[422] We cannot continue here the analysis of the other volumes of Orchestral Concertos. I satisfy myself with merely enumerating them: The _6 Concerti grossi con due violini e violoncello di concertino obligati e due altri violini viola e basso di concerto grosso, op. 3_, known under the name of Oboe Concertos (notwithstanding that the oboe does not play a very prominent _rôle_), were published in 1734, and seemed to have been performed at the Wedding of the Prince of Orange with the Princess Anne in 1733. But, as we are told, their composition was previous to this; for not only do we find in the third and the fifth the reproduction of fugues from the Clavier Pieces, but the fourth served in 1716 as the second overture to _Amadigi_, and the first movement of the fifth was played in 1722 in the opera _Ottone_. The form of these Concertos, even less set than with the preceding _Concerti Grossi_, varies from two to five movements, and their orchestration comprises, besides the strings, two oboes, to which are occasionally added two flutes, two bassoons, the organ and the clavecin. It is only exceptional that the oboe plays a solo part; more often it has to satisfy itself by reinforcing the violins. To this volume we must add a number of other concertos, which appeared at different times, and are brought together in Volume XXI of the Complete Works; especially the celebrated Concerto of _Alexander's Feast_, written in January, 1736, of which the style has the same massive breadth as the oratorio itself. And four little concertos, two of which are interesting by being youthful works, from 1703 to 1710, according to Chrysander. [423] Handel's Overtures were so much appreciated that the publisher Walsh issued a volume of them for the clavier(65 Overtures). A good specimen of these transcriptions is found in Volume XLVIII of the Complete Edition. [424] Both movements are rudimentary. [425] This device is often used by Handel to make the transition between the orchestra and the voice. [426] Scheibe, who was, with Mattheson, the greatest of German musical critics in Handel's time, states that the overture ought in its two first movements "to mark the chief character of the work"; and in the third movement "to prepare for the first scene of the piece" (_Krit. Musikus_, 1745). Scheibe himself composed in 1738 some _Sinfonie_ "which expressed to some extent the contents of the works" (_Polyeuctes, Mithridates_). [427] _Andante_, _larghetto_, _allegro_ (fugue).