Keyboard Works Volume 4

Handel Keyboard Works Volume 4
Miscellaneous Suites & Pieces. Second Part

Throughout his life Handel was famous as a brilliant performer on keyboard instruments, and he began composing for them in his youth: his early training under Zachow included the study of the most important 17th-century German composers for the keyboard, and their influence can be seen in the harpsichord music which he had written by the time he left Hamburg for Italy in 1706.  He seems to have taken it up again only after he settled in England in 1712, and during the next few years he wrote a large number of harpsichord works, with a peak about 1717, when he was becoming involved with the music at Cannons.

Apparently Handel was in no hurry to publish these compositions, and manuscript copies were made for friends and patrons.  The primary source for our text is the third impression of the Cluer edition.  As well as the Walsh, le Cène and Leclerc editions there are important manuscript sources, including some autographs, which give much additional information concerning the text.

The Suites Nos 1 and 2 may well be Handel’s earliest surviving keyboard works; we may reasonably assume that they were written in his boyhood in Halle.  The early period which ended with his departure from Hamburg for Italy in 1706 possibly covers Nos 1–18. Handel earned his living in Hamburg partly by giving harpsichord lessons, and may have written some or all of those pieces for his pupils.

The present volume contains all Handel’s harpsichord works which survive only in contemporary manuscript copies. In the absence of autographs there is little direct evidence about dates of composition. The pieces are arranged in what the editor believes is their approximate chronological order: there being no historical evidence the order has been determined on stylistic comparison.

The edition, based on the Urtext of the “Halle Handel Edition”, has been edited by the internationally-renowned Handel scholar Terence Best.  The music text in each volume, which also takes into consideration alternative versions of individual pieces, is accompanied by a detailed foreword on the history of the compositions, transmission and performance practice.

- Urtext based on the “Halle Handel Edition”

- Comprehensive edition of Handel’s keyboard works Volumes I-IV (BA 4221-4224)

- Detailed introductory text with notes on performance practice (Ger/Eng)

- Based on the latest Handel research findings