Handel on the Harp - EM Now 2nd March

[ardcarp]

Czech period instrument group, Ensemble 18+, perform the overture to Handel's Messiah, his Harp Concerto in B flat, with soloist Kateřina Englichová, and CPE Bach's Sinfonia in C.



Not sure I know (or even know of) the Harp Concerto. I wonder if it has bits lifted from elsewhere? We shall see.

PS OMG I've played it but in another guise. Guesses anyone?

[MickyD]

It's a delightful piece, transcribed from one of the Op.4 organ concerti, and was inserted as interval music in "Alexander's Feast".

Andrew Lawrence-King plays it on this excellent complete recording from Harry Christophers:

[gurnemanz]

There's another good recording of it on an interesting, varied and very well-filled 3CD Vox Box which I acquired a few years ago. A 1964 recording from the excellent Marie-Claire Jamet with the Paul Kuentz Chamber Orchestra.

[edashtav]

My first ever Harp Concerto at a Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra's Schools' Concert over 60 years ago. I suspect that we were given only the first movement.

[ardcarp]

Forgive my ignorance, but I'm confused about who transcribed it. For instance, any of these?

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/11388596

If Handel himself had a go, it makes me wonder what sort of harp was around in the 18th century. It surely needs a fully chromatic instrument to play it?

I'm not relying on EM Now to give us the info.

[Serial_Apologist]

I just saw this ad for the Albert Hall in the latest Jazz In London listings:

Alina Hip Harp - Elgar Room: 12 March

[oddoneout]

I rather liked the first rendition on here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2t2rPiIiKQ . What follows it is best avoided in my view...
As to transcription or otherwise this https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W192_67291 suggests not.

[ardcarp]

I'm now utterly fascinated. So it began life as a harp piece. Does anyone here have knowledge of what sort of harp was available to Handel? If the harp were tuned to a diatonic scale of B flat, how did the player produce (for instance) an E natural when modulating to the Dominant key?

Early harps (such as the Welsh or Breton harp) only played within the mode they were tuned to. There were various attempts to produce a harp capable of chromatic notes, including the 'double harp' which had two courses of strings which corresponded to the black and white notes of a keyboard. The snag was that you could only really play the 'white notes' with one hand and the 'black notes' with the other. The modern 7-pedal harp solves all the problems, and is capable of prodigious feats (feet?) and is the standard modern concert harp, as being used in Odders' examples above.

So I'd love to know what the harp was like in Mr Handel's day. Anyone?

[Miles Coverdale]

I'm now utterly fascinated. So it began life as a harp piece. Does anyone here have knowledge of what sort of harp was available to Handel? If the harp were tuned to a diatonic scale of B flat, how did the player produce (for instance) an E natural when modulating to the Dominant key?

Early harps (such as the Welsh or Breton harp) only played within the mode they were tuned to. There were various attempts to produce a harp capable of chromatic notes, including the 'double harp' which had two courses of strings which corresponded to the black and white notes of a keyboard. The snag was that you could only really play the 'white notes' with one hand and the 'black notes' with the other. The modern 7-pedal harp solves all the problems, and is capable of prodigious feats (feet?) and is the standard modern concert harp, as being used in Odders' examples above.

So I'd love to know what the harp was like in Mr Handel's day. Anyone?

Don't forget the Playerl harp, which was fully chromatic, all notes being available to both hands. The snag was that, as each note had its own string, it took about three weeks to tune.

[MickyD]

I'm now utterly fascinated. So it began life as a harp piece. Does anyone here have knowledge of what sort of harp was available to Handel? If the harp were tuned to a diatonic scale of B flat, how did the player produce (for instance) an E natural when modulating to the Dominant key?

Early harps (such as the Welsh or Breton harp) only played within the mode they were tuned to. There were various attempts to produce a harp capable of chromatic notes, including the 'double harp' which had two courses of strings which corresponded to the black and white notes of a keyboard. The snag was that you could only really play the 'white notes' with one hand and the 'black notes' with the other. The modern 7-pedal harp solves all the problems, and is capable of prodigious feats (feet?) and is the standard modern concert harp, as being used in Odders' examples above.

So I'd love to know what the harp was like in Mr Handel's day. Anyone?

Frances Kelly has, I think, also recorded the piece on an authentic instrument. Here she demonstrates Mozart's single action pedal harp, which is probably not too far from that of Handel's. Hope it's of interest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSg-ihnMIBQ

[ardcarp]

Thanks Miles and Micky D. I had forgotten about the Pleyel, but never knew about the 'Mozart-style' harp which Frances Kelly so ably demonstrates. I guess Handel must have had something similar.

PS Good University Challenge question. Which instrument is traditionally tuned using a C flat tuning fork? (I've lately seen harpists resorting to an electrocic gadget.)