The Secret Händel (Works for Clavichord)

00:00 Suite III in D minor, HWV 428 (version by Gottlieb Muffat, 1690-1770):
Prélude (Presto) - Allegro - Allemande - Courante - Air (with variations) - Presto*
26:20 Aria & variations in G major, HWV 430/4a*
31:23 Fugue in C minor, HWV 610*
35:23 Suite for two keyboards in C minor, HWV 446: Allemande - Courante - Sarabande - Chaconne (Derek Adlam, clavichord II; 1982 copy of Hass, 1763)*
48:15 Three minuets in A major (HWV 545, 547, 546)+
51:33 Air in F major (Water Music), HWV464+
53:12 Bourrée & Hornpipe in F major (Water Music), HWV deest+
55:01 Aria & variations in B flat major (Johann Philipp Krieger, 1649-1725)+
1:06:10 Air in B flat major, HWV 469+
1:08:15 Concerto in G major, HWV 487#
1:09:48 Air (Lentement), HWV 467#
1:12:12 Andante in G major, HWV 487#
1:13:59 Allemande in B minor, HWV 479+
1:17:59 Courante in B minor, HWV 489+
1:19:49 Sarabande in B minor (Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, 1663-1712)+
1:21:24 Gigue in B minor (Zachow)+
1:23:13 Chorale ¨Jesu meine Freude¨, HWV 480+
1:24:57 Chaconne in G major, HWV 435*

Christopher Hogwood,
* Johann Albrecht Hass clavichord, Hamburg 1761
+ Johann Jacob Bodechtel clavichord, Nüremberg c1790
Johann Heinrich Gräbner clavichord, Dresden 1761

Recorded in Potton Hall, Suffolk in August 2002

Handel's attraction to the clavichord is well documented in 18th-century sources; the first biography of Handel (and in fact the first biography of any composer) written by John Mainwaring begins with a description of his famous obstinacy and his first clavichord:

“From his very childhood HANDEL had discovered such a strong propensity to Music, that his father, who always intended him for the study of the Civil Law, had reason to be alarmed. Perceiving that this inclination still increased, he took every method to oppose it. He strictly forbad him to meddle with any musical instrument; nothing of that kind was suffered to remain in the house, nor was he ever permitted to go to any other, where such kind of furniture was in use. All this caution and art, instead of restraining, did but augment his passion. He had found means to get a little clavichord privately convey'd to a room at the top of the house. To this room he constantly stole when the family was asleep. He had made some progress before Music had been prohibited, and by his assiduous practice at the hours of rest, had made such farther advances, as, tho not attended to at that time, were no slight prognostications of his future greatness”. (Memoirs of the Life of the Late George Frederic Handel, 1760, pp. 4-6). Although this story was later embellished, it stemmed from conversations with Handel's assistant, J C Smith, who presumably had it from the composer himself.

Information on what music the young Handel performed comes from another 18th-century source; William Coxe in 1799 described a manuscript keyboard book from Handel's early schooling with Zachow: “it contains various airs, choruses, capricios, fugues, and other pieces of music, with the names of contemporary musicians, such as Zackau, Alberti, Frobergher, Krieger, Kerl, Ebner, Strunch. They were probably exercises adopted at pleasure, or dictated for him to work upon, by his master, The composition is uncommonly scientific, and contains the seeds of many of his subsequent performances”. (Anecdotes of George Frederick Handel and John Christopher Smith (London, 1799), p. 6n. Although this keyboard book was lost in the 19th century, both Zachow and Krieger are represented on this recording with musical ideas that Handel later “borrowed” and which could well stem from items included in that manuscript.

One of Handel's closest friends, Bernard Granville, made a note on Krieger's Anmuthige Clavier-Übung: “The printed book is by one of the celebrated organ players of Germany; Mr Handel in his youth formed himself a good deal on his plan, and said that Krieger was one of the best writers of his time for the organ, and, to form a good player, but the Clavichord must be made use of by a beginner, instead of Organ or Harpsichord”. (British Library Dept. of MSS; P.R.2.D.15. (7))