Georg Friedrich Händel (1685 – 1759) was a German,
later British, baroque composer who spent the bulk of
his career in London, becoming well known for his
operas, oratorios, anthems, and organ concertos. Handel
received important training in Halle and worked as a
composer in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London
in 1712; he became a naturalised British subject in
1727. He was strongly influenced both by the great
composers of the Italian Baroque and by the
middle-German polyphonic chora...(+)
Georg Friedrich Händel (1685 – 1759) was a German,
later British, baroque composer who spent the bulk of
his career in London, becoming well known for his
operas, oratorios, anthems, and organ concertos. Handel
received important training in Halle and worked as a
composer in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London
in 1712; he became a naturalised British subject in
1727. He was strongly influenced both by the great
composers of the Italian Baroque and by the
middle-German polyphonic choral tradition.
Handel was born in 1685, the same year as Bach and four
years after Telemann. His 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. Sir
John Hawkins wrote, “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).
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_concertos,_Op._7_(
Handel)).
Although originally written for Organ & Baroque
Orchestra, I created this Interpretation of the
Concerto in Bb Major (HWV 306 Op. 7 No. 1) for Flute,
Oboe, Classical Guitar & Strings (2 Violins, Viola &
Cello).