The German-born Handel had worked at the opera house in Hamburg from the age of eighteen, playing the violin and harpsichord and composing several operas, the music of which is lost except for one, "Almira", which was a success. From 1706 t0 1709 Handel lived and worked in Italy, where he composed several Italian operas, "Rodrigo" being the first. The combination of Handel's Germanic roots with the Italianate style of music which he absorbed in his early career in Florence, Venice and Rome, created Handel's unique style.