Output details

Acis and Galatea, HWV 49a : Original Cannons Performing Version (1718)

This paired output represents Handel’s complete surviving English dramatic music from his period of association with James Brydges (Duke of Chandos). The aim was to present for the first time both works in their earliest available forms, using the instrumentation and size of forces evident in the surviving documentation. In consultation with the relevant Handel scholars, such as Graydon Beeks, Anthony Hicks, Donald Burrows and John Roberts, I prepared performing editions of both works, substantially correcting, modifying or replacing the existing authoritative Bärenreiter editions (that for Esther has subsequently been issued as a new performing edition by the Early Music Company). This involved a reevaluation of the original autograph sources and also close examination of the scores of both works owned by the Earl of Malmesbury (which was poorly undertaken, if at all, in earlier editions). Both vocal and instrumental complements were tailored directly to the size of forces detailed in the Cannons accounts (as researched by Beeks). Both works were rehearsed, performed and recorded according to the trajectory inferred from the new consideration of the sources (layout of acts, scene changes, segues and tempo relationships etc.). The recordings facilitate new ways of experiencing and understanding both works in their early versions: Acis as a two-part drama based on extensive tableaus that encourage us to participate in a sort of ‘pastoral time’ that is increasingly punctuated by both comedy and tragedy; Esther as a remarkable progress from the sound world and static temporarily of Acis, to realist drama in its second act, and, finally, to the fully-fledged triumphal oratorio in its final act.