Kirsh. said on Thursday, 14 April 2011:
Interesting point I'd like to make today, the 252nd anniversary of Georg Friedrich Händel's death about sampling, Classical music and just music in general. Handel, one of the most influential and celebrated composers of all time was notorious...for sampling! It was Handel's contemporary, William Boyce who said Handel, “took other men's pebbles and polished them into diamonds”. (1) Despite this, he was held in such a high regard throughout his life by fellow musicians including Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. (2)
It sort of makes you wonder about Igor Stravinsky's statement, "Good composer's borrow, great composers steal." (ironically said to be stolen from a similar quote by T.S. Eliot) It just goes to show you how sampling done with taste can be a well respected art form in and of itself. I hope we can get ahold of some of Handel's samples because that sort of representation on the site could really legitimize that art of sampling to even the most objective of critics.

References: (1) Teri Noel Towe Thursday morning broadcast 4/14/11 for WPRB 103.3 FM Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
(2) wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handel