Van Diemen’s Band

Van Diemen’s Band & Martin Gester – Handel: 6 Concerti grossi, Op. 3 (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:01:58 minutes | 1,16 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BIS

What we know as “Handel’s Opus 3” is most likely little more than a brazen attempt by the London publisher John Walsh to make some quick money. In 1715, Walsh had issued a pirated edition of Corelli’s 12 Concerti grossi, Op. 6 which proved an instant success and left him constantly looking for similar opportunities. Almost 20 years later, perhaps in the knowledge that the royal protection granted to Handel’s musical output was about to expire, Walsh assembled a set of six orchestral pieces for a wide range of instruments. He prefaced them with a wholly misleading title-page – based on Corelli’s style-defining collection – and advertised them as Handel’s “Opera Terza”.

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