George Frideric Handel
Handel spent most of his time working on operas. From 1722 to 1726 he was director of the Royal Academy of Music. This was an organisation that put on opera performances. It had nothing to do with the academy which is called the Royal Academy of Music today where young students study music. Handel also worked in the management of the King's Theatres and many of his operas were performed in the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden. He sometimes travelled to Italy to find new Italian singers and persuade them to come to London. London became world famous for operas. In spite of everything Handel was doing for opera he had many enemies as well as friends. There was a lot of rivalry, especially with a composer called Bononcini whose music is forgotten today. Handel gave up operatic management in 1740, after he had lost a lot of money in the business.