The son of a surgeon who was unwilling to allow him a musical education, Handel studied law at the University of Halle before moving to Hamburg when his father died in 1703.
He served as second violinist in the Hamburg Opera Orchestra and subsequently as harpsichordist and composer.

From 1706 until 1710 he lived in Italy, where he soon mastered the Italian musical styles and techniques and where he met Scarlatti in Rome. Then he was appointed Kapellmeister to the court of the Elector of Hanover and, in the same year, visited London, where his opera "Rinaldo" enjoyed great success.

He liked England so much that he settled there permanently two years later and in 1726 became a naturalised English citizen. When his former patron, the Elector of Hanover, became King George I of England, he won favour with the court and was given a life pension. He wrote and produced dozens of operas for various English companies in which he had a financial stake.

The decline of the Italian operatic style left Handel bankrupt and to extricate himself he began to compose oratorios with English texts. These reflected the fullness and richness of the opera seria style, but released him from the restrictions of the genre and appealed more to English Protestant sensibilities.

During the last years of his life he was nearly blind, but he continued to conduct performances of his works and revise some of his scores. He died in London and was buried in Westminster Abbey in the presence of some 3000 mourners.