But hark! the sound of music comes floating gently across the water. How soft is the melody in the still night air! Whence come those sweet sounds?
Not far from the royal barge are several boats filled with musicians. In one of the boats stands a young man, the leader of the musicians. He must have trained them well, for the fine music attracts the attention of the king.
"Who is the leader of the musicians?" asks the king of one of the gentlemen near him. "It is Handel, your Majesty," replies the courtier. "And did he compose the music which we now hear?" asks the king. "Yes, your Majesty," is the reply.
The people on the banks of the river become quiet as one piece of beautiful music after another is heard. King George thinks that each is better than the one that preceded it. At last, when the royal barge is no longer in sight, the sweet sounds die away.
The next day the king invited Handel to the court and asked him to become the teacher of the young princess. He also promised the composer that he should receive two hundred pounds sterling every year. It was not unusual in those days for a king to settle a sum of money upon a poet or musician.
One day Handel walked out into the country. He was caught in a shower and found shelter in a blacksmith's shop. The jolly old smith was singing at his work and beating a tune upon the anvil as he sang. The composer caught the clanging music of the hammer on the anvil. When he went home, Handel put the tones that he had heard into some music, which he called The Jolly Blacksmith.
By the year 1726 the composer was so much pleased with England that he decided to live there. He sometimes went back to Germany to visit; but England was his home.
During the first years that Handel lived in London, he composed many operas. Great crowds of people went to hear them sung; sometimes twenty dollars was paid for one seat. Sometimes hundreds of people were turned away from the theater. King George and Queen Caroline often attended the operas. That was a great honor for Handel.
It is not as a composer of operas that George Frederick Handel is remembered to-day. Indeed, if he had written nothing but operas, we should hear little of him now. In 1741 he composed an oratorio more beautiful than any other that has ever been written. It is called The Messiah. If Handel had written nothing but this one oratorio, his name would live forever.
The music was composed in twenty-four days. The Messiah means The Christ. The words which are sung to Handel's music are taken from the Bible. The music is so wonderfully written that one scarcely needs the words to know the story.