 | Haendel, Georg Friedrich - Allegro from Concerto Grosso for Woodwind Quartet HWV 317 Wind Quartet: Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon |
Vidéo :
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| Composer : | Haendel, Georg Friedrich (1685 - 1759) | ||
| Instrumentation : | Wind Quartet: Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon | ||
| Style : | Baroque | ||
| Arranger : | MAGATAGAN, MICHAEL (1960 - ) | ||
| Publisher : | MAGATAGAN, MICHAEL | ||
| Date : | 1715-18 | ||
| Copyright : | Public Domain | ||
| Added by magataganm, 20 Apr 2013 Handel was born in the German city of Halle on February 23, 1685. His father noted but did not nurture his musical talent, and he had to sneak a small keyboard instrument into his attic to practice. As a child he studied music with Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, organist at the Liebfrauenkirche, and for a time he seemed destined for a career as a church organist himself. After studying law briefly at the University of Halle, Handel began serving as organist on March 13, 1702, at the Domkirche there. Dissatisfied, he took a post as violinist in the Hamburg opera orchestra in 1703, and his frustration with musically provincial northern Germany was perhaps shown when he fought a duel the following year with the composer Matheson over the accompaniment to one of Matheson's operas. In 1706 Handel took off for Italy, then the font of operatic innovation, and mastered contemporary trends in Italian serious opera. He returned to Germany to become court composer in Hannover, whose rulers were linked by family ties with the British throne; his patron there, the Elector of Hannover, became King George I of England. English audiences took to his 1711 opera Rinaldo, and several years later Handel jumped at the chance to move to England permanently. He impressed King George early on with the Water Music of 1716, written as entertainment for a royal boat outing. Sometimes mistakenly called an "oboe concerto," much of the music for this orchestral work in two movements dates from many years before -- the material had appeared in Handel's operas Amadigi di Gaula (1716) and Ottone, Rè di Germania (1723). Nevertheless, this material is treated to some interesting and innovative orchestration. The second movement is an Allegro in D minor which features several pairings of instruments which make for an unusual ensemble sound: violin I and oboe I in unison, violin II and oboe II in unison, viola, cello, and bassoon in unison, and organ and harpsichord (clavecin) in unison (!). The theme declaims itself in two-measure units, partly noble, partly sighing. The keyboards enter for a long passage by themselves which is built from steady scale runs and rotating pedal points (e.g., G sharp, E, A, E, B, E) that generate the effect of a melody heading off into the distant universe until it plunges in a three-octave descent that evokes a recapitulation of the theme by the full ensemble. This passage is expanded in length and pitch range three more times before the final closing. Although originally written for Oboes(2) & Strings, I created this arrangement for Woodwind Quartet (Flute, Oboe, Bb Clarinet and Bassoon). | |||
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