Suites de Pièces, HWV 434-442

Historical context

George Frideric Handel composed his ‘Suite de Pièces pour le Clavecin’ at Cannons, primarily as lessons for his royal pupils. A pirated edition of these lessons compelled him to publish an authoritative edition, to which he added several new pieces to make the work more useful, as a book notes. This collection, Handel’s Second Set of Nine Lessons, was published by Walsh in 1733. It was generally planned on a less elaborate scale than the first set, but included the famous Chaconne with sixty-two Variations, according to the book. Separately, five sets of lessons for the harpsichord, including four by Handel, were ‘Neatly printed in Amsterdam’ by Gerard Frederik Witvogel and imported by Benjamin Cooke, as reported in the Daily Journal on 19th January 1733 and a book. These were sometimes called the Third Collection of Handel’s Suites.

The air and variations from the fifth suite of these pieces became known as ‘The Harmonious Blacksmith’, a book states. However, the popular legend of Handel composing this piece after seeking refuge in a blacksmith’s shop during a thunderstorm is false. The piece acquired this name around 1820, over sixty years after Handel’s death, and the legend itself emerged in 1835, as a book clarifies. The title originated from William Lintern, an amateur musician and blacksmith’s apprentice, whose friends nicknamed him after his favorite piece of music, and the title was first published under that name around 1822, according to a book. Walsh later added the “Six Fugues or Voluntarys for the Organ or Harpsichord. Troisieme Ovarage” and a “Fourth Book” of Lessons, which consisted of short movements arranged for the harpsichord by an unauthorized person, as the book notes.

Drawn from Flower, Newman, Sir, 1879-1964; Smith, William Charles, George Frideric Handel, his personality and his times (1948); Deutsch, Otto Erich, 1883-1967, Handel, a documentary biography (1955); Rockstro, W. S. (William Smyth), 1823-1895, The life of George Frederick Handel (1883) — public domain, archive.org.