Händel for Meditation

meditation_händel_Cov-book 15.11.2007 15:57 Uhr Seite 1

MUSIC AND MEDITATION Händel for Meditation

The origin of music is rooted in the aspirations of the human spirit; together with poetry and theatre, music began with 1. Air in G Minor 03:04 Händel for Meditation humanity’s earliest rituals. While much music reflects the more visceral and tribal aspects of this genesis there has 2. Concerto Grosso in C Minor, Op. 6, No. 8 - Allemande: Andante 07:39 always been music that aspires to the transcendent, and it is such music that has been brought together for this ‘Music 3. Concerto Grosso in C Minor, Op. 6, No. 8 - Siciliana: Andante 03:40 for Meditation’ series. 4. Harpsichord Suite No. 2 in F Major - Adagio 02:20 The meditative experience is one that comes naturally to us when we are fully at ease with the world, and fortunately it 5. Harpsichord Suite No. 2 in F Major - Adagio 01:25 is an experience that can be cultivated to help to bring our scattered energies together when the demands of daily life 6. Harpsichord Suite No. 3 in D Minor - Air 02:47 have taken their toll. Each of the world’s spiritual traditions includes practices towards this end: some use images or 7. Fireworks Music - La paix 03:41 ideas as a basis for reflection, but many use sounds such as prayers, mantras and of course music. 8. Concerto Grosso in B Flat Major, Op. 3, No.1 - Largo 04:42 9. Concerto Grosso in B Flat Major, Op. 3, No. 2 - Largo 02:43 One way of listening to the music on this CD is to begin by preparing yourself. First find somewhere to sit that will allow 10. Concerto Grosso in F Major, Op. 3, No. 4 - Andante 02:08 you to relax while continuing to stay alert. Then, as an orchestra tunes up before a performance, begin by tuning in to 11. Concerto Grosso in D Minor, Op. 6, No. 10 - Air: Lento 03:18 yourself: notice your weight in contact with your seat and the floor, feel the length and breadth of your back, and allow your belly to soften. Notice your feelings and thoughts – not judging them or getting tied up with them, simply taking 12. Concerto Grosso in B Minor, Op. 6, No. 12 - Largo 02:22 stock of your experience in a kind way. 13. Concerto Grosso in B Minor, Op. 6, No. 12 - Larghetto, e piano - Variatio 03:42 14. Oboe Concerto No. 3 in G Minor, HWV 287 - Grave 02:29 As the music plays, gently work at maintaining a sense of yourself as well as the music. Notice how your emotions, 15. Oboe Concerto No. 3 in G Minor, HWV 287 - Sarabande: Largo 03:02 thoughts and bodily sensations change as you listen. Whenever you find your mind has drifted away to another topic, 16. Organ Concerto in G Minor, Op. 4, No. 1 - Larghetto, e staccato 04:46 or you have lost track of either the music or yourself, you can gently bring your attention back to your body and to the 17. Organ Concerto in B Flat Major, Op. 4, No. 2 - Adagio e staccato 00:54 music. 18. Organ Concerto in B Flat Major, Op. 4, No. 6 - Larghetto 03:04 Listening to the music in this way your concentration will gradually deepen, and this experience of deep concentation 19. Organ Concerto in B Flat Major, Op. 4, No. 6 - Andante allegro 05:27 is both extremely pleasurable, and deeply satisfying. In fact it is through this kind of meditative practice that it is pos- 20. The Messiah - Overture 03:04 sible to completely transcend the painful sense of dislocation that we often experience between the world and ourselves. 21. The Messiah - Pastoral Symphony (Pifa) 03:05 The greatest music is both a communication from the upper levels of human consciousness and also a way of helping Total timing: 69:22 us to ascend to such levels ourselves. It is this experience which is reflected in the symbolism of Jacob’s Ladder, and I hope that the music in this collection will transport you from the cares of the everyday world up to the heavens. Dharmachari Jñanagarbha meditation_händel_Cov-book 15.11.2007 15:57 Uhr Seite 1

MUSIC AND MEDITATION Händel for Meditation

THE LIFE AND WORKS OF previous generation, Arcangelo Corelli. Here a group of soloists, the concertino, are contrasted with the full orchestra, ond concerto has a Largo for solo oboe, accompanied by strings and continuo with an active and divided cello part. GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL (1685-1759) the ripieno, in a structure that resembled that of the trio sonata, with the dynamic contrasts of the smaller form repro- The fourth concerto has an Andante scored for oboe and strings. duced by enlarging or reducing the number of players. The tenth of the Opus 6 Concerti Grossi, scored, like the rest of the set, for strings and continuo has an Air, marked There is an element of paradox about the career of George Frideric Handel. Born in Halle in 1685, the son of a dis- The twelve Concerti Grossi, Op.6, by Handel were published by Walsh in London in 1740. These works were scored Lento, in which a solo violin is contrasted with the rest of the ensemble. The twelfth concerto opens with a Largo and tinguished and elderly barber-surgeon by his second wife, he gave up other studies in order to become a musician, for strings and basso continuo and seem to have been conceived by the composer as a set designed for publication. includes an E major Larghetto e piano, followed by a variation. working first in Hamburg at the opera, as composer and harpsichordist. From there he moved to the source of all opera, The eighth of the set follows the pattern of the sonata da camera, the chamber sonata, with its sequence of dance move- Handel, who had apparently demonstrated skill as a boy on the oboe, made use of the instrument in various con- Italy, where he made a name for himself as a composer and performer. A meeting in Venice with Baron Kielmansegge ments. It opens with an Allemande, generally the first dance in such a set. The fifth movement is a Siciliana, a dance certi grossi. The third of a group of such works, generally known as Oboe Concertos opens with a slow movement, led him to Hanover as Kapellmeister and from there, almost immediately, to London, where he was invited to provide identified with shepherds and the pastoral in its gentle dotted rhythms. Here the concertino and ripieno groups are con- marked Grave, introduced by the strings and continuo and the wide leaps of the violin parts, before the entry of the music for the newly established Italian opera. It was, then, primarily as a composer of Italian opera that Handel made trasted. soloist. The concerto also includes a Sarabande, a triple metre dance form often used for slow movements. his early reputation in England. Distinguished as a keyboard player, and, in particular, as an organist, Handel wrote a quantity of music for the harp- The organ concerto, something of a novelty, featured in Handel's oratorio performances, where the music might be Xenophobia has always run strong in England, and while ready, in the interests of Protestantism, to accept a German sichord, most of it seemingly before 1720. He published his first book of eight Harpsichord Suites in that year, re- used during intervals, with Handel himself taking the solo part. In 1738 Walsh published a first set of six Organ king as successor to Queen Anne, the public was less whole-hearted in its support of foreign opera. Common sense using, in the process, some of his earlier works. A second book of eight Suites was published in 1733 by Walsh with- Concertos, Op.4. The first of the set opens with a movement marked Larghetto e staccato, scored for two oboes and found some objection to the artificiality of the form, supported by the strong existing literary and dramatic traditions of out the composer's consent, again drawing on Handel's earlier compositions. Suite No.2 generally follows the pattern strings, with contrast between the solo organ and the whole orchestra. The burden of the Adagio e staccato movement the country. It seemed that The Beggar’s Opera, a political parody of grand opera, in the satirical vein of Henry Fielding’s of the Italian sonata da chiesa, the church sonata, opening with an Adagio that resembles an aria in its right-hand orna- of the second concerto falls on the organ. The Larghetto movement of the sixth concerto is here followed by the open- novel Jonathan Wild, appealed to a much wider public than any foreign entertainment ever could. mented melody. The third movement in the Suite, another Adagio, provides a link to the concluding fugue. The D minor ing Andante allegro, in a work apparently originally scored for harp, two recorders and strings for its original perfor- Handel was deeply concerned in the business of Italian opera, and when rivalry of an opposing company and fick- Suite No.3, with its sequence of dance movements, includes an ornate Air. mance with the oratorio Alexander's Feast. The movement allows the organ to echo the orchestral opening, elaborat- le popular taste suggested the need for change, he turned instead to a form of music that seemed admirably suited to In 1749 Handel was commissioned to provide music for the Royal Fireworks in Green Park in London in celebration ing the material. London audiences. English oratorio provided what was essentially an Italianate operatic entertainment, at least as far of the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle that had ended the War of the Austrian Succession the previous year. The event itself Handel's Messiah, first heard in public in Dublin in 1742, remains one of the most familiar of Handel's works. In as the music was concerned. It had the advantage, however, of being in English, and the further attraction of an appeal, was a pyrotechnic disaster, the fireworks a disappointment while a pavilion, part of the structure erected for the display, its three parts, with texts based on the Bible and the Anglican Prayer Book Psalter, it provides a summary of Christian through its choice of subjects and texts, to Protestant religious proclivities. caught fire during the proceedings. Handel, however, had already been able to introduce his music to the public at the belief. The work starts with an Overture, in French style, its stately dotted rhythm opening capped by a fugal section. Although Handel’s oratorios were to fascinate generation after generation of English choral singers and exercise an pleasure gardens at Vauxhall, and while the original work had, at the King's insistence, been scored for some hundred The so-called Pastoral Symphony, in its siciliano rhythm, sets the pastoral scene, as shepherds, their characteristic pipe effect so overwhelming as to paralyse future English musical creativity, in their own time they suffered variable fortunes wind-players, Handel later rescored it, using strings and wind, playing it in this form towards the end of May in a per- reflected in Handel's title for the movement, Pifa, watch their flocks in the fields near Bethlehem. at the box-office. There were critics who found something unsuitable in the mixture of sacred and secular, and audi- formance in aid of Thomas Coram's Foundling Hospital, a charity that was later to gain from the oratorio Messiah. La Keith Anderson ences came and went as fashions changed from season to season. In the end, though, it was the creation of this new Paix, the third of the five movements, celebrates the peace itself. and peculiarly English artistic and religious compromise that ensured Handel’s lasting fame. The six Concerti Grossi that make up Opus 3 were published in London by Walsh in 1734 and were said by Sir John The age of Handel was an age of borrowing, arranging and adapting, and Handel himself was an adept at these prac- Hawkins to have been performed for the wedding celebrations of the Princess Royal and the Prince of Orange in that tices, reworking his own compositions and, on occasions, those of others. The moving Air in G minor is, in fact, year. They draw on German, Italian and French patterns, are varied in instrumentation and make use of earlier materi- a modern transcription by the English oboist Evelyn Rothwell, orchestrated by the oboist Anthony Camden. al. The first two concertos are both in B flat major. The slow movement of the first of these makes use of a solo group Handel was particularly adept in his treatment of the concerto grosso, a form that owed much to a composer of the of two flutes, oboe and violin, with accompaniment largely left to the basso continuo of harpsichord and cello. The sec- meditation_händel_Cov-book 15.11.2007 15:57 Uhr Seite 2

MUSIC AND MEDITATION Händel for Meditation

The origin of music is rooted in the aspirations of the human spirit; together with poetry and theatre, music began with 1. Air in G Minor 03:04 Händel for Meditation humanity’s earliest rituals. While much music reflects the more visceral and tribal aspects of this genesis there has 2. Concerto Grosso in C Minor, Op. 6, No. 8 - Allemande: Andante 07:39 always been music that aspires to the transcendent, and it is such music that has been brought together for this ‘Music 3. Concerto Grosso in C Minor, Op. 6, No. 8 - Siciliana: Andante 03:40 for Meditation’ series. 4. Harpsichord Suite No. 2 in F Major - Adagio 02:20 The meditative experience is one that comes naturally to us when we are fully at ease with the world, and fortunately it 5. Harpsichord Suite No. 2 in F Major - Adagio 01:25 is an experience that can be cultivated to help to bring our scattered energies together when the demands of daily life 6. Harpsichord Suite No. 3 in D Minor - Air 02:47 have taken their toll. Each of the world’s spiritual traditions includes practices towards this end: some use images or 7. Fireworks Music - La paix 03:41 ideas as a basis for reflection, but many use sounds such as prayers, mantras and of course music. 8. Concerto Grosso in B Flat Major, Op. 3, No.1 - Largo 04:42 9. Concerto Grosso in B Flat Major, Op. 3, No. 2 - Largo 02:43 One way of listening to the music on this CD is to begin by preparing yourself. First find somewhere to sit that will allow 10. Concerto Grosso in F Major, Op. 3, No. 4 - Andante 02:08 you to relax while continuing to stay alert. Then, as an orchestra tunes up before a performance, begin by tuning in to 11. Concerto Grosso in D Minor, Op. 6, No. 10 - Air: Lento 03:18 yourself: notice your weight in contact with your seat and the floor, feel the length and breadth of your back, and allow your belly to soften. Notice your feelings and thoughts – not judging them or getting tied up with them, simply taking 12. Concerto Grosso in B Minor, Op. 6, No. 12 - Largo 02:22 stock of your experience in a kind way. 13. Concerto Grosso in B Minor, Op. 6, No. 12 - Larghetto, e piano - Variatio 03:42 14. Oboe Concerto No. 3 in G Minor, HWV 287 - Grave 02:29 As the music plays, gently work at maintaining a sense of yourself as well as the music. Notice how your emotions, 15. Oboe Concerto No. 3 in G Minor, HWV 287 - Sarabande: Largo 03:02 thoughts and bodily sensations change as you listen. Whenever you find your mind has drifted away to another topic, 16. Organ Concerto in G Minor, Op. 4, No. 1 - Larghetto, e staccato 04:46 or you have lost track of either the music or yourself, you can gently bring your attention back to your body and to the 17. Organ Concerto in B Flat Major, Op. 4, No. 2 - Adagio e staccato 00:54 music. 18. Organ Concerto in B Flat Major, Op. 4, No. 6 - Larghetto 03:04 Listening to the music in this way your concentration will gradually deepen, and this experience of deep concentation 19. Organ Concerto in B Flat Major, Op. 4, No. 6 - Andante allegro 05:27 is both extremely pleasurable, and deeply satisfying. In fact it is through this kind of meditative practice that it is pos- 20. The Messiah - Overture 03:04 sible to completely transcend the painful sense of dislocation that we often experience between the world and ourselves. 21. The Messiah - Pastoral Symphony (Pifa) 03:05 The greatest music is both a communication from the upper levels of human consciousness and also a way of helping Total timing: 69:22 us to ascend to such levels ourselves. It is this experience which is reflected in the symbolism of Jacob’s Ladder, and I hope that the music in this collection will transport you from the cares of the everyday world up to the heavens. Dharmachari Jñanagarbha händel medi inlay innen 15.11.2007 16:03 Uhr Seite 1

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8.557653 8.570905 8.570906 Händel for Meditation 8.570907 1. Air in G Minor 2. Andante Op. 6, No. 8 - Allemande: Concerto Grosso in C Minor, 3. Andante Op. 6, No. 8 - Siciliana: Concerto Grosso in C Minor, 4.Major - Adagio Harpsichord Suite No. 2 in F 5.Major - Adagio Harpsichord Suite No. 2 in F 6. Minor - Air Harpsichord Suite No. 3 in D 7. - La paix Fireworks Music 8. 3, No.1 - Largo Op. in B Flat Major, Concerto Grosso 9. 3, No. 2 - Largo Op. in B Flat Major, Concerto Grosso 10. Op. 3, No. 4 - Andante Concerto Grosso in F Major, 11. Op. 6, No. 10 - Air: Lento Concerto Grosso in D Minor, 12. Op. 6, No. 12 - Largo Concerto Grosso in B Minor, 13. Op. 6, No. 12 - Larghetto, e piano - Variatio Concerto Grosso in B Minor, 14. HWV 287 - Grave Oboe Concerto No. 3 in G Minor, 15. HWV 287 - Sarabande: Largo Oboe Concerto No. 3 in G Minor, 16. Op. 4, No. 1 - Larghetto, e staccato Organ Concerto in G Minor, 17. Op. 4, No. 2 - Adagio e staccato Organ Concerto in B Flat Major, 18. Op. 4, No. 6 - Larghetto Organ Concerto in B Flat Major, 19. Op. 4, No. 6 - Andante allegro Organ Concerto in B Flat Major, 20. The Messiah - Overture 21. The Messiah - Pastoral Symphony (Pifa) for Meditation for

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