Trio, g moll (HWV 386a)

Although Georg Friedrich Händel was said to be one of the finest keyboard players of his time, he was not a professional organist. He did not hold a church position, nor did he leave much published organ music. There are of course the organ concerti, but he did not write any large scale chorale prelude, or any of the free works Bach was famous for.

However, some of his chamber music lends itself very well to being transcribed for the organ. The Trio presented here today can be found in manuscript Mus.ms. 30377, owned by the Staatsbibliothek Berlin - PK. It is not known who the scribe of this manuscript was. But whoever he was, he delivered a fine transcription of one of the slow parts of Händel’s oboe sonata, HWV 386a.

As it was originally one of the slow movements of this sonata the pedal part moves in slow quarter notes, interspersed with a few eighth notes. Perfect to try and play with my left knee fixed in a brace. Some of the movements I had to do with my left leg were a bit painful, yet it was doable and the joy of playing the organ with two hands and two feets again far outweighs the physical discomfort.

Score available here: http://partitura.org/index.php/georg-friedrich-handel-trio-g-moll-hwv-366a/