Händel: Sarabande, from Suite No 2

The family of the German composer Georg Friederich Händel had no musical tradition. Moreover, his father made a living as a hairdresser and barber, a job he skillfully combined with the practice of surgery, when, according to the customs of the age, his science was required.
However, this did not prevent the barber-surgeon from observing early the expressions of talent of his son, who, at age 17, became the organist of Halle, his hometown, after the organist Zachow passed him on everything he knew in the only lessons the composer attended in his entire life.

Händel, an entrepreneur
Against the usual practice of the age, George Friederich Händel was not a musician financially depending on a prince or a high ecclesiastical hierarchy. On the contrary, throughout his existence, he retained complete control over his artistic work by organizing his own musical activities. He was an enterprising person of the eighteenth century, a music entrepreneur, although he never refused the support – with allowances that sometimes had to be negotiated – of the monarchs he frequented.

George Friederich Händel (1685 - 1759)

After making a name for himself in Rome, Naples and Hannover, he traveled to England, where he settled, taking part in three musical societies, either as a musical director, or shareholder, or openly as the sole partner and manager, devoted to the composition and representation of operas and oratories, standing out Messiah, his masterpiece, among the latter.
He achieved success and experienced failures, more of the last than of the first, and yet, he forged a life of fruitful good passing, to the point that Bach tried to meet him, several times, to be told how he did it.

George Friederich never married, although he had the opportunity to do so when he was eighteen. The old Buxtehude left his position as organist in Hamburg and decided that his successor should also take care of his daughter, already quite old, by marrying her. Haendel declined the offer.
He lived his last years almost blind, like Bach. Both were treated by English medical eminences. Apparently, it would be a little while before barbers-surgeons began to dominate the eye chapter.

Suite in D minor – Sarabande
The harpsichord, was a privileged instrument in Haendel's time, along with other related instruments, such as the virginal or the clavichord. It was considered the most suitable for teaching, due to its technical possibilities and because, as a solo instrument, it did not require anyone else for its practice. Haendel, attentive to the needs of this embryonic market, wrote many pieces for the study of the harpsichord, which were published in two editions entitled as "Suites". The piece we hear, in an orchestral version, belongs to the Suite in D minor, its fourth movement, Sarabande, used prominently by Stanley Kubrik in his film "Barry Lyndon". The video is built with images taken from the movie.