Six Concertos For The Harpsicord Or Organ : These Six Concertos Were Publish'd By Mr. Walsh From My Own Copy Corrected By My Self, And To Him Only I Have Given My Right Therein. George Frideric Handel [Hwv 289-294] Handel, George Frideric 1685-1759 New Arrivals,Printed Music

Folio. Quarter calf with marbled boards in 18th century style, titling gilt to spine. 1f. (recto title, verso blank), [i] (blank), 2-18, [i] (blank), 20-48 pp. Engraved throughout. Manuscript ownership inscription to upper outer corner of title in pencil "Tho[ma]s C. Clarke Ipswich;" small bookseller's label to lower outer corner of front pastedown. Several minor contemporary manuscript markings to p. 7. Title slightly browned, inner margins slightly stained; small hole to inner margin of first two leaves; occasional minor soiling to corners and margins. Note-names in pencil in a later hand to pp. 31-32 and 41-42 to assist in reading the tenor clef. First Edition, later issue. Smith 7 (variant 2), pp. 225-26. Hoboken 5, 152. BUC p. 441. RISM H1212, HH1212. Handel composed his organ concertos for his own performance as interludes within oratorio concerts; those who heard Handel himself perform these pieces experienced an intimate connection to the composer's musical delivery and improvisational style. "The organ concerto was effectively Handel's own invention, allowing him to display his abilities in both performance and composition simultaneously, and most of his oratorio concerts included one or more from 1735 onwards. Six (one originally a harp concerto, delicately scored for muted strings and recorders) were collected and published by Walsh in 1738 as Handel's op.4. No.2 in B♠and no.3 in G minor, the earliest to be composed, draw on the op.2 trio sonatas for their material, and no.5 is simply an arrangement of a recorder sonata, but nos.1 in G minor and 4 in F are more expansive and original pieces." Anthony Hicks in Grove Music Online A lifetime edition of Handel's influential Op. 4 organ concertos.