ABSTRACT
Handel's education as an opera composer began in Hamburg, where the Theater am Gänsemarkt had opened in 1678. He arrived in the city in the summer of 1703, at the age of eighteen, and remained there for three years; he may not have spent all of this time in the opera-house. Steffani was a wonderful composer for the voice and occupies an important position in the history of Italian vocal music. Handel's operas display features that are found in the works of both of his predecessors, as well as vigorous orchestral writing more characteristic of Keiser than of Steffani. Although Handel's early development as an opera-composer was largely due to Keiser, the latter had learned a great deal from the operas of Steffani. Steffani's operas had put Hanover on the map and become relatively well-known over much of northern Europe.
