Handel composed more than forty operas in over thirty years, and since the late 1960s, with the revival of baroque music and original instrumentation, interest in Handel's operas has grown.

* 1888 – George Edward Gouraud records Handel's Israel in Egypt onto a phonograph cylinder, thought for many years to be the oldest known recording of music.

The phonograph cylinder recordings of Handel's choral music made on June 29, 1888 at The Crystal Palace in London were thought to be the oldest known surviving musical recordings, until the recent playback by a group of American historians of a waveform of " Au Clair de la Lune ", recorded on a phonautograph on April 9, 1860.

* June 29 – Handel's Israel in Egypt is recorded onto wax cylinder at The Crystal Palace, it being the earliest known recording of classical music.

By 1741, Handel's pre-eminence in British music was evident from the honours he had accumulated, including: a pension from the court of King George II, the office of Composer of Musick for the Chapel Royal and — most unusually for a living person — a statue erected in his honour, in Vauxhall Gardens.

Because Handel's main creative concern was still with opera, he did not write the music for Saul until 1738, in preparation for his 1738 – 39 theatrical season.

He was certainly devoted to Handel's music, having helped to finance the publication of every Handel score since Rodelinda in 1725.

The 1749 revival at Covent Garden, under the proper title of Messiah, saw the appearance of two female soloists who would henceforth be closely associated with Handel's music: Giulia Frasi and Caterina Galli.

However, a fashion for large-scale performances began in 1784, in a series of commemorative concerts of Handel's music given in Westminster Abbey under the patronage of King George III.

Messiah remains Handel's best-known work, with performances particularly popular during the Christmas season ; writing in December 1993, the music critic Alex Ross refers to that month's 21 performances in New York alone as " numbing repetition ".

The music proceeds through various key changes as the prophecies unfold, culminating in the G major chorus " For unto us a child is born ", in which the choral exclamations ( which include an ascending fourth in " the Mighty God ") are imposed on material drawn from Handel's Italian cantata Nò, di voi non vo ' fidarmi.

Handel's awkward, repeated stressing of the fourth syllable of " incorruptible " may have been the source of the 18th century poet William Shenstone's comment that he " could observe some parts in Messiah wherein Handel's judgements failed him ; where the music was not equal, or was even opposite, to what the words required ".

After a brief solo recitative, the alto is joined by the tenor for the only duet in Handel's final version of the music, " O death, where is thy sting?

* Charles Jennens-Messiah ( libretto and music for Handel's piece )

He conducted a wide range of music ( sacred music from Heinrich Schütz to Max Reger, as well as the symphonic and concerto repertoire of the Classical and Romantic period, including Bruckner's symphonies ) but he is best remembered for his interpretations of Johann Sebastian Bach's and Handel's music.

Today, the most well-known baroque hornpipe tune is probably Purcell's " Hornpipe Rondeau " from the incidental music to Abdelazer ( which was used by Benjamin Britten as the theme for his Young Person's Guide To The Orchestra ) or the ' Alla Hornpipe ' movement from the D major of Handel's Water Music suites.

Choral recordings include works by Bach, Handel, Purcell and Vivaldi, with King's College Choir under Stephen Cleobury, and several recordings with Edward Higginbottom and New College Choir, including Pergolesi's Marian Vespers and Handel's Coronation Anthems, a collection of music from 17th and 18th-century English coronations.

The Dietrich-Eckart-Theater ( Waldbühne ) during a scene from Handel's Hercules ( music drama ) | Herakles

Zachow was the teacher of Gottfried Kirchhoff, Johann Philipp Krieger and Johann Gotthilf Ziegler, but is best remembered as George Frideric Handel's first music teacher.

Ainsley has also become particularly associated with Handel's music and has recorded over ten of his oratorios including Jephtha, La Resurrezione, Messiah, Joshua and Saul.

* 1749 – First performance of Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks in Green Park, London.

According to Handel's first biographer, John Mainwaring, he " had discovered such a strong propensity to Music, that his father who always intended him for the study of the Civil Law, had reason to be alarmed.

* 1711: Rinaldo, Handel's first opera for the London stage, premiered

* April 27 – The first official performance of George Frideric Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks finishes early due to the outbreak of fire.

Handel's Coronation Anthems are composed for the event, including Zadok the Priest which has been played at every subsequent Coronation of the British monarch.

By Handel's time, castrati had come to dominate the English operatic stage as much as that of Italy ( and indeed most of Europe outside France ), and also took part in several of his oratorios, though countertenors, too, occasionally featured as soloists in the latter, the parts written for them being closer in compass to the higher ones of Purcell, with a usual range of A < sub > 3 </ sub > to E < sub > 5 </ sub >.

A thanksgiving service was held at St Paul's Cathedral which saw the first performance of George Frideric Handel's " The Conquering Hero ", composed especially for Cumberland.

In this second Messiah, which was for Handel's private benefit, Cibber reprised her role from the first performance, though Avoglio may have been replaced by a Mrs Maclaine ; details of other performers are not recorded.

At the end of the century, Sir Frederick Bridge and T. W. Bourne pioneered revivals of Messiah in Handel's orchestration, and Bourne's work was the basis for further scholarly versions in the early 20th century.

Although the huge-scale oratorio tradition was perpetuated by such large ensembles as the Royal Choral Society, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Huddersfield Choral Society in the 20th century, there were increasingly calls for performances more faithful to Handel's conception.

There was little dissent from Prout's approach, and when Chrysander's scholarly edition was published in the same year, it was received respectfully as " a volume for the study " rather than a performing edition, being an edited reproduction of various of Handel's manuscript versions.

An authentic performance was thought impossible: The Musical Times correspondent wrote, " Handel's orchestral instruments were all ( excepting the trumpet ) of a coarser quality than those at present in use ; his harpsichords are gone for ever … the places in which he performed the ' Messiah ' were mere drawing-rooms when compared with the Albert Hall, the Queen's Hall and the Crystal Palace.

The opening Sinfony is composed in E minor for strings, and is Handel's first use in oratorio of the French overture form.

In 1954 the first recording based on Handel's original scoring was conducted by Hermann Scherchen for Nixa ; it was quickly followed by another version, judged scholarly at the time, under Sir Adrian Boult for Decca.

The first published score of 1767, together with Handel's documented adaptations and recompositions of various movements, has been the basis for many performing versions since the composer's lifetime.

* Handel's Messiah at the Center for Computer Assisted Research in the Humanities

* 1742 – George Frideric Handel's oratorio Messiah makes its world-premiere in Dublin, Ireland.

This translation of go ' el in Job 19: 25-26 as " Redeemer " has been made famous by its use in Handel's Messiah, the Air I know that my Redeemer liveth, and in the lectionary during the Easter season.

Not the Messiah is a spoof of Handel's oratorio Messiah.

April 13: George Frideric Handel | Handel's Messiah ( Handel ) | Messiah.

* April 13 – George Frideric Handel's oratorio The Messiah is first performed in Dublin, Ireland.

The pinnacle of the oratorio is found in George Frideric Handel's works, notably Messiah and Israel in Egypt.

Some of the alto parts of Handel's Messiah were first sung by a castrato.

The peak of its season is the Lincoln Christmas Market, accompanied by a massive annual production of Handel's Messiah.

In 1940 he made a legendary recording of the tenor arias from Handel's Messiah.

Either Gluck or Lobkowitz bought a copy of Handel's Messiah.

* Library of Congress ' National Recording Registry — Handel's Messiah ( 1959 )

Since its first recording in 1910, the choir has earned five gold albums ( two in 1963-The Lord's Prayer and Handel's Messiah, one in 1979-The Joy of Christmas, and two in 1985-The Mormon Tabernacle Choir Sings Christmas Carols and Joy to the World ) and two platinum albums ( in 1991-Hallmark Christmas: Carols of Christmas and 1992-Hallmark Christmas: Celebrate Christmas !).

He conducted two complete performances of Handel's Messiah, a rare event at the time.

But an event occurred that provided him with a scenario ideally fitted to his conception of a work both contemporary and in the grand choral tradition of Bach's Passions and Handel's Messiah.

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries the trend has been towards authenticity ; most contemporary performances show a greater fidelity towards Handel's original intentions, although " big Messiah " productions continue to be mounted.

Handel's Messiah has been described by the early-music scholar Richard Luckett as " a commentary on Christ's Nativity, Passion, Resurrection and Ascension ", beginning with God's promises as spoken by the prophets and ending with Christ's glorification in heaven.

In contrast with most of Handel's oratorios, the singers in Messiah do not assume dramatic roles, there is no single, dominant narrative voice, and very little use is made of quoted speech.

In fact, as Burrows points out, many of Handel's operas, of comparable length and structure to Messiah, were composed within similar timescales between theatrical seasons.

The first published score of Messiah was issued in 1767, eight years after Handel's death, though this was based on relatively early manuscripts and included none of Handel's later revisions.

He organised a second performance of Messiah on 3 June, which was announced as " the last Performance of Mr Handel's during his Stay in this Kingdom ".