Handel, Who Knew What He Liked
I always loved Handel’s music. When I was a teenager, I was forced by my parents to be in the school choir and the church choir. After a few years of grumbling, I came to love it. As the years passed and my voice cracked, broke, and sank, I sang every voice part of Handel’s Messiah.
When I was a kid, I loved Handel’s music because it seemed to promise that humans would be noble creatures, full of reason and gentility. Of course, that was before I went to high school.
So why write a children’s book about a master of the Baroque fugue? First, his life is full of great scenes: He released live birds in the theater as a special effect. He fought a duel with his best friend over which one of them would direct an opera. His singers got onto fist-fights onstage. So there were great anecdotal scenes. But also, I felt that kids would appreciate the story of someone trying their best at what they really believed in – and still failing – and having to keep trying until things worked out.