Musicians of the Old Post Road presents Taking Inspiration, the final concert of its 2021-22 subscription series, “Reimagining, Rediscovering!” Join the ensemble on Saturday, April 30 at 7:30 pm EDT at Harvard-Epworth Church in Cambridge and online via livestream to discover the exciting ways in which Handel reimagined music by his contemporaries in his own compositions. As the saying goes, “Imitation is the greatest form of flattery.” Whether subliminal or intentional, Handel’s borrowing of musical ideas from works by Corelli, Telemann, Rameau, Kaiser, and Scarlatti is on display in his concertos, overtures, and sonatas on this program. The ensemble will pair each work by Handel with the chamber work that served as its muse.
Listeners will hear the origins of the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah in a fugue by Corelli. Also featured is a Telemann concerto for three violins that sparked Handel’s lovely and lively Adagio and Allegro for flute and strings, HWV 338; and one of Rameau’s Pièces de Clavecin en Concerts for harpsichord, flute, and violin, which Handel reimagines in his overture to Joseph and his Brethren.
These musical confluences will be brought to life on historical instruments by flutists Suzanne Stumpf and Vincent Canciello, violinists Sarah Darling and Jesse Irons, violist Marcia Cassidy, and cellist Daniel Ryan. They will be joined by guest harpsichordist Andrus Madsen.