Handel, Händel or Haendel?

G. F. Handel's surname was usually spelled Händel (also written Haendel) in his native Germany, but his name was nearly always spelled Handel in England. His forenames were spelled in many different ways, but the great man and the ciitizens of his adopted country almost invariably called him George Frideric Handel, and this is how it appears on his petition for British citizenship. Today it would be perverse to spell his name in any other way.

The Life of Handel

Handel’s Birth and Childhood

George Frideric Handel (Händel) was born in Halle, Germany, on 23 February 1685, the son of Georg Händel, a barber-surgeon. At an early age, he showed an enthusiasm and aptitude for music, but his father, who planned a legal career for him, attempted to suppress this interest.

When he was about nine (John Mainwaring, Memoirs, says before he was seven), his father took him to the court of the Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, where the young George’s half-brother was serving as a valet de chambre. During their stay, Handel took to playing the chapel organ. The duke, hearing him and recognising his talent, prevailed upon Georg to give his son a musical education.

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