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Handel: The Man & His Music
A fully revised, expanded and updated edition of Keates’ magisterial 1985 biography of one of the world’s favourite composers.
Though unquestionably one of the greatest and best-loved of all composers, George Frederic Handel (1685—1759) had received little attention from biographers before Jonathan Keates’ masterful The Man & His Music appeared in 1985.
Published to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the composer’s death, this updated and expanded edition charts in detail Handel’s life from his youth in Germany, through his brilliantly successful Italian sojourn, to the opulence and squalor of Georgian London. Keates writes with sympathy and penetration about this extraordinary genius whose career abounded in reversals that would have crushed anyone with less resilience and willpower, but whose influence was to be deeply felt by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.
Interwoven with the account of Handel’s life are commentaries on all his major works as well as many less familiar pieces by this most inventive, expressive and captivating of composers.
Though unquestionably one of the greatest and best-loved of all composers, George Frederic Handel (1685—1759) had received little attention from biographers before Jonathan Keates’ masterful The Man & His Music appeared in 1985.
Published to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the composer’s death, this updated and expanded edition charts in detail Handel’s life from his youth in Germany, through his brilliantly successful Italian sojourn, to the opulence and squalor of Georgian London. Keates writes with sympathy and penetration about this extraordinary genius whose career abounded in reversals that would have crushed anyone with less resilience and willpower, but whose influence was to be deeply felt by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.
Interwoven with the account of Handel’s life are commentaries on all his major works as well as many less familiar pieces by this most inventive, expressive and captivating of composers.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1985
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79 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Keates
39 books7 followersJonathan Keates, is an English writer, biographer, novelist and Chairman of the Venice in Peril Fund. Keates was educated at Bryanston School and went on to read for his undergraduate degree at Magdalen College, Oxford.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 8, 2020
I really enjoyed this biography very much. Of the two I read on Handel, it is my favorite. He was a fascinating socialist and an incredibly prolific composer. One of the great ironies and "what if's "in history are the three times that Handel and Bach just missed meeting each other. This is a vibrant story of Handel's life and will definitely inspire you to listen to his work and appreciate him for far more than just Royal Fireworks or the Messiah. It is also not excessively loaded with musical scores so it makes for a pleasant and informative read. Highly recommended!
October 14, 2016
Summary: A biography of George Frideric Handel, tracing his life through his music, from his training in Halle, his time in Italy, and his long career in England, following George I's ascent to the English throne, through the formation of three opera companies, and the composition of the oratorios for which he is most famous.
For most of us, when you mention Handel, we think primarily of his most famous works: The Royal Fireworks Music,The Water Music, Judas Maccabeus, The Concerti Grossi, and most of all Messiah. For a long time these were about the only works of Handel in my music collection. In recent years, I've discovered that Handel composed numerous other operas and oratorios on biblical and classical themes. But until I read this book, I had no idea of how much music Handel composed, particularly in the genre of opera.
Keates biography really is just as much musicography as it is biography. Part of the reason is that Handel, apart from his music, lived a very private life, never marrying. We do learn about his family including his physician father. We learn about his training in Halle, his time in Italy learning from Corelli and Scarlatti, and most fatefully, how he became kapellmeister to the Elector of Hanover in 1710, and moved to London in 1712 when the Elector ascended to the English throne as George I. Handel never depended exclusively on the Royal Family for patronage, enjoying the patronage of other wealthy houses. He also helped launch, over the years, three opera companies. When, in the 1730's interest in his operas waned, he began writing oratorios, leading to Samson, Alexander Balus, and above all, Messiah and Judas Maccabeus. We learn of Handel's temporary paralysis (perhaps from stroke?) and the eventual loss of his sight, the use of the proceeds of Messiah performances for the Foundling Hospital, and his passing in 1757.
What we learn most from Keates is about the music itself--the libretti and the librettists Handel worked with, the scenes and movements, music drawn from earlier work and the performers who first performed these works. We are introduced to 'il Senesino,' Handel's star castrato (a role likely not to be filled in this way in our more humane age) and Susannah Cibber, who sang "He was despised" in Messiah. She did not have a great voice but was unmatched in her expressiveness, as an actor. We also trace the career of Handel, the music impresario, and the struggles hardly unique to his age to make musical performances and companies financially viable, as well as profitable to himself. He was perhaps more successful than most, due particularly to his oratorios, leaving an estate of 20,000 pounds, distributing bequests to a number of causes and friends.
Some might consider his account of the works and their first performances too much. But for the musicophile who wants to discover Handel's lesser known works, many of which have been recorded in the last thirty years, the book makes a great adjunct to the discovery of these works. One of the indexes Keates includes is one by category and alphabet to all the works referenced in his book, with page numbers. I would also have appreciated a chronological listing, and perhaps a discography of recordings of these works.
After a period when Handel's reputation was in eclipse, he once again has grown in regard. Keates work instructs us on many of the lesser known aspects of his life and work, and the prolific body of work that remains for many of us to discover.
For most of us, when you mention Handel, we think primarily of his most famous works: The Royal Fireworks Music,The Water Music, Judas Maccabeus, The Concerti Grossi, and most of all Messiah. For a long time these were about the only works of Handel in my music collection. In recent years, I've discovered that Handel composed numerous other operas and oratorios on biblical and classical themes. But until I read this book, I had no idea of how much music Handel composed, particularly in the genre of opera.
Keates biography really is just as much musicography as it is biography. Part of the reason is that Handel, apart from his music, lived a very private life, never marrying. We do learn about his family including his physician father. We learn about his training in Halle, his time in Italy learning from Corelli and Scarlatti, and most fatefully, how he became kapellmeister to the Elector of Hanover in 1710, and moved to London in 1712 when the Elector ascended to the English throne as George I. Handel never depended exclusively on the Royal Family for patronage, enjoying the patronage of other wealthy houses. He also helped launch, over the years, three opera companies. When, in the 1730's interest in his operas waned, he began writing oratorios, leading to Samson, Alexander Balus, and above all, Messiah and Judas Maccabeus. We learn of Handel's temporary paralysis (perhaps from stroke?) and the eventual loss of his sight, the use of the proceeds of Messiah performances for the Foundling Hospital, and his passing in 1757.
What we learn most from Keates is about the music itself--the libretti and the librettists Handel worked with, the scenes and movements, music drawn from earlier work and the performers who first performed these works. We are introduced to 'il Senesino,' Handel's star castrato (a role likely not to be filled in this way in our more humane age) and Susannah Cibber, who sang "He was despised" in Messiah. She did not have a great voice but was unmatched in her expressiveness, as an actor. We also trace the career of Handel, the music impresario, and the struggles hardly unique to his age to make musical performances and companies financially viable, as well as profitable to himself. He was perhaps more successful than most, due particularly to his oratorios, leaving an estate of 20,000 pounds, distributing bequests to a number of causes and friends.
Some might consider his account of the works and their first performances too much. But for the musicophile who wants to discover Handel's lesser known works, many of which have been recorded in the last thirty years, the book makes a great adjunct to the discovery of these works. One of the indexes Keates includes is one by category and alphabet to all the works referenced in his book, with page numbers. I would also have appreciated a chronological listing, and perhaps a discography of recordings of these works.
After a period when Handel's reputation was in eclipse, he once again has grown in regard. Keates work instructs us on many of the lesser known aspects of his life and work, and the prolific body of work that remains for many of us to discover.
October 30, 2025
I am in the middle of a deep dive of music history, reading multiple classical music history textbooks at the same time and taking breaks to read biographies of composers. I almost skipped Handel because Baroque has never been my favorite style of music. I knew Handel from his hits and liked those hits well enough, but he’s never been a composer who I’ve really appreciated much beyond that. Reading this biography changed all of that for me. As I read the book, I listened to as much of Handel’s music as I could, which was a huge undertaking in itself, since his operas and oratorios are quite long and he wrote so many of them. The more I read and the more I listened to Handel’s music, the more I understood what a genius he was. I came out of the book with a tremendous appreciation of his work and a huge playlist of favorites that I created along the way. I am quite fond of him now.
The book itself was not an easy read. The author seemed to assume that every reader is fluent in German, French, and Latin, and included words and phrases that I’d never heard before (an example near the end of the book: “Handel is here transformed into a neurasthenic Viennese Schlamper”), but I made it through with the magical lookup and translate abilities of my iPad. It seemed that the author didn’t leave out any detail regarding Handel’s life or death. I don’t know why I needed to know the name of his undertaker, but it was there, along with 10,000 other tiny details that I forgot as soon as I turned the pages. The biography part of the book often felt like a series of events listed one after another and I often wished that the author was better at writing the story of his life. I found that I was able to get more of a story arc by reading the liner notes in recordings of Handel’s music. But the musical analysis part of the book was very enjoyable for me and very thorough and was an invaluable tool to guide me through Handel’s huge sea of music. I really enjoyed reading this book.
The book itself was not an easy read. The author seemed to assume that every reader is fluent in German, French, and Latin, and included words and phrases that I’d never heard before (an example near the end of the book: “Handel is here transformed into a neurasthenic Viennese Schlamper”), but I made it through with the magical lookup and translate abilities of my iPad. It seemed that the author didn’t leave out any detail regarding Handel’s life or death. I don’t know why I needed to know the name of his undertaker, but it was there, along with 10,000 other tiny details that I forgot as soon as I turned the pages. The biography part of the book often felt like a series of events listed one after another and I often wished that the author was better at writing the story of his life. I found that I was able to get more of a story arc by reading the liner notes in recordings of Handel’s music. But the musical analysis part of the book was very enjoyable for me and very thorough and was an invaluable tool to guide me through Handel’s huge sea of music. I really enjoyed reading this book.
December 18, 2025
A fully revised, expanded and updated edition of Keates’ magisterial 1985 biography of one of the world’s favourite composers.
Though unquestionably one of the greatest and best-loved of all composers, George Frederic Handel (1685—1759) had received little attention from biographers before Jonathan Keates’ masterful The Man & His Music appeared in 1985.
Published to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the composer’s death, this updated and expanded edition charts in detail Handel’s life from his youth in Germany, through his brilliantly successful Italian sojourn, to the opulence and squalor of Georgian London. Keates writes with sympathy and penetration about this extraordinary genius whose career abounded in reversals that would have crushed anyone with less resilience and willpower, but whose influence was to be deeply felt by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.
Interwoven with the account of Handel’s life are commentaries on all his major works as well as many less familiar pieces by this most inventive, expressive and captivating of composers.
Though unquestionably one of the greatest and best-loved of all composers, George Frederic Handel (1685—1759) had received little attention from biographers before Jonathan Keates’ masterful The Man & His Music appeared in 1985.
Published to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the composer’s death, this updated and expanded edition charts in detail Handel’s life from his youth in Germany, through his brilliantly successful Italian sojourn, to the opulence and squalor of Georgian London. Keates writes with sympathy and penetration about this extraordinary genius whose career abounded in reversals that would have crushed anyone with less resilience and willpower, but whose influence was to be deeply felt by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.
Interwoven with the account of Handel’s life are commentaries on all his major works as well as many less familiar pieces by this most inventive, expressive and captivating of composers.
October 7, 2025
Although I read this purely for research it is a very lively account both of its subject's life, of the times when he lived, and an aid to the appreciation of his vast body of music, operas and oratorios.
December 28, 2023
Very informative. I would have liked more on his collaboration with his Librettists, who they were and why they worked well together, especially Jennens.
April 4, 2017
Excellent witty and informative
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews