Program Notes for "Celebrate Handel!"
Written by Michael Ruhling, HIP Research Fellow
Questions about the program notes or pre-concert lectures? Email Michael
2009 marks the 250th anniversary of the death of Handel and the 200th anniversary of the death of Haydn. The Handel and Haydn Society celebrates the lives and of its two namesake composers by dedicating half of the 2008-2009 season’s subscription programs to their music, beginning with this concert of excerpts from three of Handel’s oratorios, intermingled with his glorious Coronation Anthems. It is also most fitting to embark upon our consideration of instrument and voice conventions with Handel’s compositions, for perhaps no other early 18th century composer so effectively employed the colors of the Baroque orchestra, nor influenced the instrumental and vocal writing of the next several generations, as did Handel. His manipulation of orchestral and vocal forces skillfully balanced structural clarity, dramatic intent and sound-color variety.
Old Testament stories from the King James Bible, which so often paralleled the self-sacrifice, and king-and-country scenarios of Italian opera, had became the preferred dramas of the London public by the end of the 1730s. The skills for setting scenes and characterizing individuals by musical means honed by Handel on the opera stage easily translated to the un-staged yet equally dramatic oratorio genre, the accepted musical home of Bible stories. Those skills are well represented in the excerpts of Handel’s oratorios performed in this concert, for they demonstrate Handel’s marvelous fashioning of three quite different female characters, revealing them to us through music rather than words alone.
The third part of Solomon (1748) begins with a sinfonia in B-flat, commonly titled “Arrival of the Queen of Sheba.” This reflects the operatic tradition of opening acts with instrumental music. But unlike opera, in the oratorio Solomon Handel had to convey the carnival atmosphere of the preparations for, and arrival of, the Arabian queen at King Solomon’s court only through music, without the benefit of acting. The choice of a concerto structure for this movement nicely suits this dual dramatic function. Handel’s typical bright violin-dominated orchestral texture and the quick scale ritornello passages played by the ripieno of strings, oboes and bassoon successfully relate the commotion of the event, while regal oboe duets imitating trumpet fanfares call to mind the royal status of the foreign visitor. But why didn’t Handel just use trumpets here? Examining Solomon in its entirety offers an answer. Trumpets and timpani appear only in choral movements of the oratorio with texts that are praising God or King Solomon, or discussing battle preparation, which are also all in the “trumpet key” of D major (see essay “Why that instrument . . .?). Employing trumpets for this foreign queen’s entrance would have effectively weakened the impact of their use in those special choruses, thereby dampening the overall dramatic shape of the oratorio.
Compare the Queen of Sheba’s arrival music to that of the modest Iphis, daughter of Jephtha (1751). A common aria texture in the Baroque matched a solo instrument or one section of instruments (e.g. first violins) with the solo voice, in a sort-of “conversation,” supported by the basso continuo (bass instruments plus a keyboard or strummed instrument filling in harmonic pitches). The alternation of flute solo with soprano perfectly suits young Iphis in “Tune the Soft Melodious Lute,” where she makes preparations to greet her father after his victory over the Ammonites, and urges some musicians, including a flute, to join her. Iphis is given her own “arrival” symphony for entering her father’s chamber, but unlike the Queen of Sheba, Handel’s musical portrait of Iphis is one of youth and innocence, simpler, relying on pastoral rhythms and flowing melodies rather than rousing scale passages. Here, then, the role of the oboe is to represent the pastoral rather than to imitate trumpets. Iphis’s joy at welcoming Jephtha home in “Welcome as the cheerful light” begins with the simple texture of her earlier aria, accompanied this time by a single violin line and basso continuo, and she is joined by a group of maidens: women’s chorus, with oboes added to double the female vocal lines, a common use of oboes in Baroque concerted music. While the modest orchestra maintains Iphis’s innocence, the jubilation of the moment is related through the use of the rhythmic characteristics of the gavotte, a “skipping” dance traditionally used in celebration scenes of ballets and operas. For example, wedding feasts were often characterized by a danced gavotte. Indeed, part of Iphis’s preparation to greet her father was to put on a wedding gown, so the imagery remains consistent with this dance type.
The title character in Semele (1743), one of only two Handel oratorios based on Greek myth rather than a Bible story, is characterized as a girl much like Iphis, with similar music. “Endless pleasure, endless love” uses the same giddy gavotte rhythms and follows the same aria-chorus format as Iphis’s “Welcome as the cheerful light.” But Semele is joined by a chorus of priests, and so two oboes and two horns double the choral parts, more strongly supporting the strength of the priestly chorus. In “My racking thoughts” a different, more anxious side of this heroine is shown in her angular melodic lines, and we are made to feel her restlessness in the bass accompaniment, as the cello section serves as the instrumental conversant. The clever use of instruments and voice in “Myself I adore” betrays still another facet of this complex character. Semele glances into a mirror given to her by a jealous and disguised Juno. This mirror makes her reflection appear perfect. The three-note motive she sings on “gazing” is passed back-and-forth between soprano and violins, thus the violins represent the action of Semele’s glances being reflected back to her, and her hallucinogenic state. The motive itself, then, continuing in the cellos and violins, takes on those meanings—reflection and hallucination—even after her words move on to other ideas, thus reminding us through the remainder of this aria of her hypnotic state.
Not long after George I signed the papers making Handel a naturalized British citizen, the country’s new subject was commissioned to compose music for the coronation of George II, to be held in the spacious Westminster Abbey October 11, 1727. In stark contrast to the intimacy of the music which characterized Iphis and Semele, this most important of national events, and the venue itself, required the grandest musical gestures, supplied by the largest possible musical forces, including the royal trumpets and timpani. Indeed, 47 singers and even more instrumentalists (reports say up to 160, but this is almost certainly an exaggeration) filled the Abbey with the sounds of Handel’s four Coronation Anthems. Handel set four Bible passages as brief cantatas for full chorus and orchestra, with no solo movements, that highlighted the most important events throughout the celebration. Let Thy Hand Be Strengthened appeared early in the service, at the Recognition. Its position required a more archaic, traditional style, without the brilliance of trumpets and timpani, allowing the important directives of justice, mercy and truth addressed in the text from Psalm 89: 14-15, to be clearly understood. The simple use of oboes here, alternating between adding strength to the first violins and the sopranos, is typical of their use in all of these anthems. The melismatic imitative lines of the final “Alleluia” movement, with the voices always doubled by the instruments, except for a few ornaments added by strings, made for a distinctly Handelian ecstatic conclusion.
In comparison, the final Alleluia movement of The King Shall Rejoice, probably sung during the actual crowning of George II, gives a more majestic impression by the use of the full orchestra, including trumpets and timpani, to strengthen the Alleluias sung together at important structural points. To be sure, the text for most of this cantata, from Psalm 21: 1, 5 & 3, is much more august than Let Thy Hand Be Strengthened, and the rising violin melodies, dotted rhythms and use of the royal trumpets and timpani accompany the sentiment appropriately, particularly in the first movement “The King shall rejoice.” Furthermore, the independence of the voices and instruments in most of this cantata directly contrasts the older style of Let Thy Hand be Strengthened. In direct contrast to the grandeur of the first movement, the middle movements of this cantata put us in mind of God’s salvation by Handel’s music in a very interesting way, and a way much like Bach and later Haydn treated the same subject. Our salvation is reflected in a simple pastoral context: the shift in mood, the reduction of the orchestral and choral forces, and the “pastoral” key of A major, and the flowing triple rhythms, reminds us that salvation is achieved through God’s incarnation in the most humble person of Christ, born among shepherds. Even the melodic material conveys this; the words “of Thy salvation” are set to falling suspension patterns, as if falling to earth, juxtaposed to the fanfare-like, though still delicate melody on “exceedingly glad.” The word painting in “Glory and Great worship” is every bit as clear. The first phrase has a majestic tempo, rising violin scales and a return of the trumpets, but the next phrase, “Thou hast prevented him with the blessings of goodness,” switches to a minor-mode archaic fugue. But in the last phrase, “Thou hast set a crown of pure gold upon his head,” the pomp and majesty return.
My Heart is Inditing, based on Psalm 45: 1, 10 & 12, and Isaiah 49: 23, likely accompanied the crowning of Queen Caroline. It has a structure very much like The King Shall Rejoice. The majestic opening movement is a large crescendo: an instrumental beginning, with only one violin part (doubled by the oboes), precedes three statements of the text, the first sung by alto and bass, accompanied only by strings until the words “I speak,” when they are joined by oboes, the four vocal parts alternate the second time through the text, and finally the third statement includes everyone together. This leads to the more subdued yet dignified inner movements, without the king’s trumpets. Handel’s music for these movements elegantly conveys their texts, focusing not on the king, but on his honorable daughters and wives. “Upon Thy right hand” is set as a triple-meter minuet, with skipping dotted rhythms to convey the King’s “pleasure in [the Queen’s] beauty.” The dignity of these inner movements continues to build our anticipation right to the end, and the last movement exuberantly fulfills our expectations. Like the first movement, the text is heard three times, building up to the return of trumpets and timpani for the third and final iteration.
The Anointing—the most solemn part of the ceremony, reminding all present of the historic affiliation of the Divine and the King—was gloriously heralded by Zadok the Priest, the most famous and frequently performed of the anthems. The soft throbbing and unsettling harmonic shifts supplied by strings and woodwinds in the opening build our anticipation, until suddenly and triumphantly the chorus shouts “Zadok the Priest . . . anointed King Solomon,” accompanied by the full orchestra, crowned by trumpets and timpani. The word “rejoice” is particularly emphasized by dotted rhythms and trumpets. “God save the king” is set as a solemn march. Finally, “Amen” is stretched out in a long melismatic bass passage, which is then repeated by the violins. So as in Semele’s “Myself I adore,” the meaning of the word is transferred to the instruments through the repetition of the distinct melodic pattern, and so “Amen” continues in our ears while other words and sentiments are being sung around it. Imagine how the patriotic cries of “Long live the king, God save the king” rang through Westminster Abbey!
Overview of Works
“Arrival of the Queen of Sheba” from Act III of Solomon
Composed 5 May to 13 June 1748, f.p. March 1749. Story from II Chronicles and I Kings.
Instrumentation: 2 oboes, bassoon, 4 part strings, continuo.
Selections from Jephtha
Completed August 1751. Handel’s last oratorio. Story from book of Judges.
“Overture”
Instrumentation: 2 oboes, bassoon, 4 part strings, continuo.
“‘Tis well, haste ye maidens—Tune the soft melodious flute” (Act I)
Iphis (soprano) recit—aria
Text: 'Tis well. Haste, haste, ye maidens, and in richest robes Adorn me, like a stately bride, to meet my father in triumphant pomp. And while around the dancing banners play…Tune the soft melodious lute, Pleasant harp and warbling flute, to sounds of rapt'rous joy; such as on our solemn days, singing great Jehovah's praise, the holy choir employ.
Instrumentation: flute solo, 4 part strings, continuo.
“Sinfonia” from Act II
Instrumentation: 2 oboes, bassoon, 4 part strings, continuo.
“Hail glorious conqueror—Welcome as the cheerful light” (Act II)
Iphis (soprano) and maidens (women’s chorus) recit—aria/chorus
Text: Hail, glorious conqueror, much lov'd father, hail! Behold thy daughter, and her virgin train, come to salute thee with all duteous love. Welcome as the cheerful light, driving darkest shades of night, welcome as the spring that rains. Peace and plenty o'er the plains. Not cheerful day, nor spring so gay, such mighty blessings brings as peace on her triumphant wings.
Instrumentation: 2 oboes, bassoon, 4 part strings, continuo.
Selections from Semele
Composed 3 June-4 July 1743. Story based on Greek myth.
“Overture”
Instrumentation: 2 oboes, bassoon, 4 part strings, continuo.
“Endless pleasure, endless love” (Act I)
Semele (soprano) and priests (SATB chorus) aria/chorus
Text: Endless pleasure, endless love Semele enjoys above! On her bosom Jove reclining useless now his thunder lies; to her arms his bolts resigning, and his lightning to her eyes.
Instrumentation: 2 oboes, bassoon, 2 horns, 4 part strings, continuo.
“My racking thoughts” (Act III)
Semele (soprano) aria
Text: My racking thoughts by no kind slumbers freed, but painful nights do joyful days succeed.
Instrumentation: basso continuo only.
“O ecstasy of happiness—Myself I adore” (Act III)
Semele (soprano) recit—aria
Text: O ecstasy of happiness! Celestial graces I discover in each feature! Myself I shall adore, if I persist in gazing. No object sure before was ever half so pleasing.
Instrumentation: 4 part strings, continuo.
Coronation Anthems
Composed for coronation of George II at Westminster Abbey, 11 Oct. 1727
Let Thy Hand Be Strengthened. Psalm 89: 14 & 15
Instrumentation: 2oboes, bassoon, 4 part strings, continuo. SAATB chorus.
I. Let Thy Hand Be Strengthened (G major)
Text: “Let thy hand be strengthened, and thy right hand be exalted.”
II. Let Justice and Judgment (E minor)
Text: “Let justice and judgment be the preparation of thy seat. Let mercy and truth go before thy face.”
III. Alleluia (G major)
The King Shall Rejoice. Psalm 21: 1, 5, 3
Instrumentation: 2 oboes, bassoon, 3 trumpets, timpani, 5 part strings. SAATBB chorus.
I. The King Shall Rejoice (D major)
Text: “The King shall rejoice in thy strength, O Lord.”
Instrumentation: Full
II. Exceeding Glad (A major)
Text: “Exceeding glad shall he be of thy salvation.”
Instrumentation: 2 oboes, bassoon, 4 part strings. SATB chorus.
III. Glory and Great Worship/Thou Hast Prevented Him (D maj—B min—D maj)
Text: “Glory and great worship hast thou laid upon him. Thou hast prevented him with the blessings of goodness, and hast set a crown of pure gold upon his head.”
Instrumentation: Full
IV. Alleluia (D major)
Instrumentation: Full
My Heart is Inditing. Psalm 45: 1, 10, 12 and Isaiah 49: 23
Instrumentation: 2 oboes, bassoon, 3 trumpets, timpani, 5 part strings. SAATBB chorus.
I. My Heart is Inditing (D major)
Text: “My heart is inditing of a good matter. I speak of things which I have made unto the King.”
Instrumentation:Full
II. King’s Daughters (A major)
Text: “Kings’ daughters are among thy honorable women.”
Instrumentation: 2 oboes, bassoon, 4 part strings. SAATB chorus.
III. Upon Thy Right Hand (E major)
Text: “Upon thy right hand did stand the Queen in vesture of gold, and the King shall have pleasure in thy beauty.”
Instrumentation: 2 oboes, bassoon, 4 part strings. SAATB chorus.
IV. Kings Shall Be Thy Nursing Fathers (D major)
Text: “Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nursing mothers.”
Instrumentation: Full
Zadok the Priest. (D major) 1 Kings 1: 38-40
Instrumentation: 2 oboes, bassoon, 3 trumpets, timpani, 5 part strings. SSAATBB chorus.
Text: “Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, anointed Solomon King; and all the people rejoiced, and said: God save the king, long live the king, Amen, alleluia! May the king live for ever, amen, alleluia!”
We encourage you to use these notes as a reference. If you do so for any publication, please cite Michael E. Ruhling and the Handel and Haydn Society as a source.
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