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.
Only two movements of his Organ Concerto in Eb Major
(HWV 311 Op. 7 No. 6) survive; they seem to have been
written in 1746-1747, then revised in 1749 for
performance during one of Handel's oratorios. The
movements are based on an unfinished Sinfonia in B
flat, so some performers interpolate that sinfonia's
slow movement into the middle of this concerto. Other
organists cull pieces from various other Handel works
to fill the "gaps" the composer left. (He improvised
these sections in performance and died before the
concerto was ready for publication.) The initial
movement is marked Pomposo, which aptly describes the
opening orchestral bars. But the organist bursts in,
throwing pomp and caution to the wind with rapid,
noodling passagework. Through the first two-thirds of
the movement, these antagonistic ideas alternate, but
toward the end the orchestra picks up and takes
possession of the organ's scurrying figure. The other
surviving movement is an Air marked A tempo ordinario.
It's a gentle, almost pastoral movement, the organ
playing an entirely subsidiary, continuo-like role for
the first two-thirds of the piece, then coming forward
for only three fragmentary solo statements.
Source: Allmusic
(https://www.allmusic.com/composition/organ-concerto-in
-b-flat-major-op7-6-hwv-311-mc0002369657).
Although originally written for Pipe Organ and Baroque
Orchestra, I created this Arrangement of the Concerto
in Eb Major (HWV 311 Op. 7 No. 6) for Concert (Pedal)
Harp & Strings (2 Violins, Viola & Cello). |
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