Händel

Featuring

Xavier de Maistre
Daniel Dodds
Julien Quentin
Martynas Levickis
Festival Strings Lucerne
George Frideric Handel

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Composition History

The premiere of Handel's harp concerto was special because it was an integral part of his ode Alexander's Feast, or The Power of Music, following a recitative praising the ancient Greek singer Timotheus and his harp.

Composition History

Handel's only harp concerto was premiered on February 19, 1736, by William Powell, for whom it was written, at London's Covent Garden Theatre.

Compositional Technique

Three of the four movements in Handel's D minor organ concerto are based on pre-existing music, including a piece for two organs, a borrowing from Georg Philipp Telemann, and material from Handel's opera Il pastor fido.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Handel was aware of the harp's magical effect and honored it in his works, using its sound to underscore sung text in his operas and oratorios.

Compositional Technique

Handel's organ concertos, including the D minor concerto, often reused earlier instrumental material due to time pressure during composition.

Performer Biography

The Festival Strings Lucerne, founded in 1956, have made a substantial contribution to expanding the string and chamber orchestra repertoire through new arrangements and over a hundred premieres by various composers.

Composer Biography

Handel's first documented engagement with the harp was at age seven, when he copied a cantata with obbligato harp by his teacher Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow for study.