Georg Friedrich Händel (1685 - 1759) was a German,
later British, baroque composer who spent the bulk of
his career in London, becoming well known for his
operas, oratorios, anthems, and organ concertos. Handel
received important training in Halle and worked as a
composer in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London
in 1712; he became a naturalised British subject in
1727. He was strongly influenced both by the great
composers of the Italian Baroque and by the
middle-German polyphonic choral ...(+)
Georg Friedrich Händel (1685 - 1759) was a German,
later British, baroque composer who spent the bulk of
his career in London, becoming well known for his
operas, oratorios, anthems, and organ concertos. Handel
received important training in Halle and worked as a
composer in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London
in 1712; he became a naturalised British subject in
1727. He was strongly influenced both by the great
composers of the Italian Baroque and by the
middle-German polyphonic choral tradition.
Many composers have written coronation anthems which is
a piece of choral music written to accompany the
coronation of a monarch. However the best known were
composed by George Frideric Handel. Handel's four
coronation anthems use text from the King James Bible
and were designed to be played at the coronation of the
British monarch. They are Zadok the Priest, Let Thy
Hand Be Strengthened, The King Shall Rejoice, and My
Heart Is Inditing. Each was originally a separate work
but they were later published together.
Although part of the traditional content of British
coronations, the texts for all four anthems were picked
by Handel—a personal selection from the most
accessible account of an earlier coronation, that of
James II of England in 1685. One of George I of Great
Britain's last acts before his death in 1727 was to
sign an "Act of naturalisation of George Frideric
Händel and others". His first commission from Handel
as a newly naturalised British subject was to write the
music for the coronation of George II of England and
Queen Caroline which took place on 11 October the same
year. Within the coronation ceremonies Let thy hand be
strengthened was played first, then Zadok, then The
King shall rejoice, and finally My heart is inditing at
the coronation of the Queen. (In modern coronations the
order is Zadok, Let thy hand be strengthened, The King
shall rejoice and My heart is inditing, with the order
of Let thy hand be strengthened and The King shall
rejoice sometimes reversed.)
Deborah (HWV 51) is an oratorio by George Frideric
Handel. It was one of Handel's early oratorios in
English and was based on a libretto by Samuel
Humphreys. It received its premiere performance at the
King's Theatre in London on 17 March 1733.
The story of the oratorio takes place in a single day
and is based on the Biblical stories found in 4 and 5
Judges. The Israelites have been subjugated for 20
years by the Canaanites, when the prophetess Deborah
foretells the death of the Canaanite commander Sisera
at the hands of a woman. The Israelite commander Barak
leads them into battle against the Canaanites. The
Israelites are victorious and a woman, Jael,
assassinates Sisera as he sleeps in her tent.
By 1733, Handel had spent nearly twenty years composing
and presenting seasons of Italian opera in London. The
great success of Esther the previous year had shown
Handel that there was potential for further works of
"Sacred Drama", performed in concert form in English.
Deborah reuses much music Handel had previously
composed, including passages from the Brockes Passion,
Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno, the Dixit
Dominus, and others. Deborah was performed as part of
Handel's season at the King's Theatre in 1733, with the
stars of the Italian opera singing in English, and the
composer / impresario was so confident of the work's
success that he doubled the price of admission for the
first performance, causing some resentment and comment
in the press. A feature of the work is massive
choruses, some in eight parts rather than the usual
four, and grandiose orchestral effects featuring
trumpets and drums. One witness to the first
performances noted "It is very magnificent, near a
hundred performers, among whom about twenty-five
singers" while another remarked "'tis excessive noisy,
a vast number of voices and instruments, who all
perform at a time." Deborah achieved considerable
popularity and was revived by Handel in a number of
subsequent seasons.
Handel reused music from numerous previous compositions
for Deborah. The work, with large choruses and grand
orchestral effects, was very successful and was revived
by Handel in subsequent years.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_(Handel)).
Although originally created for Mixed Chorus (SATB) &
Baroque Orchestra (Oboes, Bassoons, Horns, Trumpets,
Timpani, Violette all'ottava, Strings & Continuo), I
created this Arrangement of "O the pleasure my soul is
possessing" from "Deborah" (HWV 51 Mvt. 48) for Oboe &
Piano.
