George Frederic Handel was born in 1685 in Halle, Germany to his father; George who was a barber surgeon and his mother Dorothea. Handel showed interest in pursuing music at an early age which was said to have been encouraged by his mother and discouraged by his father who didn't believe that a career in the arts was a realistic source of income. When Handel was only 7 years of age, he played as an organist for the Duke of Weissenfels, here he met his first teacher; organist/composer; Zachow. While Handel studied under Zachow, he skillfully learned the organ, oboe and violin all by the time he was 10 years old! In his teenage years, Handel composed cantatas and chamber music for church and sacred purposes. .
Although Handel was clearly dedicated and talented in terms of his musical ability, his father still disapproved leading Handel to study one year of Law at the University of Halle. This was short lived, as Handel and his passion for music could not be suppressed. When Handel turned 18 he decided to continue pursuing music, he became employed at a Hamburg opera theatre and he also taught music lessons in his free time. .
During this time, Handel pursued the skillful task of composing operas, his first opera; Almira was produced in 1705, very successful. In later years Handel travelled to Italy to study and master the traits of Opera. After this time, in 1710 he became the Kapellmeister for Elector George Ludwig of Hanover, he traveled back and forth to London during this time where the produced his opera Rinaldo which was a success. Once he finally settled down in London, his employer in Hanover followed him to London where he became King George I, Handel received a pension from King George. Handel was still madly in love with Italian opera, for this reason, he started the Royal Academy of Music, the academies purpose was to introduce italian opera to England, unfortunately, society did not respond as Handel had hoped, after many efforts including funding from his own pocket, 8 years after the academy had started, the academy became bankrupt due to mismanagement forcing it to close.
