Georg Friedrich Händel is what I would call a typical court composer. After the church had lost it’s almost total control over European music, the aristocracy and later rich citizens became the new mentors of great composers and gifted musicians.
Most of his work was first performed for the bigwigs - Kings & Queens. And they had the money to get someone like Händel to create music just for a bit of Firework or a trip down the river on the royal barge … (make sure you read the Wikipedia entries for some amusing tidbits).
More? Dig deeper at the Georg Friedrich Händel.org with loads of material
