George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (1685 – 1759)
was a German, later British, baroque composer who spent
the bulk of his career in London, becoming well known
for his operas, oratorios, anthems, and organ
concertos. Handel received important training in Halle
and worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy before
settling in London in 1712; he became a naturalised
British subject in 1727. He was strongly influenced
both by the great composers of the Italian Baroque and
by the middle-German po...(+)
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (1685 – 1759)
was a German, later British, baroque composer who spent
the bulk of his career in London, becoming well known
for his operas, oratorios, anthems, and organ
concertos. Handel received important training in Halle
and worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy before
settling in London in 1712; he became a naturalised
British subject in 1727. He was strongly influenced
both by the great composers of the Italian Baroque and
by the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition.
Within fifteen years, Handel had started three
commercial opera companies to supply the English
nobility with Italian opera. Musicologist Winton Dean
writes that his operas show that "Handel was not only a
great composer; he was a dramatic genius of the first
order." As Alexander's Feast (1736) was well received,
Handel made a transition to English choral works. After
his success with Messiah (1742) he never composed an
Italian opera again. Almost blind, and having lived in
England for nearly fifty years, he died in 1759, a
respected and rich man. His funeral was given full
state honours, and he was buried in Westminster Abbey
in London.
Born the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach and
Domenico Scarlatti, Handel is regarded as one of the
greatest composers of the Baroque era, with works such
as Water Music, Music for the Royal Fireworks and
Messiah remaining steadfastly popular. One of his four
Coronation Anthems, Zadok the Priest (1727), composed
for the coronation of George II, has been performed at
every subsequent British coronation, traditionally
during the sovereign's anointing. Another of his
English oratorios, Solomon (1748), has also remained
popular, with the Sinfonia that opens act 3 (known more
commonly as "The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba")
featuring at the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony.
Handel composed more than forty operas in over thirty
years, and since the late 1960s, with the revival of
baroque music and historically informed musical
performance, interest in Handel's operas has grown.
Handel's 14 authentic organ concertos fall into three
"sets," the first comprising six concertos published by
John Walsh in London in 1738 as Op. 4, the second
including the unpublished Concertos in F, HWV 295, and
D minor, HWV 304, while a third set consists of a
further six concertos published posthumously in 1761 as
Op. 7. Like the set of 12 Concerti Grossi, Op. 6,
Handel composed all his organ concertos for theater
performance at his oratorios, generally to coincide
with the first night of a new work. The keyboard
concerto was a relative novelty in Handel's day (but
his concertos inspired numerous imitations among native
composers), and Handel discovered that his renown as an
organ virtuoso was an added and powerful draw to
audiences in his oratorio seasons. The present Concerto
in F, known in some editions as No. 13, was completed
on April 2, 1739, and played by Handel two days later
at the first performance of his oratorio Israel in
Egypt, given at the King's Theatre, the London home of
Italian opera. Like most of the organ concertos, it is
scored for two oboes, bassoon, strings and continuo in
addition to solo organ. There are four movements. The
first, a Larghetto, and the fourth, an Allegro, are
based on movements from the Trio Sonata, Op. 5, No. 6,
composed the previous year. Between these come an
Allegro whose bird song motifs have given the concerto
its nickname "Cuckoo and the Nightingale," and another
Larghetto in siciliano rhythm. It seems that Handel
originally intended to include an extemporized ad
libitum movement of the kind that appears in many of
the later published concertos, but subsequently changed
his mind. Perhaps because of its nickname, and surely
because of the engaging, charming, and vigorous music,
the F major has become the most popular of Handel's
organ concertos.
Source: Allmusic
(https://www.allmusic.com/composition/organ-concerto-in
-f-major-cuckoo-the-nightingale-no13-hwv-295-mc00023871
68).
Although originally written for Pipe Organ and Baroque
Orchestra, I created this Arrangement of the Concerto
in F Major (HWV 295) for Concert (Pedal) Harp & Strings
(2 Violins, Viola & Cello).
SHEET MUSIC