994|p=10}}; {{harvnb|Deutsch|1955|pp=8, 9, 10}}.</ref>}}) on 13 March 1702 accepted the position of organist at the [[Halle Cathedral|Calvinist Cathedral in Halle]], the Domkirche, replacing J. C. Leporin, for whom he had acted as assistant.{{sfn|Dent|2004|p=2}} The position, which was a one-year probationary appointment, showed the foundation he had received from Zachow, for a church organist and cantor was a highly prestigious office. From it, he received 5 thalers a year and lodgings in the run-down castle of Moritzburg.{{sfn|Burrows|1994|p=20}}

Around this same time, Handel made the acquaintance of [[Georg Philipp Telemann|Telemann]]. Four years Handel's senior, Telemann was studying law at Leipzig and was assisting cantor [[Johann Kuhnau]] ([[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]]'s predecessor at the [[Thomaskirche]] there). Telemann recalled forty years later in an autobiography for Mattheson's ''Grundlage'': "The writing of the excellent Johann Kuhnau served as a model for me in fugue and counterpoint; but in fashioning melodic movements and examining them Handel and I were constantly occupied, frequently visiting each other as well as writing letters."<ref>{{harvnb|Burrows|1994|pp=10–11}} translating {{harvnb|Mattheson|1740|p=359}}.</ref>

=== Halle compositions ===
Although Mainwaring records that Handel wrote weekly when assistant to Zachow and as probationary organist at Domkirche part of his duty was to provide suitable music,{{efn|Handel was required by the terms of his appointment, among other things, "to play the organ fittingly at Divine Service, and for this purpose to pre-intone the prescribed Psalms and Spiritual Songs, and to have due care to whatever might be needful to the support of beautiful harmony …"{{sfn|Deutsch|1955|p=9}}}} no sacred compositions from his Halle period can now be identified.{{sfn|Lang|1966|p=22 n.2}} Mattheson, however, summarised his opinion of Handel's church cantatas written in Halle: "Handel in those days set very, very long arias and sheerly unending cantatas which, while not possessing the proper knack or correct taste, were perfect so far as harmony is concerned."<ref>{{harvnb|Lang|1966|p=22}} translating {{harvnb|Mattheson|1740|p=93}}.</ref>

Early chamber works do exist, but it is difficult to date any of them to Handel's time in Halle. Many historians until recently followed Chrysander and designated the six trio sonatas for two oboes and basso continuo as his first known composition, supposedly written in 1696 (when Handel was 11).{{sfn|Deutsch|1955|p=4 n.1}} Lang doubts the dating based on a handwritten date of a copy (1700) and stylistic considerations. Lang writes that the works "show thorough acquaintance with the distilled sonata style of the [[Arcangelo Corelli|Corelli school]]" and are notable for "the formal security and the cleanness of the texture."{{sfn|Lang|1966|p=23}} Hogwood considers all of the oboe trio sonatas spurious and even suggests that some parts cannot be performed on the oboe.{{sfn|Hogwood|1984|p=21}} That authentic manuscript sources do not exist and that Handel never recycled any material from these works makes their authenticity doubtful.{{sfn|Best|1985|pp=486–489}} Other early chamber works were printed in Amsterdam in 1724 as opus 1, but it is impossible to tell which are early works in their original form, rather than later re-workings by Handel, a frequent practice of his.{{sfn|Lang|1966|p=23}}