Handel, George Frideric

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German composer, a British subject from 1726. His first opera, Almira, was performed in Hamburg in 1705. In 1710 he was appointed Kapellmeister (director) to the Elector of Hanover (the future George I of England). In 1712 he settled in England, where he established his popularity with such works as the Water Music (1717), written for George I. His great choral works include the Messiah (1742) and the later oratorios Samson (1743), Belshazzar (1745), Judas Maccabaeus (1747), and Jephtha (1752).

Visits to Italy in 1706–10 inspired a number of operas and oratorios, and in 1711 his opera Rinaldo was performed in London. Saul and Israel in Egypt (both 1739) were unsuccessful, but his masterpiece, the oratorio Messiah, met with popular approval on its first performance in Dublin, Ireland, in 1742. Other works include the pastoral Acis and Galatea (1718) and a set of variations for harpsichord that were later nicknamed The Harmonious Blacksmith (1720).

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