Suite in A Major (HWV 426 No. 1) for Harp - YouTube Mike Magatagan

Most music lovers have encountered Georg Friedrich Händel (1685 – 1759) through holiday-time renditions of the Messiah's "Hallelujah" chorus. And many of them know and love that oratorio on Christ's life, death, and resurrection, as well as a few other greatest hits like the orchestral Water Music and Royal Fireworks Music, and perhaps Judas Maccabeus or one of the other English oratorios. Yet his operas, for which he was widely known in his own time, are the province mainly of specialists in Baroque music, and the events of his life, even though they reflected some of the most important musical issues of the day, have never become as familiar as the careers of Bach or Mozart. Perhaps the single word that best describes his life and music is "cosmopolitan": he was a German composer, trained in Italy, who spent most of his life in England. Handel's first volume of Suites for keyboard was published in London in 1720 by Handel himself because, as he wrote in the preface, "surrepticious [sic] and incorrect Copies of them had got Abroad." Also called Suites de pieces pour le clavecin or Lessons because they were used by Handel for didactic purposes, the suites are sets of stylized dances often preceded by a prelude and sometimes including a fugue or a set of variations. The first suite from the first volume is in A major and consists of four movements: Prelude, Allemande, Courante, and Gigue. The opening Prelude is a toccata, a touch piece, with massive rolled chords, connected scales, and trills. The Allemande, marked Andantino, is a slight and delightful piece in first two, then three, then four, and finally five voices. The Courante is a lively, triple-time dance with elegant embellishments and a graceful rhythm. The closing Gigue is a brilliant piece in fast 12/8 with rushing lines and rambunctious half trills. Source: AllMusic (https://www.allmusic.com/composition/...). Although originally written for Keyboard, I created this Arrangement of the Suite in A Major (HWV 426 No. 1) for Concert (Pedal) Harp.

Suite in A Major (HWV 426 No. 1) for Harp - YouTube
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