Trio Sonatas CD15

Abstract

Born on February 23rd 1685 in the Eastern German city of Halle in Saxony, Georg Friedrich Handel was the son of a local surgeon. Father Georg had lost his first wife in 1682 and was already sixty when he remarried the daughter of a local pastor. Their first child was to die at birth and Georg Friedrich was the oldest surviving child of three – he was to have two younger sisters (Dorothea Sophia and Johanna Christiana). Father had plans that his son should join the respectable legal profession but his son’s organ playing was noticed at the Ducal Court and Handel’s fate was sealed. Handel subsequently, on his return to Halle, took up lessons with Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, organist at the city’s Liebfrauenkirche. Handel’s father died in 1697 and responsibility for his future now was left in the hands of his mother. The composer soon found his way to Berlin where he received the patronage of the court and took up tuition in the organ, harpsichord and violin as well as composition lessons. By 1702, it was clear that things would work out somewhat differently and the young Handel had already enrolled in the local Halle University where it seems he was set for a career in the Law. By now he had fallen under the influence of the composer Telemann and would become probationary cathedral organist in his home town when the previous incumbent, Johann Christoph Leporin, was sacked. The cathedral also had its own oboe consort and it may be at this time that Handel was to compose the six oboe trio sonatas that are generally considered to be Handel’s earliest compositions – there is however some doubt as to the authenticity of these pieces although it is clear that at this time, the oboe was Handel’s favourite instrument.