Händel: Organ Concerto in F major, HWV 295
Händel was one of the greatest organists of his time. His distinguished colleague composer Johann Mattheson phrased his opinion of Händel as follows: “He proved very skilled at organ playing, and he was better than even Kuhnau at fugue and at counterpoint. Only Bach of Leipzig could surpass him.” When Händel travelled to Italy, he made a deep impression on Italian patrons of music through his organ play. Today, it is difficult to imagine that he actually played his magnificent organ concertos during the intervals of oratorio performances. Actually, these interlude-like works were often composed in the last minute. According to the most prominent English music historian of the 18th century Charles Burney, Händel introduced the practice of composing pieces this way in 1733 during a revival of the oratorio ‘Esther’. When Händel again staged a concerto at an oratorio concert in Oxford, several eyewitnesses agreed that they “have never heard better organ playing, whether the music be improvised or composed in advance”. Christopher Hogwood explains the phenomenon this way: “Since these works were originally intended to provide an opportunity for improvisations, Händel wrote these pieces down in shorthand or only in the form of an outline. The solo sections, and even entire movements, were simply marked organo ad libitum: this poses real reconstruction problems today if we intend to replicate effects similar to those that Händel’s improvisation and his ‘speedy fingering’ might have produced.”
Johann Sebastian Bach: Magnificat, BWV 243
In the 18th century, Protestant worship still contained many elements of the Latin-language Catholic liturgy. Thus, the Song of Mary entitled ‘Magnificat’, situated in the Gospel of Luke, was often sung at festive church services. The first version of Johann Sebastian Bach’s ‘Magnificat’ was performed in 1723 at a Christmas service, the year in which the composer took up the post of music director at St. Thomas’ Church in Leipzig, Germany. Two versions of the work have survived: the older one is in E flat major, while the other composition, which was more frequently performed at concerts, is in D major. According to Christoph Wolff, alongside ‘St. John Passion’ composed in 1724, ‘Magnificat’ played a particularly important role in the conceptualisation and grandiose design of ‘St. Matthew Passion’. During the reworking of the piece between 1732 and 1735, Bach modified the original instrumentation and foregrounded the inserted movements, and thus created a liturgical work that could be performed on any festive occasion. With respect to the division and internal structure of ‘Magnificat’, Bach based his own work on the Magnificats of contemporary Italian masters such as Albinoni, Lotti and Durante. Bach divided the Biblical text into 11 movements, with the final movement of the composition being the so-called doxology, which concludes the psalms and hymns and was written to the text extolling the Holy Trinity.
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Händel and Bach
Wednesday 22., 20:00
Matthias Church
Photo: Vörös Attila