Bright Star: Handel, His Life and His World

This is a historical novel on Handel’s life and his musical world. Known for his oratorio Messiah, particularly the Hallelujah chorus, or The Water Music, he started his career as an opera composer. In politically unstable 18th century Europe, Handel went to live in different places with different political interests. Born a Protestant, he made himself accepted in Catholic Italy, and then in London, where he spent the rest of his life. In this volume Handel seeks his training in Italy while he develops an increasing desire to go to London. Before his arrival, London theatres went through unstable and unpredictable changes. The War of the Spanish Succession, predicted to be short, was dragging on, affecting most of Europe and with no end in sight. The beginning of the young composer’s career does not look easy, dominated by uncertainty.