Soloists, Mixed choir,
Orchestra
SKU:
BA.BA10726-01
Oratorio in three
parts. Composed by
George Frideric Handel.
Edited by Michael
Pacholke. This edition:
Complete edition. Linen.
Complete edition, Score.
HWV 46. Baerenreiter
Verlag #BA10726-01.
Published by Baerenreiter
Verlag (BA.BA10726-01).
ISBN 9790006575596. 33
x 26 cm inches. Text
Language: Italian.
Preface: Pacholke,
Michael.
In the
brief half-year period
from August 14, 1736, to
January 27, 1737, Georg
Friedrich Handel achieved
an unprecedented level of
productivity in his opera
compositions, creating
three operas.
Additionally, in March
1737, he also composed a
largely new oratorio
titled â??Il trionfo del
Tempo e della
Verità â? (â??The
Triumph of Time and
Truthâ?) HWV 46b. The
libretto of this oratorio
closely corresponds to
that of the oratorio
â??La Bellezza ravveduta
nel trionfo del Tempo e
del Disingannoâ?
(â??Beauty Reconciled in
the Triumph of Time and
Enlightenmentâ?) HWV
46a written in 1707. With
â??La Bellezza
ravvedutaâ?, Handel
composed an allegorical
and particularly dramatic
oratorio right at the
beginning of his oratorio
compositions. In this
work, there is no chorus
inclined towards
reflection. Not only do
the four allegorical
figures, Bellezza
(Beauty), Piacere
(Pleasure), Tempo (Time),
and Disinganno
(Enlightenment), listen
to each other and react
to the ideas presented by
the others, but this
prevailing dramatic
principle of dispute is
also found in the
recitatives.
In
1737, when reworking the
oratorio material as
â??Il trionfo del Tempo
e della Verità â?,
Handel approached the
task pragmatically. He
needed a new non-dramatic
work to fulfill the
eveningâ??s program for
his audience at the
Covent Garden Theatre
during the fasting season
when theatrical
performances were
prohibited. Although he
had excellent Italian
vocal soloists, notorious
for their pronunciation
in Handelâ??s English
oratorios and who
naturally preferred
singing in Italian,
Handel found a solution.
It was evident to Handel
that, in response to the
ban on performances of
his Italian operas during
the fasting season of
1737, he should promptly
create a new oratorio in
the Italian language but
following the three-part
â??Englishâ? oratorio
form that he had
developed in
â??Estherâ? HWV 50b
in 1732. Unlike in Rome
in 1707, he had access to
a chorus in London in
1737, and the English
oratorio, with its
substantial choral
sections, a preference
for concert-like rather
than dramatic
composition, and frequent
inclusion of organ
concertos loosely related
to the narrative, was
already
established.
The
new volume of the HHA
includes the original
version of the 1737
premiere as well as all
the surviving early and
later versions (the
latter being exceptional
highlights) of individual
musical pieces from
â??Il trionfo del Tempo
e della
Verità â?.