LONDON HANDEL PLAYERS
Barbaric Beauty
Many composers of the baroque period were fascinated by the music and culture of foreign lands and this programme brings together examples that demonstrate the huge variety of styles and influences available to them at that time. Telemann paid tribute to the ‘barbaric beauty’ of the music of the Polish gypsies whose exhilarating playing provided him with 'enough ideas for a lifetime of composition’
The programme begins in France with a grand yet satirical show of pomp and ceremony in which Lully conjures up the allure of Turkish royalty for Molière’s upwardly aspirational Bourgeois Gentilhomme. This is followed by a bizarre and almost hypnotic country dance, the Contredanse from Rameau’s Les Borèades, which exploits the grotesque interval of the Diabolus in Musica, the diminished fifth. Corrette’s arrangement of Rameau’s Danse des Sauvages, from Les Indes Galantes, was inspired by the spectacle of six Native American chiefs who came to Paris in 1725. The set is rounded off by more Rameau, the gloriously beautiful Entrée de Polymnie from Les Boréades.
To Poland next, a country where the proud spirit of a nation long under foreign rule found freedom of expression in its rich musical heritage. Telemann’s charming D major flute concerto connects with that country by opening with a polonaise. In Schmelzer’s Der Polnische Sackpfeifer the pungent drones of bagpipes regularly interrupt what begins as a well-behaved trio sonata, and this set is brought to a close with another folk dance, the Hanasky, which finishes Telemann’s E major Overture-Suite.
Vivaldi’s recently discovered flute concerto, Il Gran Mogol, thought to have been written for the visit of an Indian delegation to Venice, evokes the sultry heat of the Indian subcontinent, whilst Corelli’s intensely passionate depiction of frenzied madness takes a captivating Spanish traditional melody and adds highly imaginative variations over the famous Follia ground. This wild and flamboyant Hispanic character was captured by another Italian, Domenico Scarlatti, in his virtuosic harpsichord sonata in A major, composed for Maria Bárbara de Bragança, a Portuguese princess who became Queen of Spain.
The earliest Europeans to land on the Canary Islands were astonished to discover a civilisation rooted in the stone age. Their customs may have seemed primitive, yet their vibrant and rhythmically complex music, replete with striking syncopations and sesquialtera (changes of time signature) held a magnetic appeal for guitarists such as Gaspar Sanz and Santiago de Murcia.
Finally we round off our folk-inspired programme with music which to European ears sounded as if it had emanated from alien territory, the British Isles! Mattheson considered the English hornpipes so untamed and unpredictable, they ‘might have been composed by the court composers of the North or South Pole’. Immigrant musicians such as Nicola Matteis and later Handel embraced this earthy musical heritage but it was Henry Purcell who wrote the most inspired examples of this rustic dance. With the advent of widespread publishing, many Scottish tunes, which had hitherto always been passed on by aural tradition, became widely available to the general public and composers such as Barsanti, Geminiani and even Haydn and Beethoven cultivated the fashion of composing variations on these hauntingly beautiful and invigorating melodies.
France and the fascination for lands afar
Lully Marche pour la Ceremonie des Turcs from Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme
Rameau Contredanse en Rondeau from Les Boréades
Corrette Les Sauvages from Concerto Comique No.25 in G minor
Rameau Entrée de Polymnie from Les Boréades
Polish bagpipes and Barbaric Beauty
Telemann Concerto for Flute and strings in D major TWV 51:D2
Moderato; Allegro vivace; Largo; Vivace
Schmelzer Trio Sonata Der Polnische Sackpfeifer
Telemann Hanasky
Interval
Spices of the Orient, Spanish folly and curiosities from the Canaries
Vivaldi Flute Concerto in D minor Il Gran Mogol RV 431a
Allegro non molto; Larghetto; Allegro
Corelli Violin Sonata Op.5 No.12 in D minor La Follia
Scarlatti Keyboard Sonata in A major K.24, Presto
Murcia and Sanz Canarios
From the far-flung corners of the Earth - the British Isles
Matteis Ground after the Scotch Humour
Purcell Hornpipes from Ayres for the Theatre, ‘The Married Beau’
Scottish tunes medley
My Time! O ye muses
Miss Mary Gordon of Braid
Lochail’s away to France
Hon’ble Mrs Maules Reel
Handel at Home
"the most delicious music you could ask to hear, and the players give every indication of loving every note they play”.
(Robert Bigio, Pan, Journal of the British Flute Society)
Long before the advent of recording, music lovers savoured their favourite arias from Handel’s operas and oratorios in instrumental arrangements for domestic music making. Coupled with solo and trio sonatas, and the newly discovered Handel Flute Concerto, this programme forms the core of our repertoire.
Sample programme:
Concerto in G minor HWV287 for flute and strings
Violin Sonata in A major Op.1 No.3 HWV361
"Beneath the vine" from Solomon
Trio Sonata in G major Op.5 No.4 HWV399
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Trio Sonata in F major Op.2 No.4 HWV389
"Myself I shall adore" from Semele
"No, no, I'll take no less" from Semele
Trio Sonata in D major Op.5 No.2 HWV397
"Verdi prati" from Alcina
Bach’s greatest gift: the Musical Offering
London Handel Players unwrap the secrets of the puzzle canons, together with audience interaction, and perform the great trio sonata, which Bach offered to Frederick the Great as a summation of his Art. Contrasted with the galant style so popular with the next generation, Bach’s Musical Offering towers, like Everest, above all else, as a monumental achievement.
Sample programme:
CPE Bach Trio Sonata in C major Wq147
Frederick the Great Flute Sonata in C major
Benda Violin Sonata in E flat major
Quantz Flute Sonata in A major No.351
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J.S. Bach Musical Offering BWV1079 (complete)
Concerto Celebration
Virtuosic concertos for flute, violin and harpsichord, culminating in Bach’s Fifth Brandenburg Concerto. Repertoire may include solo concertos by Handel, CPE Bach, Quantz, Vivaldi, Leclair, and a beautiful double concerto for flute and violin by Telemann.
Sample programme:
Telemann Concerto for Flute and Violin in E minor
Handel Organ Concerto Op.4 No.2 in B flat major HWV290
CPE Bach Flute Concerto in D minor
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Leclair Violin Concerto Op.7 No. 4 in F major
JS Bach Brandenburg Concerto No.5 in D major BWV1050
Telemann and Friends
In 2017 we celebrate the composer Telemann 250 years after his death. Recordings of his Methodical Sonatas and Essercizii Musici are in the pipeline and for sumptuous programmes of Telemann quartets, London Handel Players are joined by the renowned artists, Argentinian gamba player, Juan Manuel Quintana and Austrian baroque oboist, Andreas Helm.
Sample programmes:
1. “The Godfather”
Telemann Paris Quartet No.3 in A major
CPE Bach Violin Sonata
JS Bach Organ Trio
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J.S. Bach Sonata for Flute and continuo in E major BWV1035
CPE Bach keyboard solo
Telemann Paris Quartet No.6 in E minor
2. “A German in Paris”
Telemann, Guignon, Forqueray, Blavet
Telemann Paris Quartet No.3 in A major
Blavet Flute Sonata
Guignon Violin Sonata
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Telemann Trio Sonata (from Essercizii Musici)
Forqueray solo harpsichord
Telemann Paris Quartet No.6 in E minor
3. Telemann and Handel
“Friends for life”
Telemann Trio Sonata (from Essercizii Musici)
Handel Trio Sonata Op.2 No.4 in F major HWV 389 for 2 violins and continuo
Telemann Violin Sonata (from Essercizii Musici)
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Telemann Recorder Sonata (from Essercizii Musici)
Handel Harpsichord Suite in E major 'The Harmonious Blacksmith' HWV 430
Handel arias from Semele and Alcina
4. Telemann and Handel
“Friends for life”
Telemann Quartet in G major
Handel Trio Sonata Op.5 No.5 in G minor HWV 400
Telemann Trio Sonata (from Essercizii Musici)
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Handel arias from Solomon, Semele and Alcina
Handel Harpsichord Suite in E major 'The Harmonious Blacksmith' HWV 430
Telemann Concerto a 4 in A minor
Dances fit for a King
In fascinating reconstructions of original choreographies to music by Lully, Rebel and Handel, celebrated dancers Mary Collins and Steve Player also join the London Handel Players in dancing to Bach’s B minor Suite. Our long-term collaboration and research will come to fruition in a book and DVD. Watch our introductory video…
Sample programme:
Anon La Bourgogne (choreography by Pécour)
Lully Overture, Sarabande and Gavotte from Atys LWV 53
Lully Sarabande from Les jeux pythiens LWV 42
Lully Passacaille from Persée LWV 60
Louis Couperin Harpsichord Suite in D major
Rebel Les Caractères de La Dance
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Handel Scipio HWV 20
Overture and March ('Queen Caroline', choreography by L'Abbé)
Corelli Violin Sonata Op.5 No.12 in D minor La Folia
Handel Passacaille from the Harpsichord Suite in G minor HWV 432
J.S. Bach Orchestral Suite No.2 in B minor BWV1067