Organ Concerto in F Major, "The Cuckoo and the Nightingale," HWV 295
Larghetto
Allegro
Larghetto
Allegro
Program Notes by Martin Pearlman
Handel completed his concerto popularly known as "The Cuckoo and the Nightingale" on April 2 of 1739. Two days later, he gave played the solo part in its premiere during a performance of his oratorio Israel in Egypt, which, according to the advertisement, was to be presented "with several Concerto's on the Organ, and particularly a new one."
As with so many of Handel's works, this concerto contains music that appears in other contexts. The first movement is an arrangement of music from one of his trio sonatas (opus 5, no. 6), which had been published earlier that year. The second movement, in a somewhat altered form, turned up later in the same year in one of his concerti grossi (op. 6, no. 9). The concerto's nickname comes from that second movement, in which a little motive sounds like a cuckoo and an episode in G minor has the gentle song of a nightingale. Handel then instructs the organist to improvise a transition into the siciliano third movement. The finale Allegro with which the concerto closes is an arrangement of music from the same trio sonata that he adapted for the first movement.
Boston Baroque Performances
Organ Concerto in F, HWV 295
March 13, 1999
NEC’s Jordan Hall, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Peter Sykes, organ