Instrumentation:

harpsichord, organ, or clavichord

The Dutch composer Quirinus van Blankenburg (1654–1739), from 1702 onwards organist of the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) of The Hague, tells in his treatise Elementa musica (1739; The elements of music [text in Dutch]) how he composed a fugue on a certain theme given to him in 1725. To his surprise he found out later that the same theme was used by Handel in the last of his Six fugues published in 1735, so that Blankenburg accused Handel of plagiarism. However, since Handel’s fugue probably was composed already around 1720, it seems unlikely that the theme originated from Blankenburg; rather the reverse. In any case, juxtaposition of the two pieces leads to an interesting comparison of Handel’s more organ-oriented German and Blankenburg’s more harpsichord-oriented French style.

1985

ISBN n/a (paper)

1 score (12 pp.)

21 x 30 cm

€7.50 or US$7.50