George Frideric Handel was born in Germany on February 23, 1685 and became on of the most famous composers of the Baroque Period.

George's father was a barber-surgeon. Yes, that's right, in the Baroque Period barbers cut hair but they also did a lot of other things! They were dentists and performed some medical procedures including operations. George's father wanted him to be a lawyer even though George wanted to study music. His mother encouraged him in his music and he was allowed to take keyboard and music composition lessons. His aunt gave him a harpsichord for his seventh birthday which Handel played whenever he had the chance!

When Handel was 18, he started to study law because his father wanted him to. After a year, he realized he was unhappy and decided to stop studying law and become a musician. He studied music and got job playing harpsichord, organ and violin. He also started composing and two of his operas were performed in 1705.

Handel was becoming a good opera composer, but he wanted to learn more so he went to Italy for four years. Italy was the center of opera and Handel had some of his operas performed there. This made him famous. Then he went on to write music for the church in the style of opera.

Handel moved back to Germany where he worked for the Elector (kind of like a President or Prime Minister today) of Hanover, Germany. During his time he got permission to go to England for a year. He became famous in England as well and decided to move there. The Elector became the King of England so he allowed Handel to stay there.

Handel spent 35 years in London, became a British citizen and wrote his most famous music there. He had some health problems and he lost a lot of money when he produced operas that were not successful. Even so, he was very popular and wrote some music that is still used in English ceremonies today. His most famous work is "The Messiah" which has the well-known "Hallelujah Chorus" (pronounced Halleluia).

In 1751, Handel started to lose his eyesight. He had never married and even though he was famous, he was a very private person. He died in London in 1759. Eight days earlier he went to a concert of "The Messiah". More than 3,000 mourners went to his funeral and he is buried in Westminster Abbey, which is where the Kings, Queens and other important people from England are buried.