Concerto Grosso No. 5 in D Major

Handel launches the fifth of his Op. 6 concertos with two movements—the first stately in character and stamped with snappy rhythms, the second a lively exchange of contrapuntal orchestral and solo lines—that together form a French overture. They were lifted from the “Overture” to his recent Ode for St Cecilia’s Day, which also served as the source of the concerto’s sixth and final movement, a flowing minuet for strings. The composer knew how hungry British audiences were for the concerti grossi of Corelli and Geminiani and was determined that his new works should exceed their creative scope and box-office appeal. He hit the bull's-eye with Op. 6 No. 5, matching the quality of its opening and closing movements with music freshly written for the three intervening movements. The fifth movement, a vivacious “Allegro”, opens with music borrowed from one of Domenico Scarlatti’s Essercizi per Gravicembalo, published in London just eight months before Handel composed his concerto. About Handel's Concerti Grossi Handel’s Concerti Grossi Op. 6, composed in the fall of 1739 for performance during the intervals of his forthcoming London theatre season, packs a dazzling variety of musical styles into the individual movements of a dozen works for string orchestra, with or without solo violins and continuo. The set’s title translates as “Grand Concertos”, which is how they were first billed in print. Handel became captivated by the concerto grosso in 1707 soon after his arrival in Rome, where it had been popularised by Arcangelo Corelli. His Op. 6 collection raises Corelli’s multi-movement form to perfection, exploiting the dramatic and tonal contrasts between solo or concertino and orchestral or ripieno groups with compelling ingenuity and panache.