British Choirs on the Net

Background

Composers of the Year (Radio 3) and The Birth of British Music (BBC Two) is a celebration of the lives of four magnificent composers throughout 2009. The year marks the 350th anniversary of Henry Purcell's birth, the 250th anniversary of G F Handel's death, the 200th anniversary of Joseph Haydn's death and the 200th anniversary of Felix Mendelssohn's birth.

German born, but hard-wired into Britain's musical culture: George Frideric Handel gave us Messiah, Zadok the Priest, the Water Music, Music for the Royal Fireworks, countless oratorios and more than 40 operas. It's 250 years since Handel's death: no figure looms larger in our national musical history than the ambitious, determined and hard-working composer who came to these shores and carved a living for himself without any patronage from royalty. During 2009, Radio 3 will tell the story of how Handel came to be well-known and popular with the public, but managed to remain an enigma in his personal life. Handel highlights on Radio 3 include Messiah, staged specially at Westminster Abbey on the anniversary of his death; and for the first time ever, you can hear all of Handel's operas in one broadcast series.

For more information on BBC Radio 3 Composers of the Year visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/composers/

Need the Music

You will find links on the right hand side of this page to Sheet Music for Handel's Choral works works. To purchase them click on the links.

The Handel House Museum was home to the baroque composer George Frideric Handel from 1723 until his death in 1759. This landmark address is where Handel composed some of the greatest music in history including Messiah, Zadok the Priest and Music for the Royal Fireworks, and died on 14 April 1759.

Handel 2009

Handel House Museum is planning a number of special events and projects as well as a new exhibition to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Handel's death. See our Handel 2009 page for more details.