Concerto Grosso No. 6 in D Major, Op. 3

Composer: HANDEL, George Frideric

Main page for the pirated pastiche known as Handel’s “Op. 3”

  • The fact that this concerto was pirated might explain the unusual two-movement structure.
  • The second movement of this concerto is material from the overture to Il pastor fido, a pastoral opera which Handel wrote in the 1730s and which was a commercial flop.
  • The prominent organ solo part in Mvt. 2 presages an invention of Handel’s, the organ concerto. From 1735 onward, Handel, an organ virtuoso, began to include organ concertos in his oratorio concerts, to display his prowess as an organist.1

Sources

  1. Anthony Hicks, “Handel [Händel, Hendel], George Frideric,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed October 18, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000040060.

Cut IDs

42529