by a Thoroughbass, with Violins in unison. Any more elaborate combination would have served as a foil to the preceding Chorus. But this takes such new ground, that it immediately attracts attention; and from it the Composer works up, through a series of masterpieces, to the only Chorus in the world that will bear mentioning in the same breath with the 'Hallelujah'—'Worthy is the Lamb,' with its fitting conclusion, the 'Amen,' which the careless listener may easily mistake for the simplest of Fugues, until he suddenly becomes aware that its Stretti partake more nearly of the character of very complex Canons. The Autograph Score now happily accessible to every one, through the medium of a photo-lithographic facsimile, executed under Her Majesty's permission, by the Sacred Harmonic Society, and sold by Messrs. Novello Co.—proves that Handel thought more than once before this Chorus perfectly satisfied him. The MS. indicates many other changes, some of very great importance; and introduces also a considerable number of additional Movements, most of which are to be found in Dr. Arnold's edition of the Score, though they are not included in the compressed arrangements of our own day. Some of these pieces now generally described as belonging to the Appendix are exceedingly fine; but the Movements usually selected for performance are almost always those which give the Composer's idea in the phase which we may fairly accept as his own estimate of the best he was able to produce.
After this, Handel wrote no more Oratorios on the pure epic model, though he did not abstain from the frequent use of passages of a more or less epic character. His next great work was 'Samson,' first performed at Covent Garden Theatre on February 18, 1743, presented eight times in succession, and then removed to make room for the 'Messiah,' which had not yet been heard in London. No less rich in dramatic form than 'Saul,' 'Samson' presents us with some of Handel's finest inspirations, not the least important among which are, the Overture, with its fiery Fugue and world-famed Minuet (supposed to be danced by the votaries of Dagon, before the opening Chorus), the equally celebrated Air, 'Let the bright Seraphim,' and seventeen magnificent Choruses. 'Joseph' followed in 1744, and 'Belshazzar' in 1745; both fine works, written in the same powerful dramatic style. The 'Occasional Oratorio' was produced in 1746. Many interpretations of its unusual name have been suggested, the most probable being that which represents it to have been composed in order to make up a certain set of performances for which Handel had pledged himself to his subscribers. Taken as a whole, the work can only be regarded as a Pasticcio; for, though the Music of the first two Parts is new, the Third is chiefly made up of Movements selected from 'Israel in Ægypt' and the 'Coronation Anthem.' The well-known Overture is one of the finest of Handel's Instrumental Compositions. 'Judas Macchabæus,' a purely dramatic work, well worthy to rank with 'Saul' and 'Samson,' was produced at Covent Garden on April 1, 1747; and 'Alexander Balus' on March 9, 1748, which year also witnessed the first performance of 'Joshua.' 'Susannah' and 'Solomon' were both produced in 1749. In the latter, which introduces the epic form to some considerable extent, Handel has again written some magnificent Double Choruses which rank among his finest inspirations.[1]
In 'Theodora,' on the contrary, the dramatic character has been rigidly preserved. This great work, which Handel himself considered his best, was first performed on March 15, 1750, when he was sixty-five years of age, and already threatened with blindness. Though now, as a whole, almost forgotten, it abounds with Movements quite comparable, in beauty, with the few which have remained popular favourites; and, though it might perhaps be impossible to present it in a complete form without a careful revision of the Libretto, it would well repay the attention of great Singers in search of great Songs. It was performed four times, in its first 'Season'; but never again during the Composer's lifetime: and no new Oratorio succeeded it, until 1752, when, on February 26, Handel produced his last work, 'Jephtha.' Though his blindness had, by this time, increased so much, that the preparation of the Score occupied him seven months whereas the 'Messiah' had been completed in less than one we find no falling off at all in the style of the work, which contains some of his finest pieces, and is one of the few that has remained popular to our own day. Besides this, the 'Messiah,' 'Israel in Ægypt,' 'Judas Macchabæus,' 'Solomon,' and 'Samson,' are almost the only Oratorios now performed in public in their integrity; and those who were not fortunate enough, in the days of their youth, to enrol themselves members of the Cæcilian or Sacred Harmonic Societies, have probably no farther knowledge of the rest than that which may be gained by a perusal of the printed copies. Happily, these copies are sold at a price which places them within the reach of everybody; but, unhappily, they are not always thoroughly trustworthy. Handel never, by any chance, wrote the Second Inversion of the Dominant Seventh, but we shall find few modern arrangements in which this Chord is not substituted for the original Chord of the Sixth, notwithstanding the extraordinary pains which the Composer frequently took to avoid it.
In addition to the seventeen grand Oratorios we have described, Handel wrote nine other works which are sometimes erroneously called Oratorios, although their subjects were altogether sæcular. The reason of this misnomer is, that they were all, save one, brought out by the Composer in a way which, in those days, was called 'after the manner of Oratorios'—that is to say, without the attraction of Scenery, Dresses, or
- ↑ Mendelssohn had a great affection for this Oratorio. In the year 1845, while the writer was describing to him, at Frankfort, a performance of it which he had lately heard in Exeter Hall, he suddenly said, 'Tell me, how did they give out this?' and sang the subject of 'Live, live for ever, pious David's son,' as if he longed to direct it in full orchestra, then and there.
