The significant rediscovery of a missing cantata by George Frideric Händel is now available in a printed edition published by Bärenreiter, as well as on CD! Ton Koopman had this cantata in his private library for a number of years and it was identified by the American musicologist John H. Roberts as a different early version of the cantata “Tu fedel? tu costante?”, HWV 171. Only the first aria is identical, whilst the three remaining arias contain entirely new music. HWV 171a, as the rediscovered cantata will be known, also differs from the later version in that it requires an oboe in addition to two violins and basso continuo.
This early version has now been published by Bärenreiter in the supplementary volume “Kantaten mit Instrumenten” (BA 10716) as Volume V/5a of the “Halle Handel Edition”. In September the first recording of “Tu fedel? tu costante?”, HWV 171a, has been released on Challenge Classics, conducted by Ton Koopman.