Variation Searching for a Theme

Composer Notes... Secret information:- Legend has it that Handel heard a blacksmith whistling, while working at his smithy at Whitchurch. This was close to the Duke of Chandos’s grand house “Cannons”, where Handel was resident composer. He made the tune into a set of Variations and it was later given the name “The Harmonius Blacksmith”. The program note should not mention this, nor the fact that a theme by Handel appears at the end of the composition. It’s meant as a surprise. (2004 for George Gregory).