Unlike his contemporary, J.S. Bach, George Frederic Handel wasn't content to while away his life composing chamber pieces for the petty nobility and clergy of the German hinterland. Already a recognized musician at twenty, he took off for Italy - then the musical center of Europe - to study under some of the great choral and orchestral masters of the Baroque - an era that he would eventually come to dominate musically.
At the time, England, long rendered prosperous and powerful by the bold leadership of Elizabeth I and her successors, was in need of a culture of it's own. True, it had developed an outstanding literary tradition and had sired some interesting, though not particularly grand, architectural developments. But the islanders were artistically and musically impoverished; this even in comparison to the lowly Germans and French to whom they enjoyed a clear superiority with respect to almost every other measure of civilization.
So, Handel, the Italian-trained German, set off for the fertile fields of London with the ambitious task in mind of creating an English musical tradition. And create it he did. For Handel was not only a musical mastermind, but a shrewd entrepreneur to boot. This characteristic served him well in the two-fisted capitalist world of English theater and music - a world not as totally dependent on the patronage system as the continent, where the ability to woo royal or clerical fat-cats was as important for a musician as skill and creativity. Yes, Handel worked for the King and sometimes the church, but more often than not he composed his operas and orchestral works for private companies of which he was usually a director and part owner. Sometimes the ventures met with limited commercial success and sometimes they failed, but such endeavors allowed a creative freedom that would have been unavailable under an exclusive patronage arrangement.
A tireless worker, he created numerous operas (usually in Italian) for which he was well noted. But his claim to eternal fame lies in the English Oratorio - a grand form of choral music with orchestral accompaniment, which he practically invented. His greatest achievement in this style remains the well known Messiah, though there are several others that remain in the repertory. He composed cantatas and other smaller vocal works and is remembered for a number of orchestral pieces as well: Water Music and Royal Fireworks to name two. He is also credited with developing the then-nascent concerto grosso form.
Adventuresome, creative, enormously talented, and grand in his vision and vocation: these are the characteristics that made George Frederic Handel one of the great masters of the Baroque era, and endear him to audiences to this day.

- Greg Knepp, ClassicT-Shirt.com

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