George Frederick Handel was born at Halle on the Saale, on the 23d of February, 1685, the same year that gave to the world his famous contemporary, Sebastian Bach. Halle, formerly a Saxon city, belonged after 1680 to the electorate of Brandenburg. Handel's father was surgeon-barber and officially attached in this capacity to the ducal court of Saxony at Weissenfels. A vigorous and active man, he acquired in time both property and influence, and at the age of sixty-two he took to himself a second wife, the daughter of the pastor at Giebichenstein, near Halle. The second son of this branch of the family was the composer, George Frederick. The boy was intended for a jurist, and was sent to the grammar-school. His talent for music showed itself early, but was repressed, rather than encouraged by the father, who, however, had once allowed his son to accompany him to the court at Weissenfels, where, at that time, music was zealously cultivated and represented by able performers. The boy's organ-playing and the universal talent for music which he already manifested, created such astonishment that the duke not only dismissed him with liberal presents but also impressed upon the father that it was his duty not to allow such gifts to perish. In obedience to this injunction, George was placed under the instruction of the organist at the Marienkirche, Friedrick Wilhelm Zachau. This musician had sufficient ability to be able to point out the way to the young genius, who thenceforth pursued it alone. Handel's nature was of the kind which matures early, and he was one of the few precocious musicians who have reached old age and retained their creative power in later years. He was about eleven years old when his lessons began under Zachau, and at this time he composed six sonatas for two oboes and base, which have been preserved, and cannot fail to excite admiration for the skill with which they are written, as well as for their depth of feeling. He assisted his teacher in the care of the organ services and, moreover, already wrote church cantatas, completing one every Sunday for the space of three years. His rapidity in composing, which later caused so much amazement, showed itself from the first. He himself said, when one of his early productions was laid before him: "I used to write like the Devil in those days, but chiefly for the oboe, which was my favorite instrument." While pursuing his studies in composition, he was at the same time diligent in his practice of the clavichord and organ. Handel would have been no true German if he had not possessed a special aptitude for this phase of the art, in which Germany has surpassed all other nations. Among the more renowned musicians, whose works were his models, are mentioned Froberger, Johann Friedrich Alberti, Johann Krüger, that excellent composer for the clavichord, and Delphin Strunck, the Brunswick organist and younger friend of Heinrich Schutz; Kaspar Kerl, though born in Upper Saxony,