Kantaten mit Instrumenten, III: HWV 150, 165, 166, 170, 171, 173 (review)

Georg Friedrich Händel. Kantaten mit Instrumenten, III: HWV 150, 165, 166, 170, 171, 173. Hrsg. von Hans Joachim Marx. (Hallische Händel-Ausgabe, Ser. V: Kleinere Gesangswerke, Bd. 5.) Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1999. [Editorial policy, pref., in Ger., Eng., p. vii-xviii; facsims., p. xix- xxii; texts and trans., p. xxiii-xxviii; score, 105 p.; index of first lines, p. 106; Krit. Bericht (Kantaten mit Instrumenten I-III), p. 107-200. Cloth. ISMN M-006-49568-9; BA 4060. DM 285.]

With the publication of this volume, the Hallische Händel-Ausgabe (HHA) completes its three-volume edition of "cantatas with instruments" by George Frideric Handel. Among his least-known works, the cantatas form the backbone of Handel's compositional activity during his years in Italy and first years in London (1706-11). Handel, like his Italian contemporaries, wrote the majority of his cantatas for solo voice with continuo accompaniment, but these works, approximately seventy in number, have yet to appear in the HHA. The "cantatas with instruments" comprise the twenty-eight works for one or more voices with instrumental scoring added to the continuo, ranging from a single violin or flute to a full string ensemble with various wind instruments, including oboe, flute, bassoon, and trumpet.

The category "cantatas with instruments" covers a broad spectrum of works. Those with just two arias (and preceding or only connecting recitative) and one or two obbligato instruments are quite similar to the continuo cantatas, where, typically, a nameless shepherd (or shepherdess) sings of love: Nel dolce dell'oblio for soprano, flute, and continuo offers one example. By contrast, the longer works with larger instrumental forces generally use specific characters and present stories that approach the dimensions of chamber opera. Examples include the pastoral drama Cor fedele for three singers and the particularly fine Apollo e Dafne.

The distinction between continuo and instrumental cantatas in Handel studies dates at least from the nineteenth-century Händelgesellschaft edition (HG) by Friedrich Chrysander, and the HHA follows Chrysander's precedent in this and other matters of content. Like Chrysander's edition (Cantate con strumenti, 2 vols., Werke, 52 [Leipzig: für die Deutsche Händelgesellschaft, 1888-89; various reprints]), the three-volume HHA edition presents the cantatas in alphabetical order. I wonder whether any other arrangement was considered, especially given the planned space of three volumes. For example, a more useful ordering for performers might have been based on performing forces, moving successively from cantatas for solo voice through two- and three-voice works to the five-voice Echeggiate, festeggiate. Such a categorization would parallel the typical distinctions used for instrumental works and help clarify the rich diversity of performing forces contained in these volumes; the HHA has generally adopted such classifications for Handel's instrumental music published in series 4. Without such a grouping, at least an indication of instrumental scoring, number of voices, and vocal ranges on the contents page would have been helpful. As the three-volume edition now stands, the uninitiated user can only determine this information by examining the score of each individual cantata.

The decision not to include Handel's Aci, Galatea e Polifemo among the instrumental cantatas may also show Chrysander's influence. Chrysander, however, only moved this work to the following volume (Cantate con instrumenti, vols. 52 A/B; the Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, vol. 53), whereas the HHA edition took the separation a step further by issuing Aci, Galatea e Polifemo in series 1 (oratorios and larger cantatas) rather than series 5 (small vocal works). Yet Aci arises from the same context of private patronage as do the instrumental cantatas, and the cantata Cuopre tal volta, included in the first volume of instrumental cantatas, was probably written for the same bass who performed the role of Polifemo. Moreover, Aci closely parallels Cor fedele in length and Apollo e Dafne in dramatic content. Thus, there is no obvious reason for considering Aci a "larger cantata...