Fitzwilliam Sonatas
Encyclopedia
Fitzwilliam Sonatas is the name first given by Thurston Dart
to an arrangement he made, based on two recorder
sonata
s by George Frideric Handel
, which he recast as a group of three sonatas. The term was applied by later editors to the original two sonatas as Handel wrote them, and was also expanded to encompass several other sonatas for various instruments included in the Handel autograph
manuscripts held by the Fitzwilliam Museum
in Cambridge
.
, where the autograph sources are kept. Said autographs were part of the bequest that founded the museum, made in 1816 by Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Viscount FitzWilliam
(not related to the Earls Fitzwilliam
), who had bought them at auction following the death of J.C. Smith the Younger (1712–95), from the portion of his collection remaining after a major gift to King George III.
In 1974 a new edition of three recorder sonatas under the same name was made by the German musicologist Klaus Hofmann. This edition restored the D minor sonata to its original seven-movement form, and added as no. 3 the Sonata in G Major, HWV 358, probably composed much earlier than the other two Fitzwilliam recorder sonatas, at some time between 1707 and 1710. Even with correction of an evidently defective, very high passage at the end of the third movement, Hofmann admits that "Handel must have been counting on a superlative instrumental soloist", and suggests that "perhaps an instrument in g' ought also to be kept in mind" (as opposed to the usual alto recorder in f'). The attribution of this sonata to the recorder is contested, however. Both David Lasocki and Terence Best assign it to the violin, whereas Jean-Claude Veilhan endorses Hofmann's view, and Winfried Michel
acknowledges the possibility.
Two further Handel sonatas found in the Fitzwilliam manuscripts have been published under the "Fitzwilliam" rubric: the Sonata for Violin and Continuo in G Minor, HWV 364a, and the Sonata for Oboe and Continuo in B-flat major, HWV 357. In the autograph of the G minor violin sonata, Handel copied out the first bar a second time at the foot of the first page, with the solo part written an octave lower, in the alto clef and with the words "Per la Viola da Gamba". A realization of this version was first published in an edition by Thurston Dart in 1950.
The movements of Handel's two original sonatas, as given in both Klaus Hofmann's and David Lasocki and Walter Bergmann's editions, are:
The Sonata in G major (HWV 358)
does not even carry the title "Sonata" in the manuscript, let alone any specification of instrumentation, nor are there any tempo markings for its three movements. The editions by Hofmann and Best, though disagreeing about the intended solo instrument (recorder or violin, respectively), do supply the same tempo markings:
The Violin sonata in G minor (HWV 364a)
is marked simply "Violino Solo" in the Fitzwilliam autograph. The movements as given in Terence Best's edition are:
(HWV 20, 1704). The second movement was re-used in his Organ Concerto in F major, Op. 4, No. 4 (HWV 292). The third movement was used in the Violin Sonata, Op. 1, No. 3 (HWV 361).
Modern scholars agree that the B major sonata must have been written for the recorder, despite there being no mention of this on the autograph. One of the reasons for this is that, "when Handel used the third movement again in his A major violin sonata, he changed the key to A major, which would seem to eliminate the possibility that the B major version is for the violin." In addition, the key and range were unsuitable for the oboe, according to one source, though another writer claims that, although "the key would be suitable for the oboe, but less so for the flute," nevertheless "The range is too high for the oboe, and all of Handel's genuine flute and oboe sonatas go significantly below f' (flute sonatas to d' , oboe sonatas to c' or d' )".
The second and third of Dart's sonatas were originally a single sonata (HWV 367a), and was broken into two parts by Thurston Dart in his edition of 1948. The sonata designated by Dart as No. 2 consists of movement 7 of this D minor sonata followed by an earlier version of movement 6 of the same work, concluding with an unrelated minuet by Handel, together with a double (variation) composed by Dart. It has since been published in its original form. This D-minor Sonata was later arranged by an unknown hand as a flute Sonata in B minor (HWV 367b), published by Walsh in about 1730 as op. 1, no. 9.
Thurston Dart
Robert Thurston Dart , was a British musicologist, conductor and keyboard player. From 1964 he was Professor of Music at King's College London....
to an arrangement he made, based on two recorder
Recorder
The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes—whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle. The recorder is end-blown and the mouth of the instrument is constricted by a wooden plug, known as a block or fipple...
sonata
Sonata
Sonata , in music, literally means a piece played as opposed to a cantata , a piece sung. The term, being vague, naturally evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms prior to the Classical era...
s by George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
, which he recast as a group of three sonatas. The term was applied by later editors to the original two sonatas as Handel wrote them, and was also expanded to encompass several other sonatas for various instruments included in the Handel autograph
Autograph
An autograph is a document transcribed entirely in the handwriting of its author, as opposed to a typeset document or one written by an amanuensis or a copyist; the meaning overlaps with that of the word holograph.Autograph also refers to a person's artistic signature...
manuscripts held by the Fitzwilliam Museum
Fitzwilliam Museum
The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge, located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge, England. It receives around 300,000 visitors annually. Admission is free....
in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
.
History
The two sonatas used by Dart for his edition were probably written between 1724 and 1726, but were not likely intended to be associated, either as a pair or together with the other four recorder sonatas by Handel. They were first associated in 1948, when Thurston Dart named them after the Fitzwilliam Museum at the University of CambridgeUniversity of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, where the autograph sources are kept. Said autographs were part of the bequest that founded the museum, made in 1816 by Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Viscount FitzWilliam
Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Viscount FitzWilliam
Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Viscount FitzWilliam was an Irish Viscount in the FitzWilliam family who was a benefactor and musical antiquarian. He founded the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England, with a bequest of his library and art collection on his death in 1816...
(not related to the Earls Fitzwilliam
Earl FitzWilliam
Earl Fitzwilliam was a title in both the Peerage of Ireland and the Peerage of Great Britain held by the head of the Fitzwilliam family. This family claim descent from William the Conqueror. The Fitzwilliams acquired extensive holdings in South Yorkshire, largely through strategic alliances through...
), who had bought them at auction following the death of J.C. Smith the Younger (1712–95), from the portion of his collection remaining after a major gift to King George III.
In 1974 a new edition of three recorder sonatas under the same name was made by the German musicologist Klaus Hofmann. This edition restored the D minor sonata to its original seven-movement form, and added as no. 3 the Sonata in G Major, HWV 358, probably composed much earlier than the other two Fitzwilliam recorder sonatas, at some time between 1707 and 1710. Even with correction of an evidently defective, very high passage at the end of the third movement, Hofmann admits that "Handel must have been counting on a superlative instrumental soloist", and suggests that "perhaps an instrument in g' ought also to be kept in mind" (as opposed to the usual alto recorder in f'). The attribution of this sonata to the recorder is contested, however. Both David Lasocki and Terence Best assign it to the violin, whereas Jean-Claude Veilhan endorses Hofmann's view, and Winfried Michel
Winfried Michel
Winfried Michel is a German recorder player, composer, and editor of music.Michel studied with Ingetraud Drescher, Nikolaus Delius, and Frans Brüggen. He is lecturer for the recorder at the Staatliche Hochschule Münster and at the Musikakademie Kassel...
acknowledges the possibility.
Two further Handel sonatas found in the Fitzwilliam manuscripts have been published under the "Fitzwilliam" rubric: the Sonata for Violin and Continuo in G Minor, HWV 364a, and the Sonata for Oboe and Continuo in B-flat major, HWV 357. In the autograph of the G minor violin sonata, Handel copied out the first bar a second time at the foot of the first page, with the solo part written an octave lower, in the alto clef and with the words "Per la Viola da Gamba". A realization of this version was first published in an edition by Thurston Dart in 1950.
Movements
The three sonatas in Dart's arrangement (the one illustrated in the accompanying sound files) are:- The Sonata in B-flat major (HWV 377, cCircaCirca , usually abbreviated c. or ca. , means "approximately" in the English language, usually referring to a date...
. 1724–25)
- CorrenteCouranteThe courante, corrente, coranto and corant are some of the names given to a family of triple metre dances from the late Renaissance and the Baroque era....
- Adagio
- Allegro
- Movements 7 & 6, reversed from their order in the Sonata in D minor (HWV 367a, OpOpus numberAn Opus number , pl. opera and opuses, abbreviated, sing. Op. and pl. Opp. refers to a number generally assigned by composers to an individual composition or set of compositions on publication, to help identify their works...
. 1, No. 9a, c. 1725–26), (using an earlier version of movement 6, the Andante in D minor, HWV 409, c. 1725–26), and the Menuet in D minor (HWV 462, c. 1724–26, originally for solo keyboard), with the note values doubled and time signature changed from 6/8 to 3/4, to which is added a double (variation) composed by Dart.
- A tempo di MenuetMinuetA minuet, also spelled menuet, is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in 3/4 time. The word was adapted from Italian minuetto and French menuet, and may have been from French menu meaning slender, small, referring to the very small steps, or from the early 17th-century popular...
- Andante
- Menuet
- Movements 1–5 from the Sonata in D minor (HWV 367a, c. 1725–26).
- Largo
- Vivace
- Furioso
- Adagio
- Alla breve
The movements of Handel's two original sonatas, as given in both Klaus Hofmann's and David Lasocki and Walter Bergmann's editions, are:
- Sonata in B-flat major (HWV 377)
- [Allegro]
- Adagio
- Allegro
- Sonata in D minor (HWV 367a)Recorder sonata in D minor (HWV 367a)The Recorder sonata in D minor was composed by George Frideric Handel for recorder and keyboard . The work is also referred to as Opus 1 No. 9a...
- Largo
- Vivace
- Furioso [Hofmann]; Presto [Lasocki/Bergmann]
- Adagio
- Alla breve
- Andante
- A tempo di menuet
The Sonata in G major (HWV 358)
Sonata in G major (HWV 358)
The Sonata in G major was composed by George Frideric Handel, for an unspecified instrument and keyboard . The work is also referred to as HHA iv/18,3....
does not even carry the title "Sonata" in the manuscript, let alone any specification of instrumentation, nor are there any tempo markings for its three movements. The editions by Hofmann and Best, though disagreeing about the intended solo instrument (recorder or violin, respectively), do supply the same tempo markings:
- [Allegro]
- [Adagio]
- [Allegro]
The Violin sonata in G minor (HWV 364a)
Violin sonata in G minor (HWV 364a)
The Violin sonata in G minor was composed by George Frideric Handel for violin and keyboard . The work is also referred to as Opus 1 No. 6, and was first published in 1732 by Walsh. Other catalogues of Handel's music have referred to the work as HG xxvii,22; and HHA iv/18,6...
is marked simply "Violino Solo" in the Fitzwilliam autograph. The movements as given in Terence Best's edition are:
- Larghetto
- Allegro
- Adagio
- Allegro
Discussion
Handel re-used the first movement of Sonata 1, a courante, in the opera, ScipioneScipione
Scipione is an opera in three acts, with music composed by George Frideric Handel for the Royal Academy of Music in 1726. The librettist was Paolo Antonio Rolli. Handel composed Scipione whilst in the middle of writing Alessandro...
(HWV 20, 1704). The second movement was re-used in his Organ Concerto in F major, Op. 4, No. 4 (HWV 292). The third movement was used in the Violin Sonata, Op. 1, No. 3 (HWV 361).
Modern scholars agree that the B major sonata must have been written for the recorder, despite there being no mention of this on the autograph. One of the reasons for this is that, "when Handel used the third movement again in his A major violin sonata, he changed the key to A major, which would seem to eliminate the possibility that the B major version is for the violin." In addition, the key and range were unsuitable for the oboe, according to one source, though another writer claims that, although "the key would be suitable for the oboe, but less so for the flute," nevertheless "The range is too high for the oboe, and all of Handel's genuine flute and oboe sonatas go significantly below f
The second and third of Dart's sonatas were originally a single sonata (HWV 367a), and was broken into two parts by Thurston Dart in his edition of 1948. The sonata designated by Dart as No. 2 consists of movement 7 of this D minor sonata followed by an earlier version of movement 6 of the same work, concluding with an unrelated minuet by Handel, together with a double (variation) composed by Dart. It has since been published in its original form. This D-minor Sonata was later arranged by an unknown hand as a flute Sonata in B minor (HWV 367b), published by Walsh in about 1730 as op. 1, no. 9.