Handel Kenneth Cooper - Theatre Outdoor Musick

RIP, DR. COOPER!!!!

Great fun :-D The F Major sonata for keyboard alone works incredibly well. Once again thanks for posting.

What an amazing harpsichordist! I am deeply saddened to learn about his passing. I feel fortunate to have had the chance to work with him for a semester, and will always remember rehearsals and lessons with him!

*_The rest of the documentation 1/2_*
"Court. Frederick Handel, Hold up your Hand ... You are
charg'd with having bewitch'd us for the Space of twenty Years
past; nor do we know where your Inchantments will end, if a timeIy
Stop is not put to them .. . You have most insolently dar'd to
give us good Musick and sound Harmony, when we wanted and
desir'd bad ... and ... You have often been 50 bold as to charm us,
when we were positively resolv'd to be out of Humour. ... "
(Anonymous: Harmony in an Uproar ... , London, 12 Feb. 1734)
When publisher John Walsh issued Handel's Six Overtures
fitted to the Harpsicor.d or Spinnet ... being proper
pieces for the lmprovement of ye hand, 1726, he must have
realized so me of their potential for success. But despite
Handel's immense popularity, neither man could have imagined
that the Celebrated Overtures Complete ... would
still be in demand eighty-five years later, after its ninth
printing! Walsh issued the Overtures originally in eleven installments
principally of six selections each, from 1726 to
1758, collecting them together at various times into 24, 30,
60 and finally, 65 overtures, so that "Any Gentlemen may
have their Sets completed with a General Title to the
Whole." That Handel made the settings hirnself is doubtful,
although his long relationship with Walsh and his apparent
sanction of the project over a thirty-three-year period would
lend credence to his supervision of the task. Seemingly,
however, the keyboard players, whose interest in the Overtures
kept them alive for so long, were not very much concerned
about whose arrangements they were. The "fittings"
are dearly done in a conscientious way, omitting most inner
parts, as Handel often did in keyboard settings, faithfully
retaining Handel's notes, rhythms, and other details, and
revealing a totally authentie and idiomatie Handelian style.
It was not until the final edition of 1811, long after Handel's
death, that the publishers feit obliged to add " Arranged by
the Author." By that time, the title page read " Arranged for
Organ or Piano Forte" in place of the original " fitted to the
Harpsieord or Spinnet," although nothing else about the
musie was altered.

*_The rest of the documentation 2/2_*
The wealth of musie in the collection is staggering, especially
in light of Handel' s relatively smalliegacy of " real"
keyboard musie. In fact, the Overtures for the most part display
Handel's mature style (1710-1755), while most of his
harpsiehord music (suites, dances, fugues) dates from his
earlier days (1695, perhaps, to 1720). Of the works chosen
for this disc, three also exist in other Handel works. The
Giga from Siroe is well-known (in a slightly less mature
form) as part of the Oboe Sonata, Op. 1, No. 6, c. 1720; the
Menuet from lmeneo was taken from the Concerto Grosso,
Op. 6, No. 9, completed a few months earlier; and the
Athalia Allegro made its way into the Trio Sonata, Op. 5,
No. 4, published in 1739. The Adagio from the Pastor Fido
Overture, originally an oboe solo, has an uncomfortably
dose relationship with Alessandro Marcello's D-minor
Oboe Concerto, published in 1716. The Overture to Acis
and Galatea, in the harpsiehord version, ends on the tonie
instead of the disarming, deceptive cadence of the originalone
of the few aberrations in this collection-so I have, in
this case, taken the liberty to res tore Handel' s original transition
material, elaborated with a few decorations. The
Solomon " Queen of Sheba" is wieked to play on the harpsiehord,
and one suspects that there may not have been too
many of Handel's contemporaries who could have managed
it.
The wide range of alternatives possible for many of
Handel's works is suggested by the publication of the
Sonata in F, for "flu te or oboe or violin," specifying within
the collection that the sonata be played on "flauto"
(recorder). In 1738, Handel converted this chamber version
into a concerto, the fifth of the Six Concertos For the Harpsicord
or Organ . .. from my own Copy Corrected by my
Self . . " Opus IV, 1738, adding barely enough string
material to qualify as a concerto. A performance for solo
harpsiehord, retaining its chamber intention (but exploring
its keyboard potential), seems an appropriate choiee under
the circumstances. In both settings, the solo and bass lines
are sparsely drawn; both ornamentation of the melodie line~
and realization of the continuo need to be done creatively.
Imagine what Handel, the great improviser, would have
played! The ad libitum cadenza played between the Allegro
and the Siciliana, while not specified in this work, was indeed
called for in a number of Handel's other keyboard concerti,
and, according to contemporary reports, seems to have
been characteristie of his performance practiee.
The Water Music, although a feature of George 1's parties
on the Thames over the years from 1717 on, was not
printed unti11733, probably to prevent piracy. But in 1743,
Handel and Walsh saw fit to issue the entire twentymovement
collection "Set for the Harpsieord." Again,
Handel may or may not have looked these over, -but there
does exist an autograph of the Aire, for harpsichord, in-
dieating that, indeed, harpsichord settings were an acceptable
idea to hirn. In the orchestral version, the F-major
Bourree and Hornpipe are each to be played three times by
different groups of instruments; in the harpsiehord setting
they are given just once, 50 I have fleshed them out with
some ornaments, divisions, and textural changes on the
repeats. The famous D-major Hornpipe works especially
weil on the harpsiehord, and like a da capo aria, it has been
treated to a few flourishes on the repeat, thereby aiding and
abetting ornament-prone brass players everywhere.
At a time when England's greatest composer was also
her most popular, people seemed perfectly happy to accept
their favorite musie in a form they could play and sing at
horne or at social gatherings. Handel, too, participated in informal
and convivial evenings: his neighbor, attractive
widow Mary Delany, speaks (21 April, 1734) " of a little
entertainment of musie I had last week; . . . Mr. Handel was
in the best humour in the world, and played lessons and accompanied
Strada and all the ladies that sang from seven 0 '
the dock till eleven. I gave them tea and coffee, and about
half an hour after nine had a salver brought in of chocolate,
mulled white wine and biscuits. Everybody was easy and
seemed pleased . .. . " -Kenneth Cooper

Vanguard Records were excellent.