GEORG FRIEDRICH HANDEL, German/British Baroque composer born (d. 1759); “Handle”…it’s correctly pronounced “handle” a friend used to cajole. Of the German composer who anglicized the spelling of his name upon removing to England, a contemporary wrote: “His social affectations were not very strong; and to this it may be imputed that he spent his whole life in a state of celibacy; that he had no female attachments of another kind may be ascribed to a better reason.” What was the “better reason” that made Handel eschew not only marriage, but “female attachments of another kind,” presumably mistresses or whores?