Calendar of Saints: Bach, Handel, and Purcell (2)

Twice a week I post a quote from saints from the Episcopal Calendar of Saints that week. They are to be meditative and mindful, playful and thought inducing. I hope they are helpful in your spiritual journeys.


Johann Sebastian Bach,
George Fredrick Handel,
Henry Purcell
Composers
July 28

George Frederick Handel (Georg Friedrich Händel) was born at Halle in Germany in 1685. He originally studied for the law and then began to write operas. He moved to Italy in 1706 and to England in 1710, where in 1726 he became a British subject. ...His greatest work, The Messiah, was first performed in Dublin in 1741. The words are Scriptural passages from both Testaments dealing with the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus. G B Shaw referred to it as "the hymn that can make atheists cry."

Henry Purcell (10 September 1659 (?)– 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music. Purcell died in 1695 ...at the height of his career. Purcell is buried adjacent to the organ in Westminster Abbey. The music that he had earlier composed for Queen Mary's funeral was performed during his as well. Purcell was universally mourned as 'a very great master of music.'

-Link