Introduction

Music for the Royal Fireworks, HWV 351: I. Overture (excerpt)

Composer: George Frideric Handel

Ensemble: Aradia Ensemble

Conductor: Kevin Mallon

Tho' no man ever introduced such a number of instruments, yet in his Orchestra not one is found idle or insignificant.

Organ Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 4, No. 1, HWV 289: IV. Andante (excerpt)

Composer: George Frideric Handel

Ensemble: Northern Sinfonia

Performer: Simon Lindley

Conductor: Bradley Creswick

George Frideric Handel was born on 23rd February 1685 in the central German town of Halle, on the river Saale, roughly 100 miles southwest of Berlin.

Trio Sonata in G Minor, Op. 2, No. 2, HWV 387: I. Andante (excerpt)

Composer: George Frideric Handel

Ensemble: The Brook Street Band

Handel's university education came to an abrupt end when, in July 1703, he moved from Halle to Hamburg…

Almira, HWV 1, Act I: Aria: Geloso tormento (Jealous torment) (excerpt)

Composer: George Frideric Handel

Ensemble: Apollo's Fire

Performer: Amanda Forsythe

Conductor: Jeannette Sorrell

As well as Almira, Handel composed three additional operas while resident in Hamburg: the unsuccessful Nero, also based on a Feustking libretto, its music now lost; Florindo and Daphne…

No se emendará jamás, HWV 140, "Cantata spagnuola" (Spanish Cantata), Aria: No se emendará jamás (My heart will never stop loving you) (excerpt)

Composer: George Frideric Handel

Performer: Jennifer Ellis-Kampani, Adam LaMotte, William Skeen, Richard Savino

While in Rome Handel had produced music for the highest-ranking nobility, cultivated international visitors and the most important churchmen…

Agrippina, HWV 6, Act II Scene 5: Otton, quai portentoso (Otho, what prodigious)

Composer: George Frideric Handel

Ensemble: La Grande Écurie et la Chambre du Roy

Performer: Thierry Grégoire

Conductor: Jean-Claude Malgoire

Renowned Handel expert Winton Dean has suggested that Agrippina represents an early pinnacle in the composer's operatic career…

Rinaldo, HWV 7, Act II Scene 4: Lascia ch'io pianga (Let me weep) (excerpt)

Composer: George Frideric Handel

Ensemble: London Baroque

Performer: Susanne Rydén

Conductor: Charles Medlam

At this point in his career, it is likely that Handel was aware of the real guarantors of his fame and fortune: his London audience.

Water Music: Suite No. 2 in D Major, HWV 349: IV. Lentement

Composer: George Frideric Handel

Ensemble: Capella Istropolitana

Conductor: Bohdan Warchal

One of the most beloved pieces that Handel composed during these relatively early years in London was his Water Music.

Water Music: Suite No. 2 in D Major, HWV 349: II. Alla Hornpipe (excerpt)

Composer: George Frideric Handel

Ensemble: Capella Istropolitana

Conductor: Bohdan Warchal

One month after the now-infamous barge excursion, Handel became composer-in-residence to James Brydes, Earl of Carnarvon.

Esther, HWV 50a, Act III Scene 1: He comes, he comes to end our woes (1720 version) (excerpt)

Composer: George Frideric Handel

Ensemble: Dunedin Consort

Conductor: John Butt

Handel's Eight Keyboard Suites, bits and pieces of which are also thought to date from Cannons…

Keyboard Suite No. 1 (Set I) in A Major, HWV 426: I. Prelude (excerpt)

Composer: George Frideric Handel

Performer: Philip Edward Fisher

It has been said that Handel's mixture of styles within the Eight Keyboard Suites - also known as the Suites de pièce - was likely commercially motivated…

Keyboard Suite No. 2 (Set I) in F Major, HWV 427: III. Adagio

Composer: George Frideric Handel

Performer: Philip Edward Fisher

Despite the popular reception of the Eight Suites, which were reprinted on several occasions during Handel's lifetime not only in England but across northern Europe…

Giulio Cesare in Egitto, HWV 17, Act I: Aria: Va tacito e nascoto (Silently and slyly) (excerpt)

Composer: George Frideric Handel

Ensemble: Händel Festivalorchester

Performer: Axel Köhler

Conductor: Howard Arman

The late 1720s witnessed the dissolution of the Royal Academy of Music, largely owing to disputes between directors and subscribers…

Zadok the Priest, HWV 258: Zadok the Priest

Composer: George Frideric Handel

Ensemble: Thomas Tallis Chamber Choir, Royal Academy Consort

Conductor: Jeremy Summerly

At this point in his career, oratorio was still secondary to opera in Handel's musical ambition.

Messiah, HWV 56, Part II: Hallelujah! (excerpt)

Composer: George Frideric Handel

Ensemble: Scholars Baroque Ensemble

With Messiah, and, shortly after, with Samson, Handel seems to have realised that the genre of English oratorio was key to his continued success as England's leading composer.

Organ Concerto No. 9 in B-Flat Major, Op. 7, No. 3, HWV 308: III. Spiritoso (excerpt)

Composer: George Frideric Handel

Ensemble: Northern Sinfonia

Performer: Simon Lindley

Conductor: Bradley Creswick

Despite these benefits, the composer nonetheless seems to have liked making things difficult for himself…

Judas Maccabaeus, HWV 63: See here the conqu'ring hero comes! (arr. P. Breiner for orchestra) (excerpt)

Composer: George Frideric Handel

Ensemble: Capella Istropolitana

Conductor: Richard Edlinger

Now a composer of considerable status and national pride, Handel continued his regular composition and performance of oratorios…

Recorder Sonata in F Major, Op. 1, No. 11, HWV 369: III. Siciliana (excerpt)

Composer: George Frideric Handel

Performer: László Czidra, Pál Kelemen, Zsuzsa Pertis