George Fr Handel - Concerto Grosso Op. 6, No. 11 (1739)

George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (born Georg Friedrich Händel 23 February 1685 (O.S.) [(N.S.) 5 March] – 14 April 1759) was a German, later British, baroque composer who spent the bulk of his career in London, becoming well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, and organ concertos. Handel received important training in Halle and worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London in 1712; he became a naturalized British subject in 1727. He was strongly influenced both by the great composers of the Italian Baroque and by the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition.

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Concerto Grosso Op. 6, No. 11 in A major HWV 329 (1739, Oct. 30)

1. Andante larghetto e staccato (0:00)
2. Allegro (4:54)
3. Largo e staccato - Andante (6:34)
4. Allegro (11:40)

The English Concert conducted by Trevor Pinnock

The Twelve Grand Concertos, Op. 6, HWV 319–330, by George Frideric Handel are Concerti Grossi for a concertino trio of two violins and cello and a ripieno four-part string orchestra with harpsichord continuo. First published by subscription in London by John Walsh in 1739, they became in a second edition two years later Handel's Opus 6. Taking the older concerto da chiesa and concerto da camera of Arcangelo Corelli as models, rather than the later three-movement Venetian concerto of Antonio Vivaldi favored by Johann Sebastian Bach, they were written to be played during performances of Handel's oratorios and odes. Despite the conventional model, Handel incorporated in the movements the full range of his compositional styles, including trio sonatas, operatic arias, French overtures, Italian sinfonias, airs, fugues, themes and variations and a variety of dances. The concertos were largely composed of new material: they are amongst the finest examples in the genre of baroque Concerto Grosso.

The Musette, or rather chaconne, in this Concerto, was always in favor with the composer himself, as well as the public; for I well remember that HANDEL frequently introduced it between the parts of his Oratorios, both before and after publication. Indeed no instrumental composition that I have ever heard during the long favor of this, seemed to me more grateful and pleasing, particularly, in subject.

— Charles Burney, writing of the performance of the sixth Grand Concerto at the Handel Commemoration, 1784