The Handel organ concertos, Op. 7, HWV 306–311, refer to the six organ concertos for organ and orchestra composed by George Frideric Handel in London between 1740 and 1751, published posthumously in 1761 by the printing company of John Walsh. They were written for performance during Handel's oratorios, contain almost entirely original material, including some of his most popular and inspired movements. [1]
A fine and delicate touch, a volant finger, and a ready delivery of passages the most difficult, are the praise of inferior artists: they were not noticed in Handel, whose excellencies were of a far superior kind; and his amazing command of the instrument, the fullness of his harmony, the grandeur and dignity of his style, the copiousness of his imagination, and the fertility of his invention were qualities that absorbed every inferior attainment. When he gave a concerto, his method in general was to introduce it with a voluntary movement on the diapasons, which stole on the ear in a slow and solemn progression; the harmony close wrought, and as full as could possibly be expressed; the passages concatenated with stupendous art, the whole at the same time being perfectly intelligible, and carrying the appearance of great simplicity. This kind of prelude was succeeded by the concerto itself, which he executed with a degree of spirit and firmness that no one ever pretended to equal.
— Sir John Hawkins, General History of the Science and Practice of Music. 1776. [2]
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 – Fuga (Allegro) – Bourrée | First movement includes an independent pedal part. Fuga often less played. |
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 – Menuet – 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 1748–1749 | 1749 | 1761 | Pomposo – Organo ad libitum – A tempo ordinario | Assembled by John Christopher Smith after Handel's death for John Walsh the younger's publication |
Although a complete version of the first set of organ concertos, Op. 4 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 for organ solo as a prelude to his concertos.
After Handel's death, his amanuensis and personal assistant John Christopher Smith collaborated with the mechanical organ maker John Langshaw (1725–1798) in transcribing a selection of Handel's works for chamber barrel organ. [4] Two mechanical "organ machines", operated by a hand crank, were constructed for John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute: the first had 58 barrels, 32 of which were devoted to works by Handel, and was built by the organ-builder John Snetzler and clockmaker Christopher Pinchbeck in 1763, a year after Stuart became Prime Minister; a second had 6 extra barrels and was built by the Bond Street 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 and variations on La Folia from Handel's Suite in D minor for harpsichord HWV 437. 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, formerly in the Colt Clavier Collection and now at Hammerwood Park in Sussex. These contain two concertos HWV 290 and 294 from Op. 4 with elaborate ornamentation supplied by Smith and have been recorded by Erato. [5] [6]
Two modern performing editions of the concertos by the organists and musicologists Peter Williams and Ton Koopman 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 (1976) and Richard Egarr (2009) give further possibilities, which have so far not appeared in printed editions. [3] [7] [8]
Sources
The Handel organ concertos, Op. 7, HWV 306–311, refer to the six organ concertos for organ and orchestra composed by George Frideric Handel in London between 1740 and 1751, published posthumously in 1761 by the printing company of John Walsh. They were written for performance during Handel's oratorios, contain almost entirely original material, including some of his most popular and inspired movements. [1]
A fine and delicate touch, a volant finger, and a ready delivery of passages the most difficult, are the praise of inferior artists: they were not noticed in Handel, whose excellencies were of a far superior kind; and his amazing command of the instrument, the fullness of his harmony, the grandeur and dignity of his style, the copiousness of his imagination, and the fertility of his invention were qualities that absorbed every inferior attainment. When he gave a concerto, his method in general was to introduce it with a voluntary movement on the diapasons, which stole on the ear in a slow and solemn progression; the harmony close wrought, and as full as could possibly be expressed; the passages concatenated with stupendous art, the whole at the same time being perfectly intelligible, and carrying the appearance of great simplicity. This kind of prelude was succeeded by the concerto itself, which he executed with a degree of spirit and firmness that no one ever pretended to equal.
— Sir John Hawkins, General History of the Science and Practice of Music. 1776. [2]
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 – Fuga (Allegro) – Bourrée | First movement includes an independent pedal part. Fuga often less played. |
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 – Menuet – 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 1748–1749 | 1749 | 1761 | Pomposo – Organo ad libitum – A tempo ordinario | Assembled by John Christopher Smith after Handel's death for John Walsh the younger's publication |
Although a complete version of the first set of organ concertos, Op. 4 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 for organ solo as a prelude to his concertos.
After Handel's death, his amanuensis and personal assistant John Christopher Smith collaborated with the mechanical organ maker John Langshaw (1725–1798) in transcribing a selection of Handel's works for chamber barrel organ. [4] Two mechanical "organ machines", operated by a hand crank, were constructed for John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute: the first had 58 barrels, 32 of which were devoted to works by Handel, and was built by the organ-builder John Snetzler and clockmaker Christopher Pinchbeck in 1763, a year after Stuart became Prime Minister; a second had 6 extra barrels and was built by the Bond Street 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 and variations on La Folia from Handel's Suite in D minor for harpsichord HWV 437. 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, formerly in the Colt Clavier Collection and now at Hammerwood Park in Sussex. These contain two concertos HWV 290 and 294 from Op. 4 with elaborate ornamentation supplied by Smith and have been recorded by Erato. [5] [6]
Two modern performing editions of the concertos by the organists and musicologists Peter Williams and Ton Koopman 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 (1976) and Richard Egarr (2009) give further possibilities, which have so far not appeared in printed editions. [3] [7] [8]
Sources