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.
Chandos Anthems, HWV 246–256, is the common name of a
set of anthems written by George Frideric Handel. These
sacred choral compositions number eleven; a twelfth of
disputed authorship is not considered here. The texts
are psalms and combined psalm verses in English. Handel
wrote the anthems as composer in residence at Cannons,
the court of James Brydges, who became the First Duke
of Chandos in 1719. His chapel was not yet finished,
and services were therefore held at St Lawrence in
Whitchurch. The scoring is intimate, in keeping with
the possibilities there. Some of the anthems rely on
earlier works, and some were later revised for other
purposes.
Ten of the anthems were published in 1748. With a
leading Jubilate, an additional closing anthem in
different scoring, and in different order, they were
published in the Samuel Arnold edition of Handel's
works. In the Hallische Händel-Ausgabe, anthems 1 to
11 are titled Anthems for Cannons. Carus-Verlag
published an edition in 2009, calling them Cannons
Anthems.
Handel’s three anthems (My song shall be alway HWV
252, O come let us sing HWV 253, O praise the Lord HWV
254) were composed in 1717 and 1718 for Cannons, a
country estate near to London. The three pieces are
noteworthy for their festive character and their varied
orchestral accompaniment. Handel borrows older material
from his Italian period and his earlier works for the
Chapel Royal in London – a standard procedure for
this composer, who reused particularly successful
pieces as starting points for his later works. The
scoring for solo voices, chorus, oboe, strings, and
continuo was tailored to the musical resources of the
small country estate. Two additional recorders are
needed for “O come let us sing unto the Lord”.
No. 7 (HWV 252) "My song shall be alway" is partly
derived from the "Te Deum in D" (HWV 280). The trio
"Thou rulest the raging sea" performed at Cannons but
probably spurious -- possibly composed by Johann
Pepusch or Nicola Haym instead and is based on Psalm
89.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandos_Anthems).
Although originally written for Voice (STB), Violins,
Oboes & Basso Continuo (Cello, Bassoon & Bass), I
created this Interpretation of the Chandos Anthem No. 7
in E Minor (HWV 252) for Winds (Flute, Oboe, French
Horn & Bassoon) & Strings (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).