Editions of Handel's Music

HG: G.F. Händel's Werke: Ausgabe der Deutschen Händelgesellschaft (German Handel Society), ed. Friedrich W. Chrysander and Max Seiffert)

Between 1858 and 1901, Friedrich Chrysander embarked on his own complete edition of Handel's works under the auspices of the German Handel Society. Over a period of 45 years he and his successor, Max Seiffert, managed to publish a complete edition that ran to over 100 volumes. Early on, the publisher dropped out, and Chrysander published the volumes himself setting up an engraving shop in his home in Bergedorf, Germany near Hamburg, and when money was short, he sold fruits and vegetables he raised in his garden. Chrysander's edition was reprinted after WW II by Gregg press in England, and until a few years ago was available from E. F. Kalmus (Belwyn Mills). The quality of Chrysander's edition is variable, but one hastens to add that his achievement was stupendous.

The Chrysander scores are no longer generally available from Kalmus, but a complete edition is available on microfiche from University Music Editions.

NOTE: Includes Handel-L listserve information from Howard Serwer, University of Maryland, College Park

HHA: Hallische Händel-Ausgabe (Halle Handel Edition) im Auftrage der Georg-Friedrich-Händel Gesellschaft, ed. M. Schneider, R. Steglich, et al.

"In 1955, the Georg-Friedrich-Händel-Gesellschaft, based in what was then the German Democratic Republic (DDR) began to produce volumes of what was supposed to be a practical edition: The Hallische-Händel-Ausgabe (HHA). The first ones were badly received, and the HHA revised its editorial standards to conform to those of the new editions of the works of Bach and Mozart. The HHA is available through Baerenreiter Verlag of Kassel and through Baerenreiter's American agents."

Initially, the HHA was intended only as a supplement to the HG. In 1958, it was transformed into a full critical edition.

NOTE: Includes Handel-L listserve information from Howard Serwer, University of Maryland, College Park

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Catalogs of Handel's Music

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HWV: Verzeichnis der Werke Georg Friedrich Händel by Bernd Baselt (as set out in Eisen and Eisen, "Händel-Handbuch", i-iii).

"The Händel-Handbuch refers to the thematic catalogue of Handel's works published in three volumes from 1978 to 1986. The work of the late Bernd Baselt of the Martin Luther University of Halle (Saale) in Germany, it is a classified list of every piece of music Handel is known to have written (and includes a few concerning which there is some doubt). The catalogue includes the first few bars of each piece and large amounts of factual information (manuscript sources, early prints, etc.) concerning each. These volumes serve Handel scholarship in the same way that the Koechel Catalogue serves Mozart scholarship."

NOTE: Includes Handel-L listserve information from Howard Serwer, University of Maryland, College Park

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