Though Saxon by birth, Handel is often claimed by the English as one of their own. But during his early 20s, before England was even a glint in his eye, he spent a spell of three-and-a-half years, from summer 1706 to early 1710, travelling the patchwork of states we now know as Italy. He certainly chose an 'interesting' time to go; the War of the Spanish Succession was in full swing, and its reverberations were felt the length and breadth of the Italian peninsula. For most of the period he was based in Rome, but he also visited Florence, Naples and Venice, fulfilling major commissions in each city. All this week, Donald Macleod charts the composer's Italian progress, with the help of novelist, biographer and avid Handelian, Jonathan Keates.

Today's programme explores the impact Italian music and Italian musical virtuosity had on the young Handel, who absorbed the style of Corelli in particular, just as JS Bach would shortly soak up Vivaldi's influence - although the international Handel went direct to the source (Corelli was his Roman concertmaster), while the stay-at-home Bach relied on scores brought back from the travels of others. Another Italian musician to leave a notable mark on Handel was the soprano Margherita Durastanti, with whom he may or may not have had an extra-musical liaison. Show less