Moderato from Concerto Grosso

Description

Georg Friedrich Handel (1685-1759) showed extraordinary musical gifts at a very early age. His father refused to encourage this, intending his son for the legal profession.

Handel’s career began as a composer of Italian opera, but it is for his oratorios that he is best known. The Messiah, which stands alone, is remarkable in many respects, and not least for the fact that it was written in three weeks.

He wrote and assembled the twelve concerti grossi, Opus 6, during a single month, finishing the set on October 30, 1739. Some of the music had been written earlier, and arranged during that frantic month. In November, twelve ‘grand concertos’ were advertised on a subscription basis, meaning the donors would see their names on the title page. This edition appeared on April 21, 1740.

This arrangement for string orchestra by Jerry Wesley Harris is taken from these concerti grossi.

Published by: Young World Publcations