The Broken Composer Who Gave the World Its Greatest Hallelujah

In April 1737, George Frideric Handel collapsed in his London home, struck by what doctors believed was a stroke. His right arm was paralyzed. His creditors circled. The opera companies he had poured his life into had failed, and London's musical elite had moved on to younger, more fashionable composers. At fifty-two, the man who had once dazzled kings was considered finished.…