Da Camera 41: music for clocks adapted for recorder

G.F. Händel wrote music for clocks, as Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven also went on to do. For the most part, these are adaptations of their own work: instrumental music and opera arias. In his catalogue of compositions there are two groups of pieces for clocks or, more specifically, for the mechanical organ; they are HWV 587-597 and HWV 598-604. The piece titled A Voluntary or a Flight of Angels, which is perhaps the only original piece, corresponds with the two groups as HWV 588 and HWV 600. HWV 473 stands alone in the catalogue as a piece for Music Clock.

These small works are usually performed on the organ, but they are also very suited to being played on the recorder due to there being a timbric similarity. We present them in two groups: the first, for one or two soprano recorders; and the second, for sopranino and contralto recorders or, if preferred, for contralto and tenor. Minor adjustments have been made to adapt them to the tessitura of the recorders. The ornaments have been respected and some legatos have been added.