George Frideric Handel was a contemporary of both J. S. Bach and Domenico Scarlatti, and these three together were among the most famous composers of the baroque era. Scarlatti remained in Italy, Spain, and Portugal, and became known primarily for his keyboard compositions, Bach remained in Germany and composed mostly church music, while fellow German Handel eventually emigrated to England, anglicized his name, and became the baroque equivalent of a rock star. Largo is Italian for slow. Seldom has slow sounded more stately and majestic than in Handel's Largo. Originally composed for the opera Xerxes (Serse) in 1738, some have come to associate it with funerals, though it is definitely not mournful, but rather sober, dignified, and deeply expressive. It is ironic that while baroque music is usually described as complex, ornamented, and more mechanical than the classical or romantic music which followed, this piece is rather simple and very expressive. It almost seems to belong in the romatic period, as though it had come from the pen of Beethoven or Brahms. This arrangement presents the piece simply, as Handel intended. The first trumpet carries the lead almost all the way through, though the second trumpet takes a handoff from time to time. Also notable is a long section played by just the four upper voices, creating a massive increase in sound with the dramatic reentry of the tuba for the last few phrases. LARGO, by G. F. Handel, arranged by Tom Kirkland for brass quintet consisting of two trumpets, F horn, trombone, and tuba, comes in a pdf file of 2813K, with a seven-page score, five two-page parts, and a license page, eighteen pages in all. Performance time is approximately 4:35. MIDI sound sample: entire piece. TRK10143AUS$3.95 BLANKET RECORDING POLICY FOR SHEET MUSIC Many of our sheet music licenses state that the purchaser does not have the right to record the work. We have modified our policy on this, and unless the license page states that you must obtain permission from a party other than www.tributek.com to record the work, we will allow a small number (less than 50) of copies of an audio or video recording of a live performance to be made and distributed and/or posted to a free web site for viewing/listening, so long as www.tributek.com, the composer, arranger, and lyricist are credited. IN THE DOWNLOADABLES BUSINESS OVER TEN YEARS! Visit our hard goods division at A customer commented: "This was a first for me: downloading a book instead of buying it in paper form. The cost of the book in this format was less than many firms charge for shipping an item. I had not a single glitch and I would buy another book in this format with no reservations. Tributek did a good job." Another customer commented: "I would like to compliment you on the ease of purchasing music on-line. I require the music for a wedding in a couple of weeks, and didn't want to wait for music to be sent in the mail. It was great to be able to hear the music and to know the length of the PDF file and performance time." Another customer writes: "I bought some choral music off your site. It's great. I hope we can do all of it in our church. I don't know how you can sell it so cheap. It's a great service you offer." NOTE: All www.tributek.com customers are given the opportunity to rate our service, value, and quality, and 98% of www.tributek.com customers who have ever returned satisfaction surveys rate their overall experience doing business with us as "excellent" (71%) or "good" (27%). You can't please all of the people all of the time, but we do try very hard. www.tributek.com - PO Box 8025 - Elburn IL 60119 USA Visit our hard goods division at www.tributek.biz Copyright (c)1999-2012 www.tributek.com All rights to all text, sounds, and graphics are reserved. Last update: 21 May 2012