Handel organ concertos Op.7
Encyclopedia
Organ concerto
An organ concerto is a piece of music, an instrumental concerto for a pipe organ soloist with an orchestra. The form first evolves in the 18th century, when composers including George Frideric Handel, Antonio Vivaldi and Johann Sebastian Bach wrote organ concertos with small orchestras, and with...
s for organ
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
and orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
composed 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...
in London between 1740 and 1751, published posthumously in 1761 by the printing company of John Walsh
John Walsh (printer)
John Walsh was an English music publisher of Irish descent, established off the Strand, London, by c. 1690. He was appointed musical instrument-maker-in-ordinary to the king in 1692....
. They were written for performance during Handel's oratorio
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
s, contain almost entirely original material, including some of his most popular and inspired movements.
Movements
| HWV | Opus | Key | Composed | Premiere | Venue | Published | Movements | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 306 | Op.7 No.1 | B flat major | 17 February 1740 | 27 February 1740 | London, Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre | 1761 | Andante - Andante - Largo, e piano - Bourrée | First movement includes an independent pedal part |
| 307 | Op.7 No.2 | A major | 5 February 1743 | 18 February 1743 | London, Covent Garden Theatre | 1761 | Ouverture - A tempo ordinario - Organo ad libitum - Allegro | Performed with the oratorio Samson (HWV 57) |
| 308 | Op.7 No.3 | B flat major | 1–4 January 1751 | 1 March 1751 | London, Covent Garden Theatre | 1761 | Allegro - Organo (Adagio e Fuga) ad libitum - Spiritoso - Menuet - Menuet | Two variant autographs of 1st movement. Handel's last orchestral work |
| 309 | Op.7 No.4 | D minor | ?circa 1744 | ?14 February 1746 | 1761 | Adagio - Allegro - Organo ad libitum - Allegro | ?Performed with premiere of "The Occasional Oratorio" (HWV 62) | |
| 310 | Op.7 No.5 | G minor | 31 January 1750 | 16 March 1750 | London, Covent Garden Theatre | 1761 | Allegro ma non troppo, e staccato - Andante larghetto, e staccato - Gavotte | Performed with "Theodora" (HWV 68). Final gavotte in published version probably added later by Smith Jr. |
| 311 | Op 7 No.6 | B flat major | circa 1748-49 | 1749 | 1761 | Pomposo - Organo ad libitum - A tempo ordinario | Assembled by John Christopher Smith John Christopher Smith John Christopher Smith [Johann Christoph Schmidt] was an English composer who, following in his father's footsteps, became George Frederic Handel's secretary and amanuensis.-Life:... after Handel's death for John Walsh the younger's publication |
|
Borrowings
- HWV 306. Originally composed material. The first movement contains a quotation from the PassacagliaPassacagliaThe passacaglia is a musical form that originated in early seventeenth-century Spain and is still used by contemporary composers. It is usually of a serious character and is often, but not always, based on a bass-ostinato and written in triple metre....
in the Suite in G minor for harpsichordHarpsichordA harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
, HWV 432. - HWV 307. The last movement is based on La Coquette from Suite No.6 of Componimenti musicali by Gottlieb MuffatGottlieb MuffatGottlieb Theophil Muffat was an Austrian composer/organist and son of Georg Muffat. He studied with Johann Fux in Vienna from 1711 onward and was appointed court organist in 1717. He assisted in the performance of Fux's opera Costanza e fortezza in Prague...
- HWV 308. The second minuet is by an unidentified composer.
- HWV 309. The second movement is borrowed from Georg Philipp TelemannGeorg Philipp TelemannGeorg Philipp Telemann was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hildesheim, Telemann entered the University of Leipzig to study law, but eventually...
's TafelmusikTafelmusik (musical term)Tafelmusik is a term used since the mid-16th century for music played at feasts and banquets. Often the term was also used as a title for collections of music, some of which was intended to be so used...
(1733) and the last from his own Concerto Op.3 No.6. - HWV 310. The first movement contains themes derived from the Trio sonatas Op.2 No.1 and No.8. The closing Gavotte is a more elaborate reworking of a movement from the organ concerto Op.4 No.3.
- HWV 311. Originally composed material.
Organo ad libitum
Although a complete version of the first set of organ concertos Op.4Handel organ concertos Op.4
The Handel organ concertos Op 4, HWV 289–294, refer to the six organ concertos for chamber organ and orchestra composed by George Frideric Handel in London between 1735 and 1736 and published in 1738 by the printing company of John Walsh...
appeared in Handel's lifetime in 1738, many of the concertos of the posthumous Op.7 set have missing movements and sections, where Handel would have either used an existing movement solo keyboard from one of his other works or improvised directly. In the case of Op.7 No.1, HWV 306, Handel actually indicates that parts of the Passacaglia from the Suite in G minor HWV 432 for harpsichord are to be played; the score already contains quotations for this work. It is also reported by contemporaries that Handel would often play a slow and quiet voluntary
Voluntary (music)
In music a voluntary is a piece of music, usually for organ, which is played as part of a church service. In English-speaking countries, the music played before and after the service is often called a 'voluntary', whether or not it is titled so....
for organ solo as a prelude
Prelude (music)
A prelude is a short piece of music, the form of which may vary from piece to piece. The prelude can be thought of as a preface. It may stand on its own or introduce another work...
to his concertos.
After Handel's death, his amanuensis and personal assistant John Christopher Smith
John Christopher Smith
John Christopher Smith [Johann Christoph Schmidt] was an English composer who, following in his father's footsteps, became George Frederic Handel's secretary and amanuensis.-Life:...
collaborated with the mechanical organ maker John Langshaw (c 1718-1798) in transcribing a selection of Handel's works for chamber barrel organ
Barrel organ
A barrel organ is a mechanical musical instrument consisting of bellows and one or more ranks of pipes housed in a case, usually of wood, and often highly decorated...
. Two mechanical "organ machines", operated by a hand crank, were constructed for John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute
John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute
John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute KG, PC , styled Lord Mount Stuart before 1723, was a Scottish nobleman who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain under George III, and was arguably the last important favourite in British politics...
: the first had 58 barrels, 32 of which were devoted to works by Handel, and was built by the organ-builder John Snetzler
John Snetzler
John Snetzler was an organ builder of Swiss origin who worked mostly in England.He was born in Schaffhausen, in 1710 and died in Schaffhausen, 28 September 1785...
and clockmaker Christopher Pinchbeck
Christopher Pinchbeck
Christopher Pinchbeck was a London clockmaker and maker of musical Automata. He was born in Clerkenwell but worked in Fleet Street. Probably his name was derived from Pinchbeck, Lincolnshire. In the 18th century he invented the alloy Pinchbeck a cheap substitute for gold...
in 1763, a year after Stuart became Prime Minister; a second had 6 extra barrels and was built by the Bond Street
Bond Street
Bond Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London that runs north-south through Mayfair between Oxford Street and Piccadilly. It has been a fashionable shopping street since the 18th century and is currently the home of many high price fashion shops...
watchmaker Alexander Cumming, who left a detailed inventory for each barrel, including timings in seconds for each movement. One barrel contained the concertos Op.4 No.5 and Op.7 No.3 and another the concerto Op.7 No.4 with the ad libitum slow movement provided by the sarabande
Sarabande
In music, the sarabande is a dance in triple metre. The second and third beats of each measure are often tied, giving the dance a distinctive rhythm of quarter notes and eighth notes in alternation...
and variations on La Folia from Handel's Suite in D minor for harpsichord HWV 437
Keyboard suite in D minor (HWV 437)
The Keyboard suite in D minor was composed by George Frideric Handel, for solo keyboard , between 1703 and 1706. It is also referred to as Suite de pièce Vol. 2 No. 4. It was first published in 1733.-Movements:...
. Cumming's inventory is all that survives of these organs, one having been destroyed in a fire in 1843. There is an existing set of barrels, however, for the chamber barrel organ made by Henry Holland around 1790, now in the Colt Clavier Collection in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
. These contain two concertos HWV 290 and 294 from Op.4 with elaborate ornamentation supplied by Smith and have been recorded by Erato
Erato Records
Erato Records is a record label founded in 1953 to promote French classical music. In 1992 it became part of Warner Bros. Records. In 1999 Erato launched a subsidiary Detour Records....
.
Two modern performing editions of the concertos by the organists and musicologists Peter Williams
Peter Williams
Peter Williams is the name of:* Sir Peter Williams , former chairman of Oxford Instruments; Chancellor, University of Leicester* Peter Williams , New Zealand television presenter...
and Ton Koopman
Ton Koopman
Ton Koopman is a conductor, organist and harpsichordist.Koopman had a "classical education" and then studied the organ , harpsichord and musicology in Amsterdam...
provide missing movements and give suggestions for the ad libitum passages, possibly too earthbound according to some commentators. The recordings of the organists George Malcolm
George Malcolm
George John Huntley Malcolm was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as a Liberal from 1909 to 1922, and was a cabinet minister in the government of Tobias C. Norris....
(1976) and Richard Egarr
Richard Egarr
Richard Egarr is a British keyboard performer and conductor. He received his musical training as a choirboy at York Minster, at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester, and as organ scholar at Clare College, Cambridge...
(2009) give further possibilities, which have so far not appeared in printed editions.
Characteristics
- HWV 306 First performed on the double manual organ in the theatreLisle's Tennis CourtLisle's Tennis Court was a building off Portugal Street in Lincoln's Inn Fields in London. Originally built as a real tennis court, it was used as a playhouse during two periods, 1661–1674 and 1695–1705. During the early period, the theatre was called "the Duke's Playhouse", or "the...
in Lincoln's Inn FieldsLincoln's Inn FieldsLincoln's Inn Fields is the largest public square in London, UK. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a long series of entrepreneurs who took a hand in developing London", as Sir Nikolaus Pevsner observes...
, this is the unique concerto of the series with a pedal part, the pedalboard probably having been coupled to the lower register of one of the keyboards for the occasion. It is on a grander and more majestic scale than the earlier Op.4 concertosHandel organ concertos Op.4The Handel organ concertos Op 4, HWV 289–294, refer to the six organ concertos for chamber organ and orchestra composed by George Frideric Handel in London between 1735 and 1736 and published in 1738 by the printing company of John Walsh...
, written for the more intimate single keyboard chamber organ. The first and second movements together form a single chaconneChaconneA chaconne ; is a type of musical composition popular in the baroque era when it was much used as a vehicle for variation on a repeated short harmonic progression, often involving a fairly short repetitive bass-line which offered a compositional outline for variation, decoration, figuration and...
over a ground bass, over which the organ plays a series of simple but arresting variations. There is a chaconne-like bass in the following largo which gives way to the brilliant and tuneful closing bourréeBourréeThe bourrée is a dance of French origin common in Auvergne and Biscay in Spain in the 17th century. It is danced in quick double time, somewhat resembling the gavotte. The main difference between the two is the anacrusis, or upbeat; a bourrée starts on the last beat of a bar, creating a...
. - HWV 307 This concerto is more lyrical and on a smaller scale than the first, with an unscored third movement.
- HWV 308 Also on a grand scale, this concerto opens with an allegro based on a motive similar to Handel's Hallelujah Chorus. It is followed by a long spiritoso based on a hornpipeHornpipeThe term hornpipe refers to any of several dance forms played and danced in Britain and elsewhere from the late 17th century until the present day. It is said that hornpipe as a dance began around the 16th century on English sailing vessels...
. An unscored adagioTempoIn musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
and fugueFugueIn music, a fugue is a compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and recurs frequently in the course of the composition....
leads into the two concluding minuetMinuetA 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...
s. - HWV 309 The fourth concerto starts with a noble elegaic adagio, with passages alternating between divided cellos and bassoonBassoonThe bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...
s and the solo organ. It is followed by an energetic and majestic allegro. An unscored slow movement leads into a lively finale in 3/8 time. - HWV 310 In the opening movement, vigorous unison tutti passages alternate with more complex chromatic passages for organ alone. An improvised adagio leads into a grand andante larghetto, a series of variations for the organ over an ostinatoOstinatoIn music, an ostinato is a motif or phrase, which is persistently repeated in the same musical voice. An ostinato is always a succession of equal sounds, wherein each note always has the same weight or stress. The repeating idea may be a rhythmic pattern, part of a tune, or a complete melody in...
bass, marked pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
until the forteDynamics (music)In music, dynamics normally refers to the volume of a sound or note, but can also refer to every aspect of the execution of a given piece, either stylistic or functional . The term is also applied to the written or printed musical notation used to indicate dynamics...
of the last variation. The concerto concludes with a conventional minuet and gavotte. - HWV 311 This concerto, similar in form to a Vivaldi concerto, has three movements, the second unscored and the last containing three ad libitumAd libitumAd libitum is Latin for "at one's pleasure"; it is often shortened to "ad lib" or "ad-lib"...
sections.
Discography
- Handel Organ Concertos Op.7, Academy of Ancient MusicAcademy of Ancient MusicThe Academy of Ancient Music is a period-instrument orchestra based in Cambridge, England. Founded by harpsichordist Christopher Hogwood in 1973, it was named after a previous organisation of the same name of the 18th century. The musicians play on either original instruments or modern copies of...
, Richard EgarrRichard EgarrRichard Egarr is a British keyboard performer and conductor. He received his musical training as a choirboy at York Minster, at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester, and as organ scholar at Clare College, Cambridge...
(organ), Harmonia MundiHarmonia MundiHarmonia Mundi is an independent music record label founded in 1958 by Bernard Coutaz in Arles . The Latin phrase means "world harmony"....
, HMU807447/48, 2009. Partly recorded on the Handel House Organ in St George's, Hanover Square.
External links
- Reconstruction of Handel's chamber organ, now housed in St George's, Hanover Square, Handel's parish church
- Open source scores at IMSLP
- Illustrated talk on performance practice in Handel organ concertos Opp.4 and 7 by Richard EgarrRichard EgarrRichard Egarr is a British keyboard performer and conductor. He received his musical training as a choirboy at York Minster, at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester, and as organ scholar at Clare College, Cambridge...
, English Reformed Church, AmsterdamEnglish Reformed Church, AmsterdamThe English Reformed Church is one of the oldest buildings in Amsterdam, situated in the centre of the city. It is home to an English-speaking congregation which is affiliated to the Church of Scotland and to the Protestant Church in the Netherlands...
(including the voluntary used as a prelude to HWV 307) - Audio recordings with Richard EgarrRichard EgarrRichard Egarr is a British keyboard performer and conductor. He received his musical training as a choirboy at York Minster, at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester, and as organ scholar at Clare College, Cambridge...
and the Academy of Ancient MusicAcademy of Ancient MusicThe Academy of Ancient Music is a period-instrument orchestra based in Cambridge, England. Founded by harpsichordist Christopher Hogwood in 1973, it was named after a previous organisation of the same name of the 18th century. The musicians play on either original instruments or modern copies of...
on the chamber organ of St George's, Hanover Square: HWV 306/3, HWV309/1 - Audio recordings with Marie-Claire AlainMarie-Claire AlainMarie-Claire Alain is a French organist and organ teacher best known for her prolific recording career. She is particularly known for her ability to perform substantial works entirely from memory.-Background and education:...
and the Freiburger BarockorchesterFreiburger BarockorchesterFreiburger Barockorchester is a German orchestra founded in 1987, with the mission statement: "to enliven the world of baroque music with new sounds"...
, conducted by Gottfried von der GoltzGottfried von der GoltzGottfried von der Goltz is a German-Norwegian violinist and conductor, specialising in the baroque repertoire. His first teachers were his parents, Georg Conrad von der Goltz and Kirsti Hjort. After further education in Hannover, New York and Freiburg he joined the radio orchestra of the...
: HWV 306/1-2, HWV 306/3-4