Handel: Concerto Grosso, Op. 3, Op. 6 / The Academy of Ancient Music

Handel’s Concerto Grossos have a strong sense of “mishmash” with movements adapted from operas, oratorios, anthems, and harpsichord fugues. However, this is not limited to Handel’s works; Bach’s cantatas and masses are also often arranged from secular instrumental music. It is well known that the Bradenburg Concerto No. 1 and No. 3, for example, are also used as sinfonia for cantatas. This kind of “appropriation” from own past works was common in those days. One composer who has not been known for this kind of “appropriation” is Georg Philipp Telemann. In spite of the fact that he wrote the largest number of works in the world, there is hardly any “appropriation” in his works (according to my own knowledge). Handel’s Concerto Grossos were intended to be played at the intervals of operas and oratorios. It has less counterpoint than Bach’s, and less virtuosic passages than Vivaldi’s. Overall, it is modeled after Corelli’s, and is written in the Italian style. #baroque #handel #片山俊幸