Especially during the Baroque era, the most widely
influential musical innovations frequently occurred
more or less by chance, as composers used the materials
at their disposal to best suit an immediate practical
need. George Frideric Handel's invention of the organ
concerto as a supplement to performances of his massive
oratorios is just such a case -- Handel was simply
using his legendary skill at the keyboard to keep his
paying audience entertained while the singers took
their much-needed int...(+)
Especially during the Baroque era, the most widely
influential musical innovations frequently occurred
more or less by chance, as composers used the materials
at their disposal to best suit an immediate practical
need. George Frideric Handel's invention of the organ
concerto as a supplement to performances of his massive
oratorios is just such a case -- Handel was simply
using his legendary skill at the keyboard to keep his
paying audience entertained while the singers took
their much-needed intermissions. And so history's first
real concertos for organ and orchestra appeared not to
satisfy any inevitable artistic purpose but rather as a
simple commercial aid; that the works are still so
satisfying almost 300 years later is a credit to the
composer's unfailing creativity.
Three large groups of these organ concertos were
published during or immediately after Handel's
lifetime: Op. 4 (HWV 289-294), which contains six
concertos composed between 1735 and 1736; Op. 7 (HWV
306-311), whose six concertos were written between 1740
and 1751; and a group without opus number (HWV 295-300)
that contains Concertos 13 and 14 and a handful of
works arranged from some of Handel's concerti grossi.
Concerto No. 15 (HWV 304) first appeared in print in
1797, while Concerto No. 16 is actually an adaptation
of Handel's Concerto à due cori No. 3 (HWV 334). There
are also a handful of unnumbered concertos, most if not
all of which are adaptations of existing music.
Handel was quite resourceful when it came to form, and
in the case of the organ concertos, no two works really
follow the same pattern. The Concerto in G minor/major,
Op. 4, No. 1, for instance, is a lengthy work whose
three movements are fit into an unlikely
slow-fast-medium vessel (Larghetto/Allegro/Andante),
while the very next work (the Concerto in B flat major,
Op. 4, No. 2), with its four-movement
slow-fast-slow-fast plan, is a classic example of the
trio sonata/concerto grosso format. A more modern
three-movement fast-slow-fast concerto format is seen
in the Concerto in B flat, Op. 4, No. 6 (published for
organ but first performed as a harp concerto), while
the first work of the Op. 7 group is built around a
massive, two-movement chaconne.
Throughout these concertos, the orchestra plays a role
far more subordinate to the soloist than one usually
finds in concertos of the time; in the opening Andante
allegro of the Op. 4, No. 6 concerto, for example, the
orchestra appears in just 20 of the movement's 66
measures. Here, as in most of the concertos, the tutti
serves just to open and close the movement, and to
provide support for a few major internal cadences.
By and large, the Op. 7 pieces are more polished works
than those of Op. 4, better balanced and frequently
sewn of more complex material. A particular delight is
the Concerto in A major, Op. 7, No. 2, first performed
on February 5, 1743, at a performance of Samson. This
three-movement work opens with an Ouverture in regal
dotted rhythms, and then plunges headlong into an
Allegro of unusually thick scoring. Atypically, the
organ doesn't venture out on its own until midway
through the movement, when it makes up for its previous
reticence with a most satisfying outburst of trills and
-- if one chooses to play the pseudo-cadenza that
Handel composed but which for some reason never found
its way into the 1761 publication -- some electric
left-hand fingerwork.
Although originally written for Organ & Orchestra, I
created this Interpretation of the Concerto in Bb Major
(HWV 290 Opus 4 No 2) for Oboe & Strings (2 Violins,
Viola & Cello).
PARTITION