George Frideric Handel was born in Halle, in Germany on February 23, 1685. He was the son of a barber-surgeon who wanted him to study law. At first he secretly practiced music, but after his father encouraged to allow him to study and he became a pupil of Zachow, the principal organist in Halle. At 18, G.F. Handel left for Hamburg. This is where he first gained true exposure to opera and ballet. He regularly performed on violin and conducted at nearby opera house, and before he left for Italy in 19706, composed his first two operas. Handel spent the period between 1706 and 1710 in Italy. There he continued with opera and composed his first two oratorios. He gained the identification of royals and other famous people and upon his return to Germany at age 25, held an important standing as a composer.
After a short stay at home, Handel moved on to England. In England he continued writing in an Italian style but concentrated most of his efforts on composing English, music, particularly choral pieces such as English oratorios, for which he is most famous. Handel is also esteemed for his English Church music, secular music and various instrumental genres, especially the Concerto. Handel was also regarded as one of the most important opera composers of the Barque period. He was one of the few composers who wrote operatic scores that included a part for the fife, a small flute capable only of playing tones form the diatonic scale.
Handel suffered from various disorders. Among these were a series of paralytic and cataracts which" following several unsuccessful operations, caused blindness Handel died on April 14, 1759 in London, England and was buried in Westminster Abbey. .
One of G.F. Handel's Sonatas written for flute and piano. The movements were three and four, the Siciliana and Giga from Sonata V. In Siciliana the timing is in twelfth eight meaning there is twelfth quaver pulses or four dotted crotchet beats and the piece should be played around forty four crochet beats per minute.
