HUM112 (125 words)

Elizabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre (1625-1729) was Louis XIV's favorite composer of dances and she was the first woman in France to write an opera that was performed on the national stage. Compare her career and role in Louis's court with that of George Friederich Handel (1685-1759). Although he was never at Louis' court, Handel spent most of his life in Britain and came there to write "Italian" operas for the aristocracy and the king but his own genius came to prevail. He was buried in the most prestigious burial spot in England, Westminster Cathedral. How did each influence the music of their times?