Editing George Frideric Handel (section)

== From Hamburg to Italy ==
[[File:Hamburgs Oper.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|The [[Hamburg]] [[Oper am Gänsemarkt]] in 1726, where Handel was a musician]]

Handel's probationary appointment to Domkirche expired in March 1703. By July{{efn|The first mention of Handel from the time he took his last communion at the Marktkirche on 23 April{{sfn|Deutsch|1955|p=9}} is in Mattheson's annotated translation of Mainwaring (published in 1761) where he writes that he met Handel in the Organ loft of the Church of St. Mary Magdalena in Hamburg.{{sfn|Deutsch|1955|p=10}} In his earlier ''Grunlage'' (published in 1740), he fixes the date as 9 July.{{sfn|Mattheson|1740|pp=29, 191}}}} Handel was in Hamburg. Since he left no explanation for the move{{efn|Mainwaring gives the cryptic explanation that since he had to earn a living from his profession, he had to find a place less distant than Berlin. Given that Hamburg's opera house was second only to Berlin's in repute, "it was resolved to send him thither on his own bottom, and chiefly with a view to improvement".{{sfn|Mainwaring|1760|pp=27–28}} The passage suggests that Handel had already determined on secular dramatic music as a career, but who it was "to send him thither" is not explained.}} biographers have offered their own speculation.

[[Donald Burrows (musicologist)|Donald Burrows]] believes that the answer can be found by untangling Mainwaring's confused chronology of the trip to Berlin. Burrows dates this trip to 1702 or 1703 (after his father's death) and concludes that since Handel (through a "friend and relation" at the Berlin court) turned down Frederick's offer to subsidise his musical education in Italy (with the implicit understanding that he would become a court musician on his return), Handel was no longer able to expect preferment (whether as a musician, lawyer or otherwise) within Brandenburg-Prussia. Since he was attracted to secular, dramatic music (by meeting the Italians Bononcini and Attilio Ariosti and through the influence of Telemann), Hamburg, a free city with an established opera company, was the logical choice.{{sfn|Burrows|1994|pp=11–13}}

The question remains, however, why Handel rejected the King's offer, given that Italy was the centre of opera. Lang suggests that influenced by the teachings of Thomasius, Handel's character was such that he was unable to make himself subservient to anyone, even a king. Lang sees Handel as someone who could not accept class distinctions that required him to regard himself as a social inferior. "What Handel craved was personal freedom to raise himself out of his provincial milieu to a life of culture."{{sfn|Lang|1966|p=26}} Burrows notes that, like his father, Handel was able to accept royal (and aristocratic) favours without considering himself a court servant;{{sfn|Burrows|1994|p=12}} and so, given the embarrassed financial condition of his mother,{{sfn|Mainwaring|1760|p=29}} Handel set off for Hamburg to obtain experience while supporting himself.

In 1703, he accepted a position as violinist and harpsichordist in the orchestra of the Hamburg [[Oper am Gänsemarkt]].<ref>{{harvnb|Burrows|1994|p=18}}</ref> There he met the composers [[Johann Mattheson]], [[Christoph Graupner]] and [[Reinhard Keiser]]. Handel's first two operas, ''[[Almira]]'' and ''Nero'', were produced in 1705.<ref>{{harvnb|Burrows|1994|p=19}}</ref> He produced two other operas, ''[[George Frideric Handel's lost Hamburg operas#Florindo and Daphne|Daphne]]'' and ''[[Florindo]]'', performed in 1708.

According to Mainwaring, in 1706 Handel travelled to Italy at the invitation of [[Ferdinando (III) de' Medici|Ferdinando de' Medici]]. (Other sources say Handel was invited by [[Gian Gastone de' Medici]], whom Handel had met in 1703–04 in Hamburg.{{sfn|Harris|2001|p=37}}) Ferdinando, who had a keen interest in opera, was trying to make Florence Italy's musical capital by attracting the leading talents of his day. In Italy, Handel met [[librettist]] [[Antonio Salvi]], with whom he later collaborated. Handel left for Rome and since opera was (temporarily) banned in the [[Papal States]], composed sacred music for the Roman clergy. His famous ''[[Dixit Dominus (Handel)|Dixit Dominus]]'' (1707) is from this era. He also composed [[cantata]]s in [[pastoral]] style for musical gatherings in the palaces of duchess [[Aurora Sanseverino]] (whom Mainwaring called "Donna Laura")<ref>Annette Landgraf, David Vickers, ''The Cambridge Handel Encyclopedia'', Cambridge University Press, 2009, p. 2</ref> one of the most influential patrons from the [[Kingdom of Naples]], and cardinals [[Pietro Ottoboni (cardinal)|Pietro Ottoboni]], [[Benedetto Pamphili]] and [[Colonna family|Carlo Colonna]]. Two [[oratorio]]s, ''[[La resurrezione]]'' and ''[[Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno|Il trionfo del tempo]]'', were produced in a private setting for [[Francesco Maria Marescotti Ruspoli, 1st Prince of Cerveteri|Ruspoli]] and Ottoboni in 1709 and 1710, respectively. ''[[Rodrigo (opera)|Rodrigo]]'', his first all-Italian opera, was produced in the [[Theatres in Florence|Cocomero theatre]] in Florence in 1707.<ref>{{harvnb|Burrows|1994|pp=29–30}}</ref> ''[[Agrippina (opera)|Agrippina]]'' was first produced in 1709 at [[Teatro Malibran|Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo]] in Venice, owned by the [[Grimani family|Grimanis]]. The opera, with a [[libretto]] by Cardinal [[Vincenzo Grimani]], ran for 27 nights successively.{{sfn|Mainwaring|1760|p=52}} The audience, thunderstruck with the grandeur and sublimity of his style,<ref>{{harvnb|Dean|Knapp|1987|p=129}}</ref> applauded for ''Il caro Sassone'' ("the dear Saxon" – referring to Handel's German origins).