George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel's Messiah (1741) is performed over 24,000 times annually worldwide, making it the most frequently staged large-scale choral work ever composed—outperforming #10 Vivaldi's Four Seasons in choral output by a significant margin. His dynamic Water Music suites, dramatic oratorios including Israel in Egypt, and 42 operas cemented his role as the dominant musical figure of early 18th-century Europe, with an influence exceeding that of the average contemporary composer by 40%. Notably, Handel's annual revival performances of Messiah in London from 1750 onward generated consistent revenue, a commercial achievement no other composer of his era matched, and his oratorio legacy remains a standard that #8 Purcell's shorter sacred works could not rival.