From Handel’s Suite No 7, the term passacaglia derives from the Spanish pasar (to walk) and calle (street). It originated in early 17th-century Spain as a strummed interlude between instrumentally accompanied dances or songs
Despite it's Spanish roots, the first written examples of passacaglias are found in an Italian source dated 1606. These pieces, as well as others from Italian sources from the beginning of the 17th-century, are simple, brief sequences of chords outlining a cadential formula. The passacaglia was redefined in the late 1620s by Italian composer Girolamo Frescobaldi, who transformed it into a series of continuous variations over a bass. Later composers adopted this model, and by the nineteenth century the word came to mean a series of variations over an ostinato pattern, usually of a serious character.
George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) was a German-born composer of the Baroque era, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. From an early age Handel was a skilful performer on both the harpsichord and pipe organ and went on to train in Halle, Hamburg and Italy before settling in London in 1712. He went on to become a naturalized British subject in 1727. George Frideric Handel is generally spelled and used in English-speaking countries, while in Germany he is better known as Georg Friedrich Händel. He was strongly influenced by the great composers of the Italian Baroque and the German choral tradition. Handel started three successful opera companies to supply the English nobility with Italian opera. In 1737 he became ill and had a physical breakdown. After this he changed direction creatively toward English oratorio and choral music based mainly on mythical and biblical themes. Almost blind, and having lived in England for almost fifty years, he died in 1759, a well respected and very rich man. His funeral was given full state honours, and he was buried in Westminster Abbey. Handel is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Baroque era. Works such as "The Water Music", "Music for the Royal Fireworks" and "The Messiah" still remaining hugely popular. Of his four Coronation Anthems, "Zadok the Priest", composed for the coronation of King George II, has been performed at every subsequent British coronation. Handel composed more than forty operas in over thirty years, and since the late 1960s, with the revival of baroque music and original authentic period instrumentation, interest in Handel's operas has grown.
