George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel was born in Halle, Germany, the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach. His father, a barber-surgeon, wanted him to study law, but the duke of Saxe-Weissenfels heard the boy play the organ and urged that he study music. He worked as an organist and opera musician in Halle and Hamburg, then spent four years in Italy, mastering the Italian style. In 1710 he became music director to the Elector of Hanover, but he soon moved to London, and when the elector became King George I of Britain in 1714, Handel was already famous there. His Water Music was played for the king on a barge on the Thames in 1717. When the fashion for opera faded, he turned to English oratorios, dramatic works on religious subjects for chorus and soloists. Messiah, written in about three weeks in 1741, was first performed in Dublin in 1742 and is still one of the most performed choral works. He also wrote Music for the Royal Fireworks and coronation anthems. He went blind in his last years, and died in London in 1759.

Faith: Raised in Lutheran Halle, where he served as a church organist before his long career in England. Source: Dictionary of National Biography (1885–1900) (via Wikisource)