The ''Cuckoo and the Nightingale'', HWV 295, is an organ concerto in four movements by

George Frideric Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music, Baroque composer well known for his opera#Baroque era, operas, oratorios, anthems, concerto grosso, concerti grossi, ...

. The second movement uses

bird song Bird vocalization includes both bird calls and bird songs. In non-technical use, bird songs are the bird sounds that are melodious to the human ear. In ornithology and birding, songs (relatively complex vocalizations) are distinguished by func ...

motifs corresponding to the birds of the title. The concerto premiered in London in 1739 as an interlude during the first performance of the composer's oratorio '' Israel in Egypt''. Handel was a gifted organist, and his organ concertos were a "draw" to his oratorios. Handel's organ playing supplied an element of virtuosity which was probably missing from the singing because his oratorios were written for less highly trained singers than the operas. We know that he would have improvised at the organ to some extent. As he got older and his eyesight deteriorated, the scores of his organ concertos contained more "ad libitum"

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s for the soloist to improvise.

Scoring

Handel wrote for a chamber organ without pedals and a small Baroque orchestra. As well as strings, the orchestra has oboes and a continuo section.

Publication

Handel had already published a set of organ concertos, Op. 4, which when it appeared in 1738 was the first ever collection of keyboard concertos. The same publisher, John Walsh, brought out "The Cuckoo and the Nightingale" in 1740 as part of a second set (which bears no opus number). Later editions include that of the

Händel-Gesellschaft Between 1858 and 1902, the Händel-Gesellschaft ("German Handel Society") produced a collected 105-volume edition of the List of compositions by George Frideric Handel, works of George Frideric Handel. Even though the collection was initiated by ...

, which published the concerto in 1894 as part of the composer's complete works.

Related work

Handel reworked some of the material, including the bird calls, as a concerto grosso (No. 9, HWV 327) which Walsh published as one of a set of twelve.

Discography

The ''Cuckoo and the Nightingale'' is one of Handel's better known organ concertos and has often been recorded. Among the organists who have recorded it are: * Marie-Claire Alain with the Jean-François Paillard Chamber Orchestra * George Malcolm with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields (1976) * Simon Preston with the

English Concert The English Concert is a baroque orchestra playing on period instruments based in London. Founded in 1972 and directed from the harpsichord by Trevor Pinnock for 30 years, it is now directed by harpsichordist Harry Bicket. Nadja Zwiener has ...

(1984) * Richard Egarr with the

Academy of Ancient Music The Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) is a British period-instrument orchestra based in Cambridge, England. Founded by harpsichordist Christopher Hogwood in 1973, it was named after an 18th-century organisation of the same name (originally the A ...

(included as an extra item in a 2009 recording of Handel's organ concertos, Op. 7)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuckoo and the Nightingale 1739 compositions Compositions in F major Organ concertos by George Frideric Handel Music about cuckoos Music about nightingales