Perhaps to fulfill a promise to his father or simply because he saw himself as "dedicated to the liberal

arts," on 10 February 1702 Handel matriculated at the University of Halle.[56]That university had only
recently been founded. In 1694 the Elector of Brandenburg Frederick III (later Prussian King
Frederick I) created the school, largely to provide a lecture forum for the jurist Christian
Thomasius who had been expelled from Leipzig for his liberal views.[13] Händel did not enroll in the
faculty of law, although he almost certainly attended lectures.[57] Thomasius was an intellectual and
academic crusader who was the first German academic to lecture in German and also denounced
witch trials. Lang believes that Thomasius instilled in Händel a "respect for the dignity and freedom
of man's mind and the solemn majesty of the law," principles that would have drawn him to and kept
him in England for half a century.[58] Handel also there encountered theologian and professor of
Oriental languages August Hermann Francke, who was particularly solicitous of children, particularly
orphans. The orphanage he founded became a model for Germany, and undoubtedly influenced
Handel's own charitable impulse, when he assigned the rights of Messiahto London's Foundling
Hospital.[59]

Domkirche in Halle

Shortly after commencing his university education, Handel (though Lutheran [o]) on 13 March 1702
accepted the position of organist at the Calvinist Cathedral in Halle, the Domkirche, replacing J.C.
Leporin, for whom he had acted as assistant.[61] The position, which was a one-year probationary
appointment showed the foundation he had received from Zachow, for a church organist and cantor
was a highly prestigious office. From it he received 5 thalers a year and lodgings in the run-down
castle of Moritzburg. [62]
Around this same time Handel made the acquaintance of Telemann. Four years Handel's senior,
Telemann was studying law and assisting cantor Johann Kuhnau (Bach's predecessor at
the Thomaskirche there). Telemann recalled forty years later in an autobiography for
Mattheson's Grundlage: "The writing of the excellent Johann Kuhnau served as a model for me in
fugue and counterpoint; but in fashioning melodic movements and examining them Handel and I
were constantly occupied, frequently visiting each other as well as writing letters." [63]