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Unless you're a graduate student in 18th century European history, it's unlikely you know off the top of your head who the winners and losers were in the War of the Spanish Succession. Suffice it to say, on today's date in 1713, to celebrate the successful resolution of that conflict, a settlement known as the "Peace of Utrecht," this festive choral "Te Deum" was performed at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. It was written by a very ambitious 28-year old German composer named George Friedrich Handel. Handel had come to England for a 6-month visit in 1710, and then for good in the spring of 1712. We're not sure if Handel wrote his "Utrecht Te Deum" in response to an invitation from the British royal family, or wrote it "on spec" to win their favor. In any case, when performed by the Royal Musicians and the choir of the Chapel Royal on July 7, 1713, it made a tremendous impression. Handel was commissioned to provide many more festive choral and instrumental works for British monarchy in the years that followed. Handel's first royal employer was King George the First, and three years after Handel's death, King George the THIRD sat on the throne. Now, King George the Third may have suffered from madness... He may have lost the American colonies, but at least he DID know a good composer when he heard one. He idolized Handel and saw to it that the composer was buried in Westminster Abbey.