Overview
Introduction
The Handel organ concertos Op 4, HWV 289–294, refer to the six organ concertos for chamber organ and orchestra composed by George Frideric Handel in London between 1735 and 1736 and published in 1738 by the printing company of John Walsh. Written as interludes in performances of oratorios in Covent Garden, they were the first works of their kind for this combination of instruments and served as a model for later composers.
Quotations
My sister gave you an account of Mr. Handel's playing here for three hours together: I did wish for you, for no entertainment in music could exceed it, except his playing on the organ in Esther, where he performs a part in two concertos, that are the finest thing that I ever heard in my life.
— Mrs. Pendarves, 15 March 1735
When Handel first came to Italy ... he became known to Domenico Scarlatti. As he was an exquisite player on the harpsichord, the Cardinal [Ottoboni] was determined to bring him and Handel together for a trial of skill ... It has been said that some gave the preference to Scarlatti. However, when they came to the Organ there was not the least pretence for doubting to which of them it belonged ... Handel had an uncommon brilliancy and command of finger; but what distinguished him from all other players who possessed these same qualities, was that amazing fullness, force and energy, which he joined with them. And this observation may be applied with as much justice to his compositions as to his playing.
— John Mainwaring, Memoirs of the Life of the late G. F. Handel, 1760
Handel's six organ concertos were published in 1738 by John Walsh as the composer's Opus 4. The four concertos HWV 290-293 had been written to be played in the intervals of performances of his oratorios Esther, Deborah and Athalia in March and April 1735 in the newly opened theatre of John Rich in Covent Garden; the other two concertos HWV 289 and 294 served the same purpose in February and March of the following year for performances at the same venue of Alexander's Feast HWV 75, Handel's setting of John Dryden's ode.
