George Friderich Handel (German spelling Georg Friedrich Händel) was a Baroque music composer who lived from 1685 to 1759.
He is most well known for composing The Messiah, possibly the most famous piece of western classical music.
http://www.wikipedia.com/images/uploads/handel-thumbnail.jpg
(Public domain image from Pratt's History of Music, 1907 full size image)
Text from Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religion:
HANDEL, GEORGE FREDERICK
(properly GEORG FRIEDRICH HAENDEL): Musician and
composer; b. at Halle, Prussia, Feb. 23, 1685; d. in
London Apr. 14, 1759. At the age of seven he was
a skilful performer on the piano and organ, and at
nine he began to compose music. In 1702, in obedience
to his father's wishes, he began the study of
law at the University of Halle, but the following
year he abandoned law for music and accepted a
position as violinist in the orchestra of the
opera-house at Hamburg. Here his first two operas,
Almira and Nero, were produced early in 1705.
Two other early operas, Daphne and Florindo, were
produced at Hamburg in 1708. During the years
1707-09 Handel traveled and studied in Italy.
His Rodrigo was produced at Florence in 1707, and his
Agrippina at Venice in 1708. Two oratorios,
La Resurrezione and Il Trionfo del Tempo, were
produced at Rome in 1709 and 1710, respectively.
In 1710 Handel became Kapellmeister to George,
elector of Hanover, afterward George I. of England.
He visited London in 1710 and settled there permanently
in 1712, receiving a yearly income of
£200 from Queen Anne. He was director of the
Royal Academy of Music 1720-28, and a partner of
J. J. Heidegger in the management of the King's
Theatre 1729-34. He gave up operatic management
entirely in 1740, after he had lost a fortune
in the business. In 1751 he became blind. He was
buried in Westminster Abbey.
Handel's compositions include some fifty operas, twenty-three oratorios, and a large amount of church music, not to speak of his instrumental pieces. Though his operas were superior to those of his contemporaries, they have now been superseded and largely forgotten, with the exception of certain detached arias. It is upon his oratorios that his fame rests. It was his peculiar service to create and perfect the oratorio; and in this field he is still supreme. His best known oratorios are: Esther (1720); Saul (1739); Israel in Egypt (1739); The Messiah (1742); Samson (1743); Judas Maccabaeus (1747); and Jephthah (1752). His works were edited by S. Arnold (40 vols., London, 1786), and by F. Chrysander, for the German Händel-Gesellschaft (100 vols., Leipsic, 1859-94).