when you sing or listen to the Messiah this season, consider how Handel the composer got his: "Handel was unusually successful and ended up leaving a fortune [1759] on the order of £20,000 - which in those days was a lot of money." http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/july-dec09/composer_12-23.html £20,000 from 1759 is worth £2.75M in 2008 using the RPI, £29M using average earnings - http://www.measuringworth.com/ppoweruk/index.php
if you watch the movie you'd know he traded the circa 1700 credit crisis bubble how he made out and what he did after the bubble burst - a lesson
Both Handel and Sir Isaac Newton were wiped out by the bursting of the 'South Sea bubble' in 1720. However, it looks like Handel had recovered quite nicely by the time of his death.
Paul Solman ". . . Handel who left London on business cashed out. Soon after the South Sea bubble burst." transcript: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/july-dec09/composer_12-23.html