Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1759): The 6 Organ Concertos Op. 7

00:00 Concerto No 1 in B flat: Andante, Andante - Largo, e piano - Bourrée 18:01 Concerto No 2 in A: Ouverture, Allegro - Adagio ad libitum - Allegro 30:27 Concerto No 3 in B flat: Allegro - Adagio ad libitum - Spiritoso - Menuet 42:29 Concerto No 4 in D minor: Adagio - Allegro - Larghetto ad libitum - Allegro 1:00:01 Concerto No 5 in G minor: Allegro ma non troppo, e staccato - Andante larghetto, e staccato - Largo ad libitum - Menuet - Gavotte 1:14:07 Concerto No 6 in B flat: Pomposo - Larghetto ad libitum - A tempo ordinario Carl Weinrich, Holtkamp organ in The General Theological Seminary (New York City) The Arthur Fiedler Sinfonietta - Arthur Fiedler, conductor Handel’s organ concertos pose some interesting problems. Since they are essentially happy, improvisatory music, designed originally for audience entertainment during the intervals of a London 18th-century oratorio concert (not a church service), contemporary recordings and performances should try to recapture this mood and setting. Even if original conditions are partially re-created (considerable information exists about the baroque organ and the size of a Handel orchestra), much of this music was never properly notated. Handel wrote out the orchestral sections of a concerto including the organ, but in the solo interludes he often indicated very little, relying on his great fund of momentary musical ideas to fill in the gaps. Consequently, his scores are peppered with ad libitums for the organist — eighteen of them in Op. 7 alone. Even four complete movements are to be improvised. The six concertos of Op. 7 (the third set of organ concertos published) were composed between 1740 and 1751. They did not appear in print, however, until 1761, two years after Handel’s death: A Third Set of Six Concertos for the Harpsicord [sic] or Organ Compos’d by Mr Handel. London. Printed for J]. Walsh... Of Whom may be had Compos’d by M’ Handel Four Hundred Songs €&9. Instrumental parts were also issued at the same time. John Walsh, capitalizing on Handel’s fame, may have put this collection together himself, or perhaps John Christopher Smith, father or son, did so. Whoever the arranger, he was not too careful about retaining the original order of movements, and in some instances, we have no guarantee that a concerto was performed the way it is printed. Unlike the first two sets, several of these concertos call for a separate pedal part. Most early 18th-century English organs had no pedals, but Handel had a special combination organ-harpsichord designed and built for himself about 1738. The keyboards were linked by tracker action, and the instrument may have included a pedal board. At oratorio performances Handel could shift from harpischord to organ at will and yet have a good view of his performers. He must have treasured this instrument because he paid £500 for it — a not inconsiderable sum in those days. While Op. 7 is not entirely superior to others in this genre, it does contain some of Handel’s finest organ music. Though entertaining, there is a solidity and massiveness about several of the concertos that recalls the organ loft of Bach. Comparisons are meaningless because both giants had different purposes in mind. Yet Handel employs here those granite formal devices of his German youth of which Bach was so fond (“grounds” and fugal rhetoric, particularly), and the result is a magnificent blend of elements that gives Handel his unique quality. It should be said that Handel, after his stroke of 1737, found it increasingly difficult to conjure up his old thematic energy and vitality. As a result, he turned more and more to other men’s works as a source of musical ideas to get his engine going. He borrowed, but did not plagiarize. After similarities are noted between two themes, one must observe the transformation that takes place in the Handel work. His individual stamp allays suspicion. He always repaid his loans with interest. The music he drew on for Op. 7 came from Gottlieb Muffat’s Componimenti Musicali, Johann Kuhnau’s Klavierfrüchte, and Georg Philipp Telemann’s Musique de Table. For the improvisatory movements Mr. Weinrich has drawn on other works of Handel. In addition, he has filled in the other ad libitums with graceful and stylistic passages of his own. J. Merritt Knapp Mr. Knapp, Professor of Music at Princeton University and former Dean of the College, is an authority on Handel and 18th-century music.