Organ Concerto No. 8-11 CD8

Abstract

First performed during a presentation of Handel's Samson in February 1743, this concerto launches with a brief French overture with a powerful dotted rhythm. The "ouverture's" traditional fugal section appears here as a separate movement, marked A tempo ordinario. It's based on a theme by Gottfried Muffat, "La Coquette," from a suite published in

Componimeni Musicali. The orchestra introduces the subject and toys with it at length before the organ reappears to provide its own treatment of the theme. The third movement, which should be slow, was improvised by Handel at the first performance, and the published version of the concerto merely instructs the soloist to play ad libitum. Today's organists generally borrow a movement from some other Handel work. The final movement is an Allegro built from little arpeggiated melodic figures strung together into a seamless tune. A recurring subsidiary section includes an orchestral drone that gives the music a rustic character; it also suggests an organ pedal point—something Handel's organs couldn't produce because the instruments in London at that time lacked pedals.