IDAGIO | Handel: Royal Fireworks Music - Bach: Air

Featuring

Volker Hartung
Konstanze Jarczyk
Claudio Mahle
Davide Toso
Christine Kaulbach
Pavel Ulanicki

Michael Schubert
Junge Philharmonie Köln
George Frideric Handel
Johann Pachelbel
Johann Sebastian Bach

Did you know?

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Performer Biography

Konstanze Jarczyk, a Cologne harpist, is related to the great UFA film composer Michael Jary and has performed solo in major European churches, including Cologne Cathedral and Leipzig's Thomaskirche.

Composer Biography

George Frideric Handel, one of the most influential Baroque musicians, composed 42 operas, 25 oratorios (including the 'Messiah'), cantatas, and numerous orchestral, chamber, piano, and sacred works.

Composition History

Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks was commissioned by British King George II for a huge celebration in October 1748 to honor the Aachen peace treaty, which ended the War of the Austrian Succession.

Performer Biography

The Cologne New Philharmonic Orchestra, founded in 1972, consists of gifted young graduates from German Rhineland Conservatories who aim to gain practical musical experience before their professional careers.

Critical Reception

The premiere of Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks was nearly a fiasco due to uncoordinated cannon shots and rain, but Handel's music saved the event.

Composition History

Handel's Concerto for Harp & Strings in B-flat major, Op. 4 No. 6, was originally conceived as a harp concerto and premiered with his Organ Concerto Op. 4 No. 1 at the premiere of the Alexander's Feast.

Notable Performances

The public dress rehearsal for Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks in Vauxhall Gardens drew 12,000 spectators, causing a traffic jam on London Bridge.