Handel's harp concerto originally for harp & lute?

[otterhouse]

Hello All,

Recently, I heard that Handel's Harp concerto originally was conceived for harp AND Lute, but that the lute part has been lost. Is this true? On youtube a 1984 reconstruction surfaced from 1984 where Edward Witsenburg (on an Erard harp) and Toyohiko Satoh (on baroque lute) play a reconstruction of this work, conducted by Richard Hickox:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3UvfDdSpL0&hd=1

Can anyone confirm this?

Rolf

[Mark Sealey]

Rolf,

You mean the B flat major, Op. 4 no 6/HWV 294, don't you? Of course Handel repurposed many of his works and what you say is quite likely. I'd like to know what you find out, too, please: in the 1970s RAI television used what I'm sure was a Handel harp movement as its 'intermission' music. (Seems impossible, doesn't it!) I've never since managed to track it down and would love to know what it was.

[John Wright]

Supporting what Rolf has said on this subject, I quote from the biography written by Jonathan Keates (1985), from a paragraph about a performance of a musical festival which included Alexander's Feast:

the band were given further chances for display in the performance of three concertos. One of these was for lute and harp, later published as the 6th of the Op. 4 organ concertos, played, as the autograph indicates, before the accompanied recitative 'The song began from Jove'.

He goes on to say Op 4 No.1. was played and that it:

was probably written for the Athalia revival in April 1735

The third concero played (HWV 318) :

and at the opening of Act II, already enriched by the Italian cantata Cecilia, volgi uno sguardo, sung by the lutenist Carlo Arrigoni, appeared the C major Alexander's Feast Concerto

wiki version of Alexander's Feast events is:

Handel composed the music in January 1736, and the work received its premiere at the Covent Garden Theatre, London on 19 February 1736. In its original form it contained three concertos: a concerto in B flat major in 3 movements for "Harp, Lute, Lyrichord and other Instruments" HWV 294 for performance after the recitative Timotheus, plac'd on high in Part I; a concerto grosso in C major in 4 movements for oboes, bassoon and strings, now known as the "Concerto in Alexander's Feast" HWV 318, performed between Parts I and II; and an organ concerto HWV 289 in G minor and major in 4 movements for chamber organ, oboes, bassoon and strings performed after the chorus Let old Timotheus yield the prize in Part II. The organ concerto and harp concerto were published in 1738 by John Walsh as the first and last of the Handel organ concertos Op.4. Handel revised the music for performances in 1739, 1742 and 1751. Donald Burrows has discussed Handel's revisions to the score.