George Frideric Handel

Born in Prussia in 1685, George Frideric Handel was a musical prodigy. Proficient on the violin, harpsichord, oboe, and organ by the age of eleven, he began composing original music while still a child. After working as a musician in Hamburg and in Italy, Handel came to London in 1710, at age 25, arriving at a time when Italian opera was all the rage. Given a royal stipend to induce him to stay, Handel remained in Great Britain the rest of his life, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1726.

Handel’s musical genius brought him wealth and fame. Between 1712 and 1741 he composed over 40 popular operas. But perhaps his greatest and most enduring musical legacies are his 29 oratorios, the most famous of which is Messiah, which debuted in 1741.

In 1752, as his eyesight began to fail, Handel turned unfortunately to “Chevalier” John Taylor, a flamboyant quack with a knack for self-promotion, who had already blinded Bach. Taylor performed a procedure on Handel called “couching,” which involved sticking a needle into the patient’s eye to push cataracts out of the field of vision (without anesthesia, of course). Afterwards Taylor declared the procedure to have been a great success. Within a year, Handel was blind.

George Frideric Handel died in London at age 74 on April 14, 1759, two hundred sixty-four years ago today. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.

Handel left behind a vast body of work, but no descendants. He never married.

The portrait, by Balthasar Denner, is from circa 1727.