Thomas Tapper

“ He, too, was astonished that one so young should show so much skill. Calling the father into his presence, he pointed out how wrong it was to deny the boy the right to study music. "The world," he said, "should have the good of your son's great ability."
At the Cathedral in Handel's home city, Halle, there was a famous organist named Zachau. He became the boy's teacher. They must have had a busy time together, for he had lessons from Zachau not only in organ playing, but in harmony, counterpoint, canon, and fugue; and in hautbois, violin, and harpsichord playing. ”

“ She observed the little boy's love of music.
In the Handel home there was a big roomy attic; the ceiling was low, and the windows had thick panes; the walls and floors were built of heavy timber, and silence reigned there.
THE CHILD HANDEL PRACTICING IN THE ATTIC.
"Here," said Mother Handel, "my little boy can play the harpsichord to his heart's content and no [Pg 5] one will be the wiser." You can imagine the surprise when the stern barber-surgeon stalked into the attic, followed by the family, holding high the lantern. ”

“ His name is George Frederick Handel. In Germany where Handel was born his name was Georg Friedrich Händel (pronounced Gay-org Freed-riesh Hayn-del) . But the great composer spent so much of his life in England that people now use the English form of his name.
HANDEL'S BIRTHPLACE.
Look at this queer old house where the great master was born.
Handel was born in the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach, 1685.
[Pg 4] The father was a surgeon and barber, a queer combination. We know that he did not like music, and that he was unwilling for his son to study it. Of the mother we know little. ”