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Handel

George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) was born in the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach and Domenico Scarlatti, though the three never met. He spent most of his career in London, becoming a naturalised British subject in 1727 and the most celebrated composer of his day. His oratorio Messiah was written in twenty-four days in 1741 and premiered in Dublin, where Handel donated the proceeds to charity. In his final years he lost his sight after surgery performed by John Taylor, an itinerant eye surgeon whose operations had also left Bach blind; Taylor apparently saw nothing contradictory in styling himself the Chevalier Taylor. His Water Music and Concerti Grossi remain central to the Baroque string repertoire.

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