G.F. Handel – Musick for The Royal Fireworks: August Wenzinger, Schola Cantorum (1962) 24-bit/96kHz Vinyl Rip

The Music for the Royal Fireworks (HWV 351) is a wind band suite composed by George Frideric Handel in 1749 under contract of George II of Great Britain for the fireworks in London's Green Park on 27 April 1749. It was to celebrate the end of the War of the Austrian Succession and the signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. The performing musicians were in a specially-constructed building that had been designed by Servandoni, a theatre designer. The music provided a background for the royal fireworks that were designed by Thomas Desguliers, son of the cleric and scientist John Theophilus Desaguliers. However, the display was not as successful as the music itself: the enormous wooden building caught fire after the collapse of a bas relief of George II. However, the music had been performed publicly six days earlier, on 21 April 1749 when there was a full rehearsal of the music at Vauxhall Gardens. Over twelve thousand people, each paying 2/6, rushed for it, causing a three-hour traffic jam of carriages after the main route to the area south of the river was closed due to the collapse of the central arch of newly-built London Bridge. When published, Handel wished to present the work as an overture, but the Crown had it given the title "Music for the Royal Fireworks" as propaganda in favour of an otherwise unpopular Treaty and monarch. Wikipedia.

The issue of the present recording not only represents a first formal reconstruction of the orchestral concertos Nos. 28 and 19 “a due cori”, but also justifies the making of a stereophonic recording of these works by Handel, and gives splendid proof of the artistry of the master’s instrumentation. This is made manifest, to instance only one example, in the aural perspectives provided by the placing of the groups of wind instruments on either side, corresponding to the strings facing them. In addition especial care was taken, when making this recording, to ensure that the orchestral sound of the “Musick for the Royal Fireworks”, composed, by order of the King, for “warlike instruments”, should be – probably for the first time since the original performance in Green Park – the same as on that occasion (original distribution: 9 trumpets, 3 timpani, 9 horns, 24 oboes, 12 bassoons, 1 double bassoon). To attain this end all the instruments used were reconstructions of 18th century wind instruments. Dr. Hans Hickmann – from the sleeve notes.

Bläservereinigung der Archiv Produktion, Dir. August Wenzinger:
Musick for the Royal Fireworks:

1. Ouvertüre (Lentement) - Allegro (La Guerra)
2. Bourée
3. Largo alla Siciliana (La Paix)
4. Allegro (La Réjouissance)
5. Minuets I/II

Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Dir. August Wenzinger:
Concerti a due Cori Nr. 2:

6. Pomposo
7. Allegro
8. A tempo giusto
9. Largo
10. Allegro ma non troppo
11. A tempo ordinario

Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Dir. August Wenzinger:
Concerti a due Cori Nr. 3:

12. Ouvertüre
13. Allegro-Adagio
14. Allegro ma non troppo
15. Adagio
16. Andante larghetto
17. Allegro

Recorded at Rudolf-Oetker-Halle, Bielefeld, Germany
27th February and 3rd March 1962
Producer: Dr. Hans Hickmann
Technical Supervisor: Harald Baudis