Handel arrived in Italy in 1706 from Germany as a somewhat rough composer, full of potential, but knowing (according to his friend Mattheson) ‘how to compose practically nothing but regular fugues’ and with an uncertain command of form and melody. Within five years he had emerged as a polished and well-equipped composer with a formidable battery of first-rate compositions. For Handel the Italian years were decisive, for Italy was the home of opera, oratorio, the chamber cantata, the concerto and the sonata. He met all the leading composers: Lotti, Vivaldi and Albinoni in Venice, Perti in Florence, and Alessandro and Domenico Scarlatti, Caldara, Corelli and Pasquini in Rome.