Georg Friedrich Händel, v anglicky hovoriacich krajinách písaný ako George Frideric Handel , bol anglicko-nemecký hudobný skladateľ. Bol jednou z najvýznamnejších postáv v dejinách európskej hudby. Žil a tvoril na prelome dvoch epoch - baroka a klasicizmu. Bol barokový skladateľ. Hoci bol pôvodom Nemec, prevažnú časť svojho života prežil v Anglicku, kde skomponoval všetky svoje významné diela. Beethoven, ktorý inak poklonami veľmi nehýril, o ňom napísal:
"Händel je nedostižný majster. Učte sa, ako jednoduchými prostriedkami dosiahnuť taký veľký účinok."
Wikipedia
“This man is the master of us all.”
Er ist der Meister von uns allen!
Haydn, at a performance of Messiah. Quoted in John Galt George the Third, His Court and Family (1824) p. 34, and in Leopold Schmidt Joseph Haydn (1898) p. 86.
Criticism
“I should be sorry if I only entertained them, I wish to make them better.”
James Beattie, letter of May 25, 1780, published in William Forbes An Account of the Life and Writings of James Beattie, LL.D. (1806) p. 331.
In reply to Lord Kinnoull, who had complimented him on his Messiah, "the noble entertainment which he had lately given the town". Beattie had this on the authority of Kinnoull himself.
“Händel is the greatest and ablest of all composers; from him I can still learn.”
Händel ist der Größte und Fähigste aller Komponisten; von ihm kann ich immer noch lernen.
Beethoven on his deathbed, speaking to Gerhard von Breuning. Published in Friedrich Kerst Beethoven der Mann und der Künstler, wie in seinen Eigenen Words enthüllt no. 111 http://www.bucheralle.org/6C76626D613131/ch35.html; Friedrich Kerst (trans. Henry Edward Krehbiel) Beethoven, the Man and the Artist, as Revealed in his own Words (1964), p. 54.
Criticism
Richard Alexander Streatfeild Handel (2005) p. 195, citing Anton Schmid Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck (1854) p. 29
In conversation with Gluck.
“Händel is the greatest composer that ever lived. I would uncover my head and kneel on his grave.”
Händel ist der größte Komponist, der je lebte. Ich würde meine Kopfbedeckung abnehmen und auf seinem Grab knien.
Beethoven, speaking to J. A. Stumpff in the autumn of 1823. Published in Friedrich Kerst Beethoven der Mann und der Künstler, wie in seinen Eigenen Words enthüllt no. 112 http://www.bucheralle.org/6C76626D613131/ch35.html; Friedrich Kerst (trans. Henry Edward Krehbiel) Beethoven, the Man and the Artist, as Revealed in his own Words (1964), p. 54.
Criticism
Samuel Butler Notebooks (2004) p. 153.
Criticism
Leigh Hunt Table-Talk (1851) pp. 147-8.
Criticism
“Whether I was in my body or out of my body I know not. God knows it!”
Quoted in The Harvard Magazine (December 1862), p. 141.
On composing the "Hallelujah Chorus" in 1741.
“I did think I did see all heaven before me, and the great God himself.”
Horatio Townsend An Account of the Visit of Handel to Dublin (1852) p. 93, citing Laetitia Matilda Hawkins Anecdotes, Biographical Sketches and Memoirs vol. 1 (1822).
His reply on being asked what his feelings were while writing the "Hallelujah Chorus".
George Bernard Shaw in Ainslee's Magazine, May 1913.
Criticism
“Handel paralysed music in England for generations and they have not yet quite got over him.”
Frederick Delius, letter to Ethel Smyth, February 17, 1909; Lionel Carley Delius: A Life in Letters vol. 2 (1988) p. 9.
Criticism
