HANDEL ORGAN WORKS JOHN O DONNELL

Transcription

1 HANDEL ORGAN WORKS JOHN O DONNELL

2 GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL Ouverture in C major, HWV Fugue in E minor, HWV Sonata in G major, HWV Fugue in G minor, HWV Fantaisie in C major, HWV Fugue in G major, HWV Air in G minor, HWV Fugue in B-flat major, HWV Air in B-flat major, HWV Air in B-flat major, HWV ! Capriccio in G minor, HWV483 1 Chaconne in G major, HWV Fugue in B minor, HWV $ Air in G major, HWV % Fugue in A minor, HWV ^ Presto in D minor, HWV Sonata in C major, HWV578 [7 04] & I Allegro 3 31 * II Trio. Larghetto 1 45 ( III Gavotte. Non troppo presto 1 49 ) Fugue in C minor, HWV Jesu meine Freude, HWV Passacaille in G minor, HWV Total Playing Time John O Donnell Jürgen Ahrend organ, Monash University, Melbourne Georg Friederich Händel was born in Halle on 23 February Factual material on his early years is scanty, but it is as an organist that he first displayed his musical talents, leading to study with Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, organist of Halle s Liebfrauenkirche. He soon excelled as organist, harpsichordist, contrapuntist and composer, and a vocation as a church musician and virtuoso keyboard player, similar to that of his great contemporary from Eisenach, would surely have appeared to be likely. But a move to Hamburg changed all that: opera and international travel, two areas of activity that eluded Johann Sebastian Bach, steered him on a course to England via Italy; and it was as George Frideric Handel, composer of operas, oratorios and a variety of ceremonial music for King George II, that he achieved greatness. One of the consequences of moving to England was the forsaking of the organ as he had known it in Germany, where he would have had access to instruments of three or four manuals and pedals. We can only dream of what Handel may have composed for such instruments, for the English organ in the early eighteenth century was a much more modest affair, having one or two manuals and no pedals. Was this the reason that Handel declined to visit Bach whilst on a visit to Halle in the 1730s? In accordance with traditions of the day the two would inevitably have found themselves pitted against one another at the organ, and Handel would certainly have realized that his pedal technique would be found wanting. What, other than the sixteen concerti with orchestra, did Handel compose for the organ? The question has no absolute answer. The solo keyboard music is, as a body, usually regarded as having been composed for the harpsichord, though much of it is equally effective on the organ and several movements also recur in the organ concerti. A single solo keyboard piece, the Air in G major (HWV474), requires pedals, while the three-movement Sonata in C major (HWV578) was clearly composed for a clockwork organ. There is also the embryonic Jesu meine Freude (HWV480), jotted down as a model for a composition student, recalling a certain style of organ chorale. The disc opens with an Ouverture in C major (HWV456 4 ) from the opera Rodelinda (1725). Numerous such transcriptions of Handel overtures exist in both published and manuscript versions, though only a handful of these arrangements, including the present piece, are indubitably of the composer s making. This is a typical example of the genre, the majestic opening followed by a lively fugal movement in triple time and finally a light Menuet. The Fugue in E minor (HWV429 1 ) was originally composed as an independent piece and subsequently put to use as the opening Allegro of the fourth of the Suites de pièces pour le 2 3

3 clavecin (London, 1720). This is Handel s fugal writing at its energetic best, the relentless semiquaver movement always alive with invention, the insistent repeated-note crotchets announcing the subject in a variety of keys or occurring sequentially in the manner of King of kings, and Lord of lords in the so-called Hallelujah Chorus. The Sonata in G major (HWV579) is designed for a two-manual instrument, detailed manual changes having been indicated by the composer. The work is improvisational in style and draws its material from the aria Vo far guerra in the opera Rinaldo (1711). Dialogue is the principal feature of the movement, just as the operatic model is a dialogue between soprano and obbligato harpsichord. The Fugues in G minor, G major, B-flat major, B minor, A minor and C minor (HWV ) were published as Six Fugues or Voluntarys (London, 1735), where they are titled Fuga I, Fuga II, etc. Two of the pieces exist in orchestral versions: Fuga II doubles as the finale of the Concerto Grosso Op. 3 No. 3 (HWV314), while Fuga III, substantially different in detail, serves as the third movement of the Concerto Grosso Op. 3 No. 2 (HWV313). Fuga V, marked Largo, stands out among the set for the angularity of its subject and the power with which it is developed. The Fantaisie in C major (HWV490) was first published in Amsterdam in 1732 as Fantaisie pour le clavecin and subsequently in London, c. 1734, in a collection called The Ladys Banquet. Returns of the opening theme in the dominant and relative minor keys determine the structure, apart from which the movement is a simple but attractive moto perpetuo featuring considerable use of repetition, sequence and dialogue. Like the Sonata in G major (HWV579) the Air in G minor (HWV466) is intended for a twomanual instrument. The piece is designed as a small concerto movement for solo instrument, the structure defined by five ritornelli of one to four bars duration. By contrast, the Air in B-flat major (HWV470), also for two manuals, is a duet for treble lines in close imitation. Only the closing cadence introduces the bass clef and a chordal texture. The remaining Air in B-flat major (HWV469) is a simple binary-form movement in the metric structure of a bourrée, though its full texture suggests a more stately tempo than that of the dance. The movement exists in two other versions the third movement of a string Sinfonia (HWV347) and the second (and final) movement of the Organ Concerto Op. 7 No. 6 (HWV311) both of which carry the instruction A tempo ordinario. The Capriccio in G minor (HWV483) is a bizarre two-voice fugue quite unlike any other piece from Handel s pen. Above all the composer seems intent on exploring the chord of the diminished seventh. The Chaconne in G major (a variant of HWV430 4 ) is an earlier version of the well-known Air that concludes the fifth of the 1720 Suites, better known by its spurious title The Harmonious Blacksmith. The Air in G major (HWV474), Handel s only solo keyboard work with pedals, is an adaptation of part of the opening chorus O the pleasure of the plains of Acis and Galatea (HWV49a). The Presto in D minor (HWV428 6 ) was clearly one of the composer s favourite creations: it exists in no fewer than four versions. Its earliest incarnation is as part of the Ouverture to the opera Il pastor fido (1712). It next appears in the form given here as the closing movement of the third of the 1720 Suites. The remaining two versions are for organ and orchestra in the Concerto Grosso Op. 3 No. 6 (HWV317) and the Organ Concerto Op. 7 No. 4 (HWV309). All three movements of the Sonata in C major (HWV578) exist in other versions. The first doubles as a setting of the words Hallelujah amen (HWV277) for soprano and basso continuo, the second (in G minor instead of A minor) as an Air Lentement (HWV467) for keyboard, the third as the finale of the Concerto Grosso in C major (HWV318) in Alexander s Feast (1736). The compass of the Sonata, its clear avoidance of any notes below tenor G and its precise attention to values of notes and rests leave us in no doubt that it was composed for a clockwork organ. Jesu meine Freude (HWV480), a sketch in the notebook of a composition student, is a simple setting of a chorale that is well known owing to Bach s repeated use of it, especially in the motet of the same name. Handel also wrote the first two bars of a further setting of the same chorale, presumably to be continued by the student. The disc closes with the wonderful Passacaille in G minor (HWV432 6 ), originally an independent piece but subsequently employed as the final movement of the seventh of the 1720 Suites. Part of the movement, notated in half the note values and with strong and weak beats swapped, also recurs in the Organ Concerto Op. 7 No. 1 (HWV306). John O Donnell 4 5

4 Specification of the 1980 Jürgen Ahrend organ in Robert Blackwood Hall, Monash University, Melbourne: Hauptwerk/C-f Bordun 16 Praestant 8 Hohlflöte 8 Oktave 4 Spitzflöte 4 Quinte 3 Oktave 2 Gemshorn 2 Cornet (c ) V Mixtur IV-VI Zimbel III Dulzian 16 Trompete 8 Vox humana 8 Oberwerk/C-f Gedackt 8 Quintade 8 Praestant 4 Rohrflöte 4 Nasat 3 Waldflöte 2 Terz 1 3/5 Nasat 1 1/3 Scharf IV-V Trompete 8 Cromorne 8 Brustwerk/C-f Holzgedackt 8 Holzflöte 4 Oktave 2 Terz 1 3/5 Quinte 1 1/3 Oktave 1 Mixtur III Rankett 16 Regal 8 Kornettwerk/c -f Cornet Pedal/C-f Praestant 16 Subbass 16 Oktave 8 Gedackt 8 Oktave 4 Flöte 2 Mixtur IV Posaune 16 Trompete 8 Trompete 4 Tremulant (to the whole organ) 2 Zimbelsterne Oberwerk/Hauptwerk Hauptwerk/Pedal Oberwerk/Pedal Pitch: a = 440 Hz Temperament: Werckmeister II modified V Registrations Work HWV Registration Ouverture in C major (Rodelinda) HW: O4, T8, C OW: P4, N3, W2, T1 3/5, T8, C8 Menuet KW(RH): C OW: P4, C8 Fugue in E minor HW: P8, O4, Q3, O2, M Sonata in G major 579 HW(=I): P8, O4, O2 OW: G8, P4, W2 Fugue in G minor 605 HW: P8, O4, O2, M Fantaisie in C major 490 HW: H8, S4, G2 Fugue in G major 606 OW: G8, P4, W2 Air in G minor 466 HW(=II): P8, S4 OW: G8, P4, N3, W2, T1 3/5 Fugue in B-flat major 607 HW: P8, O4, Q3, O2, M Air in B-flat major 470 HW(=I): S4 OW: R4 Air in B-flat major 469 HW: P8, O4, O2 Capriccio in G minor 483 OW: G8, P4, N3, W2, T1 3/5 Chaconne in G major (variant) HW: H8, S4, Z OW: N3, W2 Fugue in B minor 608 HW: P8, O4, O2 OW: G8, P4, S Air in G major 474 HW: P8, O4, Q3, O2, M Ped: P16, S16, O8, O4, M, HW/Ped 6 7

5 Work HWV Registration Fugue in A minor 609 HW: B16, P8, O4, Q3, O2, M Presto in D minor HW: P8, O4, Q3, O2, M OW: Q8, P4, S Sonata in C major (3 movements) 578 OW: R4 (ottava bassa) Fugue in C minor 610 HW: P8, O4, M Jesu meine Freude 480 HW (chorale): P8, V8 OW: Q8, R4 BW: H8, H4 Ped: S16, O8 Trem Passacaille in G minor HW: P8, O4, Q3, O2, M John O Donnell John O Donnell University Organist, Monash University enjoys an international career as keyboard artist, choral conductor and musicologist. He tours Europe regularly, performing mostly on historic organs, recent years focussing on the newly restored instruments of the former German Democratic Republic. He is the first person ever to perform Bach s complete keyboard works in public. His recordings of the complete keyboard works of Johann Caspar Kerll (which he had previously edited for the Viennese publisher Doblinger) and organ works of Bach have met with international acclaim, an album of the latter named Best Recording of the Year (2000) in the International Record Review. He is keyboard player of Capella Corelli, musical director of the choir of the Canterbury Fellowship, and founder/director of the celebrated Ensemble Gombert; and he has served on juries for national and international competitions in Germany, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. As a scholar he is best known for his study of the French overture style and various papers on Bach performance published in English, Danish, Hungarian, American and Australian journals. He is currently continuing his researches into High Renaissance musica ficta. 8 9

6 Executive Producers Robert Patterson, Lyle Chan Recording Producer Stephen Snelleman Recording Engineer Jim Atkins Editor Melissa May Recordings Manager Virginia Read Editorial and Production Manager Hilary Shrubb Cover and Booklet Design Imagecorp Pty Ltd Recorded 28 and 29 October 1999, Robert Blackwood Hall, Monash University, Melbourne Australian Broadcasting Corporation Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Distributed in Australia by Universal Music Group, under exclusive licence. Made in Australia. All rights of the owner of copyright reserved. Any copying, renting, lending, diffusion, public performance or broadcast of this record without the authority of the copyright owner is prohibited. 10